TO infinitive (purpose) – English Grammar Profiler

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There are some indicators that can help distinguish if the TO-infinitive is of purpose:

  1. Context: The overall context of the sentence can often indicate whether the infinitive is being used to express purpose. If the action in the main clause is being done for a reason, then the infinitive is likely expressing purpose.
  2. Causality: If the action in the infinitive clause is a direct result or goal of the action in the main clause, it’s likely expressing purpose. For example, in “She started working part-time to be able to pay for her tuition”, the purpose of working part-time (main clause) is to be able to pay for tuition (infinitive clause).
  3. Prepositions: Sometimes, prepositions like “in order” or “so as” can be used before the infinitive to more clearly express purpose. For example, “He studied hard in order to pass the exam”.
  4. Question Test: You can often check by asking a ‘why’ question to the main clause. If the ‘to-infinitive’ answers that question, then it’s expressing purpose. For example, in “She reads many books to learn more about the topic”, if you ask “Why does she read many books?”, the answer would be “to learn more about the topic”.

Here’s an example you can listen to:

I paid you a lot of money to do this job.

listen

*This grammar is very hard to automatically locate in corpora if it isn’t at the front of the sentence.  It is also overlapped by other grammar points.

For example:

They‘re also fish-holding pens with different-height walls for storage, designed to change the way the water moves and to be able to store big fish and little fish and to keep those fish in cool, clear running water.

TED

In the example above, the three ‘to-infinitives’ give the purpose of the design.  There is also B1 highlighted because the clauses are coordinated with ‘and’.

PELIC STUDENT EXAMPLE:

To learn English, just follow these steps.

Arabic male level 3 writing class.

An iWeb search for:

. _TO * * *

1 . TO DO THIS, 35825 2 . TO LEARN MORE ABOUT 29344

3 . TO DO SO, 15803

Probably not the best examples of introducing a purpose:
4 . TO BE HONEST, 14943

5 . TO FIND OUT MORE 12399 6 . TO LEARN MORE, 9044 7 . TO DO THAT, 8606

8 . TO BE ABLE TO 7396

9 . TO BE FAIR , 7000

10 . TO MAKE MATTERS WORSE 6454

11 . TO BE SURE, 6410

12 . TO ACHIEVE THIS, 4301

13 . TO BEGIN WITH, 4273

14 . TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR 4015

15 . TO GET STARTED , 3841

16 . TO TOP IT OFF 3602

17 . TO DO THIS YOU 3601
18 . TO ACCOMPLISH THIS, 3597

19 . TO BE CLEAR, 3258

20 . TO AVOID THIS, 3080

21 . TO BE HONEST I 3060

22 . TO GIVE YOU AN 2862 23 . TO GET THE MOST 2735 24 . TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF 2522 25 . TO GET TO THE 2489 26 . TO DO THIS WE 2404

27 . TO TOP IT ALL 2348

28 . TO PUT IT SIMPLY 2332

29 . TO MAKE SURE YOU 2258 30 . TO READ MORE ABOUT 2186

31 . TO MAKE SURE THAT 2176

32 . TO START WITH, 2117

33 . TO BE CONSIDERED FOR 2108

34 . TO ADD TO THE 2103

35 . TO FIND OUT HOW 2097 36 . TO FIND OUT IF 2094 37 . TO BE ELIGIBLE , 2043 38 . TO PREVENT THIS , 1925 39 . TO LEARN HOW TO 1913 40 . TO GET THE BEST 1905 41 . TO MAKE IT EASIER 1895 42 . TO ENSURE THAT THE 1886 43 . TO FIX THIS , 1876 44 . TO GET RID OF 1751 45 . TO MAKE A LONG 1654 46 . TO FIND OUT WHAT 1628 47 . TO GIVE YOU A 1590 48 . TO QUALIFY FOR THE 1550 49 . TO SOLVE THIS PROBLEM 1548

