Syntactical Functions of the Infinitive
The Subject
| to do smth | is (was, will be) would be means (meant) | necessary impossible a mistake to do smth |
E.g. To tell her the truth under the circumstances is not at all necessary.
| It | is was will be | necessary important interesting easy difficult strange simple nice | to do smth to be done to be doing smth |
E.g. It is necessary to go and explain it to her.
The Predicative
| The Subject of the sentence | is was will be | to do smth to be done |
E.g. What I want is to be left alone.
The infinitive may be part of a compound verbal predicate.
E.g. Could you tell me the time?
The Object
| to promise offer remember forget agree decide pretend want mean | to do smth to be doing smth to be done |
E.g. She didn’t want to be seen in such company.
| to be glad to be pleased to be astonished to be angry to be delighted to be afraid | to do smth to be doing smth to have done smth to have been doing smth to be done to have been done |
E.g. They were astonished to have found me there.
The Attribute
| the first the last the second | to do smth |
E.g. Who was the last to speak to him?
| Somebody nobody anything someone | to do smth |
E.g. I have nothing to tell you.
There was nobody there to show him how to do it.
| man place time thing | to do smth |
E.g. It is not the right time to discuss this subject.
The passive infinitive is seldom used in the attributive function; the correct way is to say “it is a book to read” and not “to be read”.
Exceptions: there is nothing to be done and nothing to do; there is something to be seen, to be said and something to see, to say.
The attributive passive infinitive may have a future meaning: The houses to be built there will be of the same type.
The Adverbial Modifier of Purpose
| To do smth | (in order / so as) | to get smth to be given smth |
E.g. I have come here to speak to you.
She pretended to be quite well so as not to be taken to the doctor.
The Adverbial Modifier of Result.
| (too) | young old easy difficult | (enough) | to do smth to be done to have done to have been done |
E.g. You are too young to wear black.
|
|
|
That girl is stupid enough to have believed every word he says.
The Secondary Predicative
| Smb. Smth. | is was | nice hard difficult pleasant impossible | to do (at, with) |
E.g. She is nice to work with.
3 The verbal characteristics of the infinitive are as follows:
i. the infinitive of transitive verbs can take a direct object (e.g. He began to feel some curiosity);
ii. the infinitive can be modified by an adverb (e.g. I can’t write so quickly);
iii. the infinitive has tense and aspect distinctions; the infinitive of transitive verbs has also voice distinctions.
The infinitive has six forms:
| Indefinite | Passive | Continuous |
| To write | To be written | To be writing |
| Perfect | Perfect Passive | Perfect Continuous |
| To have written | To have been written | To have been writing |
Verbs which are not used in the passive voice have only four forms of the infinitive:
| Indefinite | Continuous |
| To stand | To be standing |
| Perfect | Perfect Continuous |
| To have stood | To have been standing |
To form the negative, we simply put not immediately before the infinitive:
She warned me not to be late.
The indefinite infinitive indicates that the action expressed by the infinitive is simultaneous with the action of the finite form of the verb in the sentence:
I know him to be a very good teacher.
When associated with modal verbs and their equivalents, the indefinite infinitive may also refer to a future action:
It may rain tomorrow.
The continuous infinitive lays the emphasis on the duration of the action that is simultaneous with the action of the finite form of the verb in the sentence:
I was pleased to be driving the car again.
The perfect infinitive shows that the action expressed by the infinitive precedes the action indicated by the finite form of the verb:
I am glad to have taken your advice.
The perfect continuous infinitive denotes an action in progress which lasted for some time before the action (or state) expressed by the finite verb:
|
|
|
I am pleased to have been doing this kind of work all the time.
After the past tense of verbs expressing hope, expectation, intention the perfect infinitive is used to indicate that the action was not carried out:
I meant to have called you but I didn’t have time.
The Active and Passive forms of the infinitive show whether the subject of the sentence acts or is acted upon.
Infinitive without Particle to
(Bare Infinitive)
Bare infinitive is used:
| Rules | Examples |
| After auxiliaries and modal verbs except ought, have, be. | Do you know what time is it now? You must come and see us one day. You ought to have come earlier. |
| After the verbs denoting sense perception such as to hear, to see, to feel, to watch, to observe, to notice, etc in the active voice. | I saw him enter the shop. But: He was seen to enter the shop. |
| After the verbs to let, to make, to have (in the meaning to get), to know (in the meaning to see / to observe) in the active voice. | Don’t let the children annoy you. She made me do this test again. I’ll have an electrician repair it. But: I was made to stand in the corner. |
| After modal expressions had better, cannot but, would rather, nothing but, would sooner, cannot choose but. | I’d rather be told the truth. You’d better not make a mistake next time. He couldn’t but go there. |
| In infinitive sentences beginning with why (not). | Why not cook fish tonight? You look tired. Why not take a holiday? |
| We use both bare infinitive and to-infinitive forms after the verbs need, dare, do and help. (Bare infinitive is preferable after positive forms and needn’t. To-infinitive after doesn’t / don’t need, dare not and help not). | You needn’t do this washing up. You don’t need to clean the floor. Does she dare (to) refuse you? All I did was (to) give him the information. How can I help my children not to worry about their exams? |
Omitted “to”
| We can join ideas with and, except, but and or. The particle “to” is usually dropped before the second infinitive. She wanted to go and see the film. He wanted to do everything except study. Note: When two infinitives are joined by and, the second is almost always a bare infinitive. When they are joined by but or or, a to-infinitive is possible, but a bare infinitive is more common. |
|
|
|
Reduced Infinitive
| Sometimes the whole infinitive needs not to be repeated if it is understood from the context: A: Can you and Mary come to lunch next Sunday? B: I’d love to. A: Can I smoke in here? B: No, you aren’t allowed to. A: Why aren’t you coming to the film? B: I don’t want to. |
Infinitive constructions
In modern English we find the following predicative constructions with the infinitive:
the Objective-with-the-Infinitive Construction (Complex Object);
the Subjective Infinitive Construction (Complex subject);
the for-to-Infinitive Construction.
Дата добавления: 2019-02-12; просмотров: 1231; Мы поможем в написании вашей работы! |
Мы поможем в написании ваших работ!