parts of speech

Question

what parts of speech is functioning 'to play' in the sentence 'I want to play cricket'.

verb or adjective

Answer 1

The part of speech of "to play" in the sentence "I want to play cricket" is 'infinitive verb.' Any action word (verb) that comes after the word "to" is in its infinitive form.

Answer 2

The example question that you gave 'I want to play cricket' is a basic sentence with two verbs.

Verb 1= want

Verb 2= to play

Verb 1 is in its base form. This verb on many occasions, needs to be completed with another verb in order to express a complete idea demonstrating a wish or need.

Verb 2 is in its infinitive form. In this case it is completing the word want.

Other verbs that that can follow this rule are need, wish, love, like, and have (obligation).

Sometimes verb 1 is named main verb and verb 2 is named second verb.

Answer 3

The verb "want to" is considered to be a semi-modal verb. Modal verbs are auxiliary verbs that are followed by a main verb. Therefore, "play" is the main verb. I have never heard the term "infinitive verb," which is confusing. Infinitives (to + verb) are verbals that are used as nouns and to start infinitive phrases.