Infinitives

Infinitives adalah "to + verb1", misalnya: to run, to play, to sleep, to study, to do, to clean, to grow, to kick, to smoke, dan lain sebagainya. Infinitives pada umumnya digunakan sebagai object kalimat. Selain itu, infinitives juga kadang-kadang digunakan sebagai subject kalimat. Untuk lebih jelasnya, silahkan perhatikan fungsi dan letak Infinitives di dalam kalimat seperti penjelasan di bawah ini:

A. Infinitives as Subjects

Sebagai subject kalimat, infinitive pada umumnya dalam bentuk infinitive clause.

Contoh:

• To play kites when it's very cloudy is very dangerous.
• To study the grammar is a must if you want to improve your English.
• To play football when drizzling is very joyful.

Dengan tidak merubah makna, ketiga kalimat di atas berturut-turut dapat diekspresikan sebagai berikut:

• It is very dangerous to play kites when it's very cloudy.
• It is a must to study the grammar if you want to improve your English.
• It is very joyful to play football when drizzling.

B. Infinitives as Objects

Sering kita harus menggunakan verbs setelah verbs lainnya. Jika verb diikuti oleh verb yang lain, maka verb yang mengikuti tersebut berfungsi sebagai object kalimat. Verbs yang mengikuti tersebut dapat berbentuk infinitive atau dapat juga berbentuk gerund, tergantung pada verb yang diikutinya. Verbs pada table berikut diikuti oleh infinitives.

• agree (menyetujui)
• appear (tampak)
• attempt (berusaha)
• claim (mengklaim)
• decide (memutuskan)
• demand (menuntut)
• desire (berkeinginan)
• expect (berharap)
• fail (gagal)
• hesitate (ragu-ragu)
• hope (berharap)
• intend (bermaksud)
• learn (belajar)
• need (membutuhkan)
• offer (menawarkan)
• plan (merencanakan)
• prepare (mempersiapkan)
• pretend (pura-pura)
• promise (berjanji)
• refuse (menolak)
• seem (tampak)
• strive (berusaha keras)
• tend (cenderung)
• try (mencoba)
• want (ingin)
• wish (berharap)
• would like (ingin/mau)
• begin (mulai)
• can't bear (tidak tahan)
• can't stand (tidak tahan)
• continue (melanjutkan)
• dislike (tidak suka)
• dread (takut)
• hate (benci)
• like (suka)
• love (cinta)
• prefer (lebih suka)
• start (mulai)
• stop (berhenti)
• remember (ingat)
• forget (lupa)

Catatan:

• Kata Kerja berwarna ungu selalu diikuti oleh infinitives (tidak pernah diikuti oleh gerund).
• Kata Kerja berwarna hijau selain diikuti oleh infinitives juga dapat diikuti oleh gerunds dengan makna yang sama dengan bentuk infinitive-nya.
• Kata Kerja berwarna biru juga dapat diikuti oleh gerunds, tetapi maknanya berbeda dengan bentuk infinitive-nya.

Contoh:

• Everybody has agreed to meet again next week.
• Look! The newly born calf is attempting to stand on his own feet.
• He claimed to have returned my book but I am a hundred percent sure that he hasn't.
• Our government decided to lower the gas price.
• The laborers of that company are demanding to get better salaries.
• If I make a mistake, please don't hesitate to correct me.
• I was pretending to study hard when my mom entered my room last night.
• I am so sorry. I didn't intend to hurt your feeling.
• She refused to accept my help.
• If you don't strive to learn English, your English will not improve steadily.
• I want to write down all of the English patterns on this blog.
• He needs to borrow some money.
• I like to study English = I like studying English.
• My grandmother couldn't bear to hear the loud noise coming from the construction site = My grandmother couldn't bear hearing the loud noise coming from the construction site.
• They prefer to play football than (to) study = They prefer playing football to studying.
• We started to try to study English last month = We started trying to study English last month.
• I wants to stop to smoke.
• My brother remembered to lock his car.
• My brother didn't forget to lock his car.

2. Setelah object pronoun atau noun

Berbeda dengan verbs di atas, verbs pada tabel berikut umumnya membutuhkan object pronoun (i.e. me, you, him, her, it, them, us) atau noun  sebelum diikuti oleh infinitive.

• advise (menasehati)
• allow (mengijinkan)
• ask (menyuruh)
• encourage (mendorong)
• expect (mengharapkan)
• force (memaksa)

• invite (mengundang)
• need (membutuhkan)
• order (memerintah)
• permit (mengijinkan)
• remind (mengingatkan)
• require (membutuhkan)

• tell (memberi tahu)
• want (menginginkan)
• warn (memperingatkan)
• would like (mau)

Contoh:

• The teacher advised us to study harder.
• Have your parents allowed you to have a boyfriend yet?
• My mom asked me to help my younger brother (to) do his homework.
• Ronny begged Rini to marry him.
• The eruption of mount Merapi forced the villagers to flee their villages.
• A success story can encourage people to be successful.

3. Setelah adjectives

Pada umumnya adjective dapat diikuti baik oleh infinitive maupun oleh gerund dengan tanpa merubah makna kalimat. Tetapi, ada beberapa adjective yang hanya diikuti oleh infinitive dan tidak pernah diikuti oleh gerund. Adjectives yang dimaksud disajikan pada  table berikut.

• able (dapat)
• anxious (cemas, antusias)
• boring (bosan)
• common (umum)
• dangerous (berbahaya)
• difficult (sulit)

• eager (antusias)
• easy (mudah)
• good (baik)
• hard (sulit)
• pleased (senang)
• prepared (siap)

• ready (siap)
• strange (aneh)
• usual (biasa)

Catatan: able dan capable memiliki arti yang sama (i.e. bisa/mampu), tetapi grammarnyasangat berbeda; able diikuti oleh infinitive, sedangkan capable diikuti oleh of + gerund (Lihat contohnya pada pembahasan tentang gerund).

Contoh:

• Will you be able to finish your work by noon tomorrow?
• Andy is very eager to wear her new cloth.
• I am lazy to go to study English.
• She is happy to give you this present.
• My father's car is dirty enough to be washed. I am ready to wash it now.
• We have to be strong to accept this bad news.

4. Setelah nouns

Contoh:

• I will go to a shopping mall to buy a new bag.
• He is looking for a knife to peel the mango.
• He climbed that tall tree to get his kite.
• My father usually puts on his sunglasses to protect his eyes from the sun ray.
• Every driver has to push the brake to stop the car.

Negation

Infinitive dibuat negative dengan menempatkan particle (kata bantu) NOT di depan infinitive tersebut.

Contoh:

• Everybody has agreed not to meet again.
• Do you prefer not to study?
• We have decided not to tell her the truth  about what her boyfriend did last night.
• Today is a holiday. I am glad not to go to school today.
• The laborers of that company are demanding not to get laid off.