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Kate: I love to read.Really! But I don't read because I want people to think I'm smart.I can't stand those pompous people who try to show off how much they know about literature.

Why in the above context there is " I want people to think " instead of " I want people think"

AR AM
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2 Answers2

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In English, some verbs are followed by the infinitive with "to" (the full infinitive)

  • want - "I want to go", "I want you to stay"
  • promise - "He promised to do it"
  • and there is a long list of such verbs (forget, agree, manage, decide, love, hate, watch, bid, etc)

Some verbs are followed by the infinitive without "to" (the bare infinitive)

  • let - "let me help you"
  • make (except in the passive voice) - "she made me do it"
  • dare - "I dare not wake him", "I don't dare (to) wake him"
  • need (except when conjugated with do/will/would) "You need not say anything about it"
  • etc, etc.

Other verbs can be followed by infinitive with or without "to"

  • help - "John helped me (to) push the car"

In your example, "want" is one of those verbs that can be followed by object + infinitive, just like tell, order, allow, encourage, request, forbid, warn, teach, etc) and in this case the infinitive has to be preceded by "to" (the full infinitive) This is just a summary. For more on the subject, CDO and Edufind and the OPG

Centaurus
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In this case, the infinitive to think is a complement of the verb want.

In other words, "I want people to think" is grammatically correct, but "I want people think" is not.

Recommended reading: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinitive#Uses_of_the_infinitive

Kevin Workman
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