My favorite thing to do is to cook.

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Infinitive Nouns

Intermediate

With infinitive nouns, you will be able to talk about things you like to do and want to do.

Exercise 1

Sentence Practice

My dream is to live in New York
My job is to clean toilets.
I want to go to university.
Everyone likes to sing in the shower.
The cat likes to be petted.

Grammar Focus

'To Infinitives'

The infinitive is the basic form of verbs. There are two types:

bare infinitive (I will climb Mt. Everest.)
to infinitive (I want to climb Mt. Everest).

This lesson will focus on 'to infinitives'.

Why do we use Infinitives as Nouns?

Infinitives, like gerunds, turn verbs into nouns and noun phrases:

I want a university degree. (= noun)
I want to go to university (= infinitive noun phrase)

How do we use 'To Infinitives' as Nouns?

Noun infinitives work like gerunds. They can be subjects, objects, and subject complements:

Hiking is good for your health.
→ To hike is good for your health. ('To hike' = subject)

She likes hiking.
→ She likes to hike. ('To hike' = object)

My favorite activity is hiking
→ My favorite thing to do is to hike. ('To hike' = complement)

When we use more than one noun infinitive, we can drop the 'to' after the first infinitive:

I want to hike and to swim.
→ I want to hike and swim.

Empty It + Infinitive

As mentioned above, we can use noun infinitives as subjects:

To hike Mt. Everest is my goal.

The subject of this sentence is the noun infinitive phrase 'to hike Mt. Everest'. However in general, it is awkward to put the infinitive at the beginning of a sentence. It is better to use an 'empty it' at the beginning of the sentence:

To hike Mt. Everest is my goal. (= awkward sentence)
→ It is my goal to hike Mt. Everest. (= natural sentence)

To understand English movies is difficult.
→ It's difficult to understand English movies.

Exercise 2

Sentence Practice

I want to leave this country.
I want to cook tonight.
My hobby is to cook.
He likes to be complimented.
It is nice to live in such a big apartment.
It is good for our health to sleep early.
It is fun for the students to learn about music.

Exercise 3

Rephrasing Sentences

Rephrase the following gerund sentences into infinitive sentences.

Example

He loves waking up early. → "He loves to wake up early."

I like watching TV after work.

She hates cooking and cleaning.

They do not like talking about themselves.

Texting while driving is dangerous.

Drinking too much coffee is bad for your health.

Playing with my dog is relaxing.

Exercise 4

Sentence Building

Your three-year-old niece is trying to talk about her interests and dreams. Help her form sentences by using the infinitive.

My dream, become a famous singer → My dream is to become a famous singer.

I love, sing
I also love, dance
I really like, go to musicals
I want, sing on Broadway
But I don't like, practice
It's not fun, practice
It's more fun, watch TV