Search from various English teachers...
西门大官人
Is "to breakfast" an infinitive or just a preposition plus a noun in the following?
She thanked him for saving them and sat down to breakfast.
Sep 8, 2010 6:30 AM
Answers · 8
1
Pretty sure there is no instance where breakfast can be used as a verb. So to answer your question, it's a prepositional phrase. I guess technically it's grammatically correct, but usually you would say "to eat breakfast" or "for breakfast" instead.
September 8, 2010
1
From a dictionary:
breakfast:
noun
1. the first meal of the day; morning meal: A hearty breakfast was served at 7 a.m.
2. the food eaten at the first meal of the day: a breakfast of bacon and eggs.
verb (used without object)
3. to eat breakfast: He breakfasted on bacon and eggs.
verb (used with object)
4. to supply (someone) with breakfast: We breakfasted the author in the finest restaurant.
James' answer seems to be the most accurate.
In Canada and the US we use breakfast as a noun - maybe 99% of the time (definition #1 and 2)
It is very unusual for someone to use breakfast as a verb, although it's not incorrect (definition #3 and 4).
"and sat down to breakfast" means "and sat down to eat the breakfast".
"to breakfast" would usually be interpretted as a preposition + noun, however, it could also be considered to be the infinitive form of the verb breakfast (i.e., to breakfast).
September 8, 2010
To break-fast, it can be used as a verb ,it means you haven't eating for sometime and it's time to break the fasting . (It's time to break-fast ,i have been fasting for 10 hours.)
now of course breakfast is a noun .( I have breakfast a 7:00 o'clock in the morning.)
September 8, 2010
In your example, it could be either a prep+ noun or a verb, but this is probably a prep + noun.
Generally, "breakfast" is used as a noun, but it does depend on the context. For example:
"Let's go to breakfast at 10 o'clock" (prep + noun)
"Let's breakfast at 10 o'clock" (verb)
September 8, 2010
Here to breakfast is a verb other than a noun.
September 8, 2010
Still haven’t found your answers?
Write down your questions and let the native speakers help you!
西门大官人
Language Skills
Chinese (Mandarin), English
Learning Language
English
Articles You May Also Like

Same Word, Different Meaning: American, British, and South African English
13 likes · 12 Comments

How to Sound Confident in English (Even When You’re Nervous)
13 likes · 11 Comments

Marketing Vocabulary and Phrases for Business English Learners
12 likes · 6 Comments
More articles