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Kunsusuki Posted 12 years ago
Grammar

Be able to?

What is the grammatical category of 'be able to'? Thank you in advance.
  

Top answer

In isolation, it doesn’t belong to any grammatical category. It’s just a sequence of three words: the verb be , the adjective able , and the subordinator to . In a sentence where the verb phrase following to is elided, be able to would be a bare infinitival clause, as in He might be able to.

  • In isolation, it doesn’t belong to any grammatical category.
  • It’s just a sequence of three words: the verb be , the adjective able , and the subordinator to .
  • In a sentence where the verb phrase following to is elided, be able to would be a bare infinitival clause, as in He might be able to.
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1 Answers
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In isolation, it doesn’t belong to any grammatical category. It’s just a sequence of three words: the verb be, the adjective able, and the subordinator to. In a sentence where the verb phrase following to is elided, be able to would be a bare infinitival clause, as in He might be able to.

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