Pain in the English

Forum for the gray areas of the English language

Infinitive without “to”

May 21st, 2009 by tomolonight

What is an infinitive without “to”?

He need not wait.
or
He needs not wait.

Can you explain more about this?

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4 Responses to “Infinitive without “to””

  1. John says:

    This is the use of “need” as an auxiliary, like “ought” or “must”. Auxiliaries are followed by the plain form of the verb without “to”.

    Current score: 0
  2. John says:

    …except for “ought”. Other auxiliaries are “can”, “will”, “should”, “would”, “might”.

    Current score: 0
  3. Mykhailo says:

    we call them modal verbs.

    Current score: 0
  4. Nigel says:

    “He needs not wait” does not seem right to me. I would say, “He does not need to wait.”

    Current score: 0

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