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Anonymous Posted 21 years ago
Grammar

why bare infinitive

I know that most verbs take infinitive while some take bare infinitive, e.g.
I allow her to go. - but -
I let her go. (not to go)
Can anyone think of any reason why such irregularity exists?
Thanks.

Ricky
  

Top answer

I think here "let" is a modal auxiliary, and except for "ought to", they are followed by a bare infinitive. You'll find the same construction after "help", "make" (causative), and perhaps others, but I don't know the explanation for it, just that it's a grammar rule

— Pieanne

  • I think here "let" is a modal auxiliary, and except for "ought to", they are followed by a bare infinitive.
  • You'll find the same construction after "help", "make" (causative), and perhaps others, but I don't know the explanation for it, just that it's a grammar rule
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8 Answers
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I think here "let" is a modal auxiliary, and except for "ought to", they are followed by a bare infinitive. You'll find the same construction after "help", "make" (causative), and perhaps others, but I don't know the explanation for it, just that it's a grammar rule
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Hello Anon

"Let" is one of causative verbs that take the construct of [<verb> <sb> <do>]. "Have"and "make" belong to the same class of causative verbs. "Allow", "cause", "force", "get", and "permit" are also causative verbs, but they take the construct of [<verb> <sb> <to do>]. "Help" is also kind of causative verb and it can be used either way.
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I see your point, Paco, thanks Emotion: smile Yet, I don't understand "let" as "causative"... Why not say it's a transitive verb (synonym of "al
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PieanneWhy not say it's a transitive verb (synonym of "allow") that requires a bare infinitive? But I'm not a grammar pro...
True. "Let" is certainly a transitive verb that requires a bare infinitive. I myself don't know the exact definition of "causative verbs". Please give me a time to ponder about it.

paco
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Hi Paco2004,

In the given context, I wonder if we can say "Please give me some time.." instead of "Please give me a time".
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Hello Krish

I googled “Please give me a / some time to ..”. “Please give me a time to …” hits 137 pages and “Please give me some time to …” hits 575 pages. The pages using the former appear to be written by non-native English speakers. So maybe you are right and I was wrong. A more idiomatic expression will be “Please give me time to …”. It hits 23,000 pages. Anyway thank you for the kind
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Paco2004"Let" is one of causative verbs that take the construct of [<verb> <sb> <do>]. "Have"and "make" belong to the same class of causative verbs. "Allow", "cause", "force", "get", and "permit" are also causative verbs, but they take the construct of [<verb> <sb> <to do>]. "Help" is also kind of causative verb and it can be used
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No. "want" is not causative. No matter how hard you want something, you can't thereby make it so.
One of the fancier names for verbs like "want" is "desiderative verb"!

CJ
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