oet infinitive

Did you know that every English verb will have 3-5 different forms? The minimum is 3 forms and the maximum is 5 forms. Some can have 4 forms. To keep it simple, let’s look at the following briefly.

Examples of verbs with 3 formsExamples of verbs with 4 formsExamples of verbs with 5 forms
Cut

Cuts

Cutting

Walk

Walks

Walked
Walking

Eat

Eats

Ate

Eating

Eaten

Put

Puts

Putting

Cry

Cries

Cried

Crying

Fall

Falls

Fell

Falling

Fallen

Hit

Hits

Hitting

Swallow

Swallows

Swallowed

Swallowing

Do

Does

Did

Doing

Done


The infinitive is the verb in its basic form. This means that you do not have an ‘s’ at the end, you do not make it the past tense and you do not add –ing to it. Let’s take one example of the verb ‘change’ (as in, “you need to change your dressing twice a day”). How many forms of ‘change’ can we have?

  • Change
  • Changes
  • Changing
  • Changed

Can you spot the infinitive above? Yes, it is the most basic form of the verb – ‘change’.

Infinitives are often preceded by the word ‘to’, hence, it is normally called the ‘to + infinitive’ structure. So we say ‘to change’, ‘to eat’, ‘to take’, etc.

  • To change √
  • To changes X
  • To changing X
  • To changed X

In your OET Writing sub-test, learn to use the ‘to + infinitive’ structure when you give reasons for an action. For instance, consider the examples below.

Action – taking pills. Reason – help to sleep

  • She took the pills to help her sleep at night.√
  • She took the pills to helping her sleep at night. X

Action – have the documents. Reason – obtain license

  • The documents are necessary to obtain a license.√
  • The documents are necessary to obtained a license. X

Action – prescription. Reason – ease pain

  • The doctor will prescribe something to ease the pain.√
  • The doctor will prescribe something to easing the pain. X

Action – administer insulin. Reason – control glucose

  • The insulin shot was given to control her glucose level.√
  • The insulin shot was given to controls her glucose level. X

Action – have a conference. Reason – make something a priority

  • The purpose of the conference was to make blood safety a priority. √
  • The purpose of the conference was making blood safety a priority. X

Keep this in mind and the ‘to + infinitive’ can be a useful structure you can use for OET Writing. Happy writing!

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