<p>Hi, I got this problem:
Societies acting through their governments make the rules "to state" which acts are illegal....</p>
<p>this is a question from ETS, the correct answer is "stating" instead of "to state". I don't know what's the difference? They're both could be adverb or adjective.</p>
<p>And also what's the difference between participles vs to infinitive?
Thanks.</p>
<p>I’m not exactly sure what the technical difference is, but even when I don’t know the difference, I am able to spot the error because if the sentence uses verbs in -ing form, then the rest of the verbs that act in a similar way must also end in -ing. The same thing goes for infinitive verbs. </p>
<p>From Sparknotes:</p>
<p>Screw-Up 6: Gerunds
As we said in screw-up 4 a gerund is a verb form that ends in –ing, such as prancing, divulging, stuffing, and so on. Your understanding of gerunds will usually be tested by questions that use the infinitive “to ___” form, such as to prance, to divulge, and to stuff.</p>
<p>In my family , Thanksgiving dinner usually causes two or</p>
<p>more family members to engage in a screaming match, thus preventing </p>
<p>the meal to be completed . No error .</p>
<p>In this example, the problematic phrase is preventing the meal to be completed. This phrase should read thus preventing the meal from being completed, changing the infinitive to be to the conjugated form, being. That change preserves the parallel structure with the gerund preventing in the last clause. Here’s another example:</p>
<p>To keep your engine running in the freezing cold is a good</p>
<pre><code> way to keep the car’s interior warm and cozy. No error .
</code></pre>
<p>In this sentence, the infinitive verb to keep should be switched to the gerund keeping to match the gerund verb running in the same clause.</p>
<p>“To state” is the infinitive form of the verb, and the verb applies to “the rules”. So read it out loud; “The rules to state which acts are illegal…” doesn’t make sense, but " The rules stating which acts are illegal…" does.
Also, because “societies” are “acting”, which is present continuous tense, the verb after “rules” must be in present continuous tense as well, hence " stating".</p>
<p>I don’t know the technical terms like gerunds participles etc but because there is a “the” before rules, the answer is “stating”. If there was no “the”, it could be either answer. </p>
<p>Sorry if that doesn’t make sense. I kinda can tell off of how it sounds so I never learned gerunds and participial phrases and stuff</p>
<p>either to infinitive or v-ing form could be adjective,noun, and adverb.That’s what i read in grammar books, but they don’t tell what’s the difference?</p>
<p>How about “to state” in that case act as a adverb modify for make? Does that make sense, like " make to state" ?</p>
<p>I see what you mean there; grammar wise, “to state” is perfectly valid. I think the key point is figuring out what the sentence is suppose to say/mean. Is there more to the sentence? If not, then the ETS made an error. Otherwise, depending on how the rest of the sentence goes, it could be that the “Societies…made the rules to state…” OR “…made rules stating”. You were right~ :)</p>
<p>Ah sorry, please forget what I had said on the other post. I found the error. Sorry! >__<</p>
<p>No, you cannot use “to state” because the sentence tells you that it is not (societies) that is stating, but (rules).
“Societies acting through their governments make the rules “to state” which acts are illegal…” The key point here is “…acting through their governments…” meaning that (societies) is NOT DIRECTLY INVOLVED with what the rules state. </p>
<p>Is this confusing?</p>
<p>Here, try this: “I use the stick to hit you.” The subject is obviously “I”. However, “I” did not hit you, “the stick” did. Therefore, the verb “to hit” applies to “stick”, not “I”. </p>
<p>Similarly, (societies) is not “stating”, (the rules) made by (societies) is “stating”. It’s a tricky question-- both “to state” and “stating” would be perfectly valid if “…acting through their governments” was omitted, which is why the ETS purposely put it there.</p>
<p>i got it, thanks.
But i don’t know what’s the difference between " stating rules" and " rules to state" . Because either of that case, “stating” or “to state” is an adjective modifying the noun “rules”</p>
<p>I’m not sure I understand what you mean…
Neither “stating” or “to state” is acting as an adjective modifying the noun. </p>
<p>“Stating” is the continuous participle of “state” and it applies the the noun before “rules”, not “rules”.
(ex) YOU are stating rules.–> “You” is the subject, “are” is the helping verb, “stating” is the verb, and “rules” is the OBJECT of the sentence. It is recieving the action of being stated, but without any change in qualities. “Rules” still just means “rules”.</p>
<p>“To state” is the infinitive form of the state, and usually, infinitive forms of verbs are used to demonstrate a purpose or to list in sequence. It is usually used after another verb, or following the object of the sentence.
(ex) I do homework (to get) good grades, (to learn) more, and (to go) to a good college.</p>
<p>“Rules to state” is a phrase, and “to state” is not describing “rules”, but WHY the “rules” are there.
(ex) SHE made the rules to state what is prohibited.–> “She” is the subject, “made” is the verb, “the rules” is the object, “to state” explains WHY she made “the rules”. There is still no change in the condition of “rules” (by change, I mean, you don’t know if the rules are bad, good, strict, etc.).</p>
<p>The only way I see how “state” could be used as an adjective is if “rules” was the SUBJECT and not the OBJECT of the sentence, followed by a form of “to be”.
(ex) The rules are being stated.–> “The rules” is the subject, “are” is the helping verb, “Being” is the main verb, and “stated” is decribing rules. It’s acting as an adjective because “rules” are not just “rules”, but they are “stated rules”. The difference is subtle, but it matters.</p>
<p>I’m so sorry if you find this all really confusing! >__<;</p>
<p>so if it’s “to state” , which word is it modifying?
and if " stating", which …
+_+!
and is that true that To infinitive is never in a clause that begins with “that”</p>
<p>i checked. “to state” is only adjective if “rules” is the subject, that’s true. but why is it 
i’ve got 700 SAT writing, but i do these problems not by instinct but by grammars. it doesn’t make sense to me to use instinct to get a high score.</p>
<p>Uh huh, I totally agree with you~ It’s always better to do problems by the rules than to use what “sounds” right~:3
I think its just a rule or thumb that infinitive forms acting as adjectives must apply to the subject. Not sure if I can find out why; I study from a chinese grammar book (oxymoron?). Sorry! x_x;;</p>