Basic English Grammar: Giving reasons with infinitives

Hello, my name is Emma, and in today's video, I'm going to teach you a simple grammar point,

and that is how we can use infinitives to give a reason for something.

Okay?

So, in this video, I'm going to teach you what an infinitive is and how we use it in

this way.

So, let's get started.

So, like I said, we use an infinitive verb to say why someone does something.

So, let's look at some examples.

I took a shower - why?

To relax.

I worked - why?

What's the reason?

I worked to make money.

Okay?

So, what I'm doing here is I'm showing you part of a sentence and then, at the end, is

an infinitive verb that shows the reason why.

So, an infinitive is when you have the preposition "to" + the base verb.

So, what's the base verb?

It means it's a verb that's not conjugated, it's not in any tense, so for example, "to

be" is an infinitive verb.

Are, is, was, those are not the infinitive verb, "to be" is the infinitive verb.

I have some other examples here.

"To eat", "to make", "to do", so an infinitive verb is the verb before you conjugate it,

and again, it has that preposition "to".

So, I want you to tell me, what is the infinitive verb in our first example?

"I took a shower to relax."

So, the infinitive verb is "to relax".

What about in our second example?

"I worked to make money."

If you said "to make" is the infinitive, you're correct.

I know I put a box around it so it might seem a little simple, but those are examples of

infinitive verbs.

So, again, we use infinitive verbs to give the reason why we do something.

So now, let's look at some more examples.

Okay, so let's look at another example.

She came, why did she come?

Well, one example might be, "She came to dance."

"She came to see friends."

She came to meet people.

So notice we have "to" which is the preposition of an infinitive, and then we have the verb,

in this case we can add "meet".

Can you think of an example using a verb to answer why she came?

I know there's not a lot of information, so there's a lot of different answers you could

say.

Let's look at some other examples.

I want you to think about the reason: Why do you go to the library?

Some people might say "You go to the library to read."

Now, I want you to think, what part of the sentence is the infinitive?

That is the part that is giving the reason.

What we have here, the preposition "to" and the base verb "read", so "to read" is the

infinitive.

And that's also the reason why we go to the library.

Now, I want you to think about the cinema.

Why do you go to the cinema, what's the reason?

You go to the cinema maybe to watch movies.

So, what part is the infinitive verb in this?

So again, we have the preposition "to" and the base verb, which is "watch".

This is the infinitive.

You go to the cinema to watch movies.

Let's look at another example: why do you go to the gym?

Some of you might say you go to the gym to work out, or to get strong.

What's another reason why you might go to the gym?

Maybe to check people out, I don't know, there's a lot of reasons why you might go to the gym.

Maybe you want to train, okay?

So, this is just one example.

You go to the gym, and what part is the infinitive?

Well again, you need the preposition "to", in this case "work out" is the verb.

Okay, now I want you to imagine this: your grandmother or grandfather or somebody you

know has never used the internet before, and they want to know more about the internet,

and so they ask you "Why do you use YouTube?"

What can you tell them?

Well, one example might be "You use you YouTube to", so we have the infinitive, maybe "study

English".

I use YouTube to watch cat videos.

Okay?

I use YouTube to watch old TV shows.

So, you can think about the reasons why you do something and, again, you use the preposition

"to" and the base verb.

What about Tinder?

I don't know if people are still using Tinder, but if they are, if you know what Tinder is,

why would you use Tinder?

You use Tinder to meet people, maybe.

Maybe you use Tinder to find a girlfriend or a boyfriend.

Maybe you use Tinder to hook up with people.

So, again, this is giving the reason why you do something.

Why do you go to university?

You go to university to learn.

Why do you go to a restaurant?

You go to a restaurant to eat good food.

So, these are just some more examples of the infinitive.

Now, let's learn about a way to use this in a more formal sentence.

So, sometimes we might want to make our English more formal.

So, we might want to do this if we're writing an essay for university or if we're doing

a presentation at work.

So, more formal is when you use more serious English.

So, how can we explain a reason by using more serious English?

Well, we can use the expression "in order to".

It's similar to what we've just been doing, but again, this is the more formal way.

So, let's look at some examples.

"People use EngVid in order to learn for free."

So, if you look at this example, we still have our infinitive verb.

Can you tell me what the infinitive verb is in this?

"To learn", okay?

So, we have our preposition "to" here and then we have the base verb "learn".

Before we have "to learn", we have the words "in order", so this again is giving a reason.

We could also say "People use EngVid to learn for free" if we didn't want to use this, but

to make it more formal we can add the words "in order" before.

What's another example of this?

Maybe "People drink water in order to be less thirsty.", okay?

So, again, this is another example of using "in order to".

Now, if we want to say something in the negative, okay, we want to prevent something, we can

also use "in order not to".

So, let's look an example of this.

"I walked quietly in order not to wake you."

So, the reason that I'm walking quietly, why are you walking quietly?

I don't want to wake you up.

So, I've put that in the sentence: I walked quietly in order not to wake you.

So, in this case, it's almost similar to the structure of this sentence, the only difference

is we've added the word "not" here, because we don't want to wake you up.

What's the infinitive in this example?

To wake.

So again, we have our preposition and the verb "wake".

Let's look at another example: "I stayed up" I stayed up late, this was true when I was

a child, "I stayed up late in order not to miss Santa Claus."

Okay, I was really scared of not seeing Santa Claus when I was a kid, so I stayed up very

late in order not to miss Santa Claus.

So, that's the reason I stayed up late.

So, we've covered a lot in this video.

You've learned what an infinitive is, you've seen a lot of different examples, and you've

also learned how you can use "in order to", if you want to make something more formal

or "in order not to" if you want to make a negative sentence or to give a negative reason.

So, thank you for watching this video.

I have some homework for you in order to help you learn more English.

Here is your homework: I want you, in the comments section, to write why you study English,

and I want you to use and infinitive to explain.

"I study English to _______."

Maybe it could be "I study English to have a better future."

"I study English to meet people."

Whatever the reason, or maybe to read English books, to watch English movies, I want you

to think of one reason why you're learning English and to use the infinitive and write

a sentence about it in our comments section.

I also invite you to come check out our website at www.engvid.com and there you can actually

find a quiz to practice this information more.

You can also subscribe to my channel.

I have a lot of different resources on grammar, on vocabulary, on writing and many more subjects.

So, thank you very much for watching and until next time, take care.