Grammar/infinitive

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Grammar/infinitive
Message from again57 posted on 15-10-2013 at 18:31:39 (D | E | F)
Hello everyone,

I have a question about English. I often find this kind of sentence construction, example:
Megan waited for the phone to ring.
I don't know why this sentence is not ~~wrote~~ written like that:
Megan waited for the phone rings
Actually, I know this construction, but, with the verbs want and like, in fact:
I like you to do that; but what about: Megan waited for the phone to ring?

Thank you so much for your future replies.

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Edited by lucile83 on 15-10-2013 19:39

Re: Grammar/infinitive from lucile83, posted on 15-10-2013 at 21:05:02 (D | E)
Hello

Why don't you use the dictionary I told you about? &2
Link

Re: Grammar/infinitive from notrepere, posted on 15-10-2013 at 21:35:33 (D | E)
Hello

If you follow Lucile's link, you find:
wait for somebody/something to do something
Or do you want to wait for Lucile to give you all of the answers?

Re: Grammar/infinitive from again57, posted on 16-10-2013 at 10:01:01 (D | E)
Hello,

Thanks for your answers. I stuck the link on my personal toolbar. So, in fact, it's necessary for each construction to have a look at the dictionary to understand. I thought maybe there is a rule to know about that, but it would seem that we just need to know by heart the possible construction for each word.

Re: Grammar/infinitive from simplicius, posted on 16-10-2013 at 12:43:49 (D | E)
Hello,
That's right, each verb comes with its own construction or constructions. Exactly as in French. And again, you learn that when you learn the verb, and you also acquire it if you read a lot of English. There is no "miracle recipe". Cheers, S.

Re: Grammar/infinitive from again57, posted on 16-10-2013 at 13:31:33 (D | E)
Hello Simplicius,

Thanks for your reply.
Indeed, by reading I learnt this use of "to be": It's more likely to happen...". So, it's true, now, I think I can use this construction, but unfortunately, too often, reading is not enough. Moreover, as I'm not regular in my work, indeed, sometimes I discourage myself... In fact, I've been learning English for almost 8 years now, but like the majority of students in France, it's especially by reading and writing, not much by oral expression. So, first it's not really motivating and secondly, you have the feeling to reach a kind of ceiling and can't go upper it. As far as I'm concerned, I can speak but very slowly and I really have the feeling that never I'll be able to speak fluently.

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