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Pastimes : SI Grammar and Spelling Lab

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To: Janice Shell who wrote (407)	1/3/1998 6:20:00 PM
From: Tommaso	Read Replies (1) of 4711

Has anyone discussed the "bare infinitive" on this thread? It is an interesting exception that occurs only in connection with a very few verbs. For example, we say, "She asked him to sing." But we say, "She made him sing"--leaving out the "to." So the infinitive is "bare." If I can rememeber all of them, I can quote a poem I made up once, the title of which is: "ACTIVE VERB TAKES ON BARE INFINITIVE": I saw him do it-- I heard him do it-- I watched him do it-- I helped him do it-- I felt him do it-- I made him do it-- [I think I left out two or three but that's the idea; the complete list can be found in "A Grammar of Modern English'--and I am sure there are no more than 2-3 more in the whole language.] Can anyone explain the "ethical dative" to me?

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