TO infinitive (purpose)

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.

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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

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A2 vocabulary:

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

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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.

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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.

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