☺ ☺ — Hive

Grammar: Verbs: [ to + infinitive ]

We use the to-infinitive:

► to express purpose (to answer "#Why...?"). For example:

He bought some flowers to give to his wife.
He locked the door to keep everyone out.

✚ We sometimes say #in_order_to or #in_order_not_to:

We set off early in order to avoid the traffic.
They spoke quietly in order not to wake the children

✚ … or we can say #so_as_to or #so_as_not_to:

We set off early so as to avoid the traffic.
They spoke quietly so as not to wake the children.

► after certain verbs, particularly verbs of #thinking and #feeling:
[choose, decide, expect, forget, hate, hope, intend, learn, like,
love, mean, plan, prefer, remember, want, would like, would love]

… and verbs of #saying:
[agree, promise, refuse]
For example:

They decided to start a business together.
Remember to turn the lights out.

✚ Some verbs are followed by a #direct_object and the infinitive:
[advise, ask, encourage, invite, order, persuade, remind, tell, warn,
expect, intend, would prefer, want, would like]
For example:

She reminded me to turn the lights out.
He encouraged his friends to vote for him.

► after certain #adjectives.

✚ Sometimes the to-infinitive gives a reason for the adjective:
[disappointed, glad, sad, happy, anxious, pleased, surprised, proud, unhappy]
For example:

We were happy to come to the end of our journey
= We were happy because we had come to the end of our journey
John was surprised to see me
= He was surprised because he saw me

✚ Other adjectives with the to-infinitive are:
[able, unable, due, eager, keen, likely, unlikely, ready, prepared, unwilling, willing]
For example:

Unfortunately I was unable to work for over a week.
I am really tired. I’m ready to go to bed.

✚ We often use the to-infinitive with these adjectives after it to give #opinions.
[difficult, easy, possible, impossible, hard, right, wrong, kind, nice, clever, silly, foolish]
For example:

It’s easy to play the piano, but it’s very difficult to play well.
He spoke so quickly it was impossible to understand him.

✚ We use the preposition #for to show who these adjectives refer to.
[difficult, easy, possible, impossible, hard]
For example:

It was difficult for us to hear what she was saying.
It is easy for you to criticise other people.

✚ We use the preposition #of with other adjectives. For example:

It’s kind of you to help.
It would be silly of him to spend all his money.

► As a #postmodifier after abstract nouns like: [ability, desire, need, wish, attempt, failure, opportunity, chance, intention] For example:

I have no desire to be rich.
They gave him an opportunity to escape.
She was annoyed by her failure to answer the question correctly.

► We often use a to-infinitive as a postmodifier after an indefinite pronoun [somebody, someone, something, anybody, anyone, anything, nobody, no one , nothing, everybody, everyone, everything] For example:

When I am travelling I always take something to read.
I was all alone. I had no one to talk to.
There is hardly anything to do in most of these small towns.