Cool Breeze  +  553119 Sun, 10 Aug 08 08:52 AM Anonymous “As far as I know, bold "to" after "for" does not make "carry" a noun. It's just an infinitive of purpose. ”   I don't know anyone that has considered carry a noun in "coming for to carry me home". What is odd is that an infinitive is used after a preposition in this phrase. We don't say: I am interested in to hear it. Let's talk about to go there. He had an opportunity of to visit Cairo. A gerund is used after prepositions and thus the song should go: "Swing low, sweet chariot, coming for carrying me home." That sounds ungrammatical, though! CB Cool Breeze Joined on Fri, Apr 7 2006 Senior Member 3,973 "I hope you'll all live to be 150 years old - and the last voice you hear is mine!" Frank Sinatra on stage in Oslo, Norway, 28 September 1991 Prepositions, Nouns, Gerunds

	Huevos  +  553124 Sun, 10 Aug 08 09:31 AM nona the brit “'To err is human; to forgive divine' being the classic example. I can't see the bible being re-written to 'erring is human; forgiving divine'.” Those words aren't from the bible, they are by the poet Alexander Pope (1688 - 1744). Among other of his words that have become proverbial are: A little learning is a dang'rous thing For fools rush in where angels fear to tread Hope springs eternal in the human breast The proper study of mankind is man     Huevos Joined on Tue, Mar 25 2008 Regular Member 626 British Native Gerunds

	Diamondrg  +  553128 Sun, 10 Aug 08 09:35 AM 1. 'To play games is a fun way of improving your memory skills.' (wrong)-- Here, the second one is 'wrong' and sounds so, because of the lack of parallelism, which the first sentence exhibits: 'playing' - 'improving'. 2. 'To shoplift is considered a serious crime.' (right) Mister Micawber” Hi, As I do not think the parallelism has anything to do with the infinitive being wrong in 1 as CalifJim also pointed out, I think it would be helpful to cast some light on why 1 is wrong and 2 correct? Any comment is welcome. Diamondrg Joined on Fri, Dec 2 2005 Contributing Member 1,043 Gerunds

	Cool Breeze  +  553194 Sun, 10 Aug 08 12:16 PM Diamondrg “ 1. 'To play games is a fun way of improving your memory skills.' (wrong)-- Here, the second one is 'wrong' and sounds so, because of the lack of parallelism, which the first sentence exhibits: 'playing' - 'improving'. ” Hi, As I do not think the parallelism has anything to do with the infinitive being wrong in 1 as CalifJim also pointed out, I think it would be helpful to cast some light on why 1 is wrong and 2 correct? Any comment is welcome. ”   Improving is required by the preposition (of). I agree with you as far as parallelism is concerned in this sentence. I consider the sentence correct as well. CB Cool Breeze Prepositions, Gerunds

	Goodman  +  679754 Tue, 24 Feb 09 11:14 PM  This is an old thread if your comments referred to #553194. I completely agree with your comments. To shoplift is a crime  -sounds weird to me. Goodman Joined on Mon, Nov 7 2005 Senior Member 3,816 The name says it all!