50 . TO GET THERE , 1496

51 . TO PUT IT ANOTHER 1462

52 . TO HELP YOU GET 1458 53 . TO PUT IT IN 1455 54 . TO CREATE A NEW 1425 55 . TO USE IT, 1425 56 . TO BE SAFE, 1411 57 . TO PUT THAT IN 1404 58 . TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION 1368 59 . TO ADD INSULT TO 1336 60 . TO ENSURE THAT YOU 1334 61 . TO GET AROUND THIS 1328 62 . TO MAKE THE MOST 1308 63 . TO BE SUCCESSFUL , 1253 64 . TO DO THIS : 1253 65 . TO MAKE IT EVEN 1238 66 . TO BE ELIGIBLE TO 1220 67 . TO BE EFFECTIVE , 1188 68 . TO PUT THIS IN 1175 69 . TO COMBAT THIS , 1123 70 . TO BE MORE SPECIFIC 1122 71 . TO BE ON THE 1114 72 . TO ACHIEVE THIS GOAL 1105 73 . TO GET A BETTER 1097 74 . TO GET AN IDEA 1086 75 . TO MAKE UP FOR 1065 76 . TO DO SO WOULD 1063 77 . TO ENSURE THAT YOUR 1058 78 . TO KEEP UP WITH 1034 79 . TO HELP WITH THIS 996 80 . TO APPLY FOR A 980 81 . TO SIGN UP FOR 955 82 . TO MAKE SURE YOUR 948 83 . TO SUM IT UP 948 84 . TO RETURN TO THE 939 85 . TO TELL YOU THE 933 86 . TO FIND OUT THE 926 87 . TO MAKE THINGS EVEN 921 88 . TO MAKE SURE THE 920 89 . TO BE MORE PRECISE 919 90 . TO PUT THAT INTO 919 91 . TO NAME A FEW 918 92 . TO ADD A NEW 909 93 . TO DO THIS I 904 94 . TO ADDRESS THIS , 880 95 . TO KNOW MORE ABOUT 859 96 . TO PREVENT THIS FROM 843 97 . TO DO THAT YOU 835 98 . TO MAKE THINGS WORSE 833 99 . TO MAKE IT MORE 831

100 . TO BE FAIR TO 826

A2 vocabulary:

able, add, another, around, clear, even, fair, few, find out, goal, idea, if, keep, matters, most, return, sign, so, sure, top, worse

Sentences using our phrases and vocabulary written by AI:

  1. To do this, you need to follow the instructions carefully.
  2. She is reading many books to learn more about the topic.
  3. He started researching online to find out more about the subject.
  4. She enrolled in an online course to learn more about digital marketing.
  5. He practiced the piano every day to do that piece justice at the recital.
  6. She started working part-time to be able to pay for her tuition.
  7. He double-checked all his calculations to be sure of his results.
  8. They worked overtime every day to achieve this target.
  9. You need to meet certain criteria to be eligible for this scholarship.
  10. To do this, you need to have a clear understanding of the basics.
  11. They put in extra hours every day to accomplish this task on time.
  12. She decided to take an extra class to add to the credits she already had.
  13. He started asking around to find out how to solve the problem.
  14. She started looking for clues to find out if he was telling the truth.
  15. They found a shortcut to get around this problem.
  16. She started waking up early every day to make the most of her time.
  17. They put in a lot of effort and resources to achieve this goal.
  18. He started brainstorming different ideas to get an idea of what might work best.
  19. She started taking extra classes to keep up with the rest of her peers.
  20. You need to fill out this form to sign up for our newsletter.
  21. He started digging deeper into the matter to find out the truth.

“To be honest, I didn’t like the movie as much as I thought I would.” and “To be fair, both teams played well in the match.” These are more about expressing an opinion or making a concession rather than indicating a purpose or reason for an action.

I had a discussion with AI about example 15:

In the sentence “They found a shortcut to get around this problem,” the infinitive phrase “to get around this problem” describes the noun “shortcut.” It specifies what kind of shortcut it is – one that allows them to circumvent a problem.

In this context, the infinitive phrase is functioning similarly to an adjective because it’s providing more information about a noun. This is known as an adjectival infinitive phrase.

“She gave me a book to read over the weekend” can be interpreted in two ways due to its ambiguity. It could mean that she gave me a book so that I would have something to read over the weekend (infinitive of purpose). Alternatively, it could mean that she gave me a specific book that is to be read over the weekend (adjectival infinitive phrase).

The interpretation often depends on the context in which the sentence is used. However, to provide a clearer example of an adjectival infinitive phrase, consider this sentence: “I don’t have any clothes to wear to the party.” Here, “to wear to the party” is an adjectival infinitive phrase describing “clothes.” It’s clear in this context that the phrase is providing more information about the noun (clothes) rather than expressing a purpose.