PASSIVE WITH

INFINITIVES AND
GERUNDS
INFINITIVES
An infinitive can be:

• a to-infinitive
I ought to call them.
• a bare infinitive (without ‘to’)
I had better call them. 
◦ the infinitive has no tense → it does not in itself indicate the time of
the action that it refers to

◦ it can have aspect → shows the temporal relationship between the

action expressed by the infinitive and the time of the preceding verb
Four types of infinitive:

Active Passive
Simple infinitive (to) write (to) be written
Continuous infinitive (to) be writing (to) be being written
Perfect infinitive (to) have written (to) have been written
Perfect continuous (to) have been writing (to) have been being written
infinitive
Simple infinitive
It refers to the same time as that of the preceding verb:

I was glad to see her.

Continuous infinitive

It refers to the same time as that of the preceding verb and expresses an action
in progress or happening over a period of time:

I'm glad to be sitting here.

Perfect infinitive
It refers to a time before that of the preceding verb:

I'm glad to have studied at that school.

Perfect continuous infinitive
It refers to a time before that of the preceding verb and expresses an action in
progress or happening over a period of time:

I'm glad to have been living in Barcelona for the last ten years.
Passive infinitives

Your composition has to be typed.

verb + to be + past participle

GERUNDS
Why did Tom keep making jokes about me? I don’t enjoy being laughed at.
You say you remember telling me the news. But I certainly can’t remember
being told.

I insist on meeting you at the airport. I love being met at the airport.
Famous people get tired of being recognized everywhere they go.
Passive Gerunds
The postman complained about being attacked by Nick’s dog.

verb (preposition) + being + past participle

References
• Cambridge Dictionary. Learner’s Dictionary.
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/learner-english/
•Grammaring.com
http://www.grammaring.com/the-forms-of-the-infinitive, 4 Apr. 2017
• For reporting a simultaneous event in the passive voice, see:
http://www.grammaring.com/reporting-a-simultaneous-event-in-the-passive-voice, 4 Apr. 2017
• For reporting an earlier event in the passive voice, see:
http://www.grammaring.com/reporting-an-earlier-event-in-the-passive-voice, 4 Apr. 2017
• Eastwood, J. (1999) Oxford Practice Grammar. Oxford: OUP, p. 140.