The Infinitive as Part of a Compound Verbal Predicate

 

The infinitive is used in compound verbal predicates of three types.

 

I. In compound verbal modal predicate after the modal verbs can, may,
might, ought, must, shall, should, will, would, need, dare, to be, to have.

I can tell you nothing at all about him.

She ought to have told me before.

II. In compound verbal phrasal predicate after verbs denoting various
stages of the action, such as its beginning, continuation or end. These
verbs, which are often called phrasal verbs, form a close set, of which the
verbs to begin, to come, to start, to continue, to go on, to cease, can
form a compound verbal phrasal predicate with the infinitive:

Now I begin to understand you.

Then she came to realize what it all meant.

They continued to whisper.

 

After all these verbs the infinitive retains to.

The verbs to begin, to continue and to start can also be followed by a gerund, although with a slight difference in meaning.¹

Note: The verb _to stop in addition to its phrasal meaning (to interrupt-or to put an end to an action), in which it is followed by a gerund, also means to halt, to pause, in which case it may be followed by an infinitive functioning as an adverbial modifier of, purpose.

He stopped to see what it was. He stopped seeing her.

Он остановился, чтобы посмот- Он перестал с ней встречаться,

реть, что это такое.

 

III. In the compound verbal predicate which has no analogy in Russian. The three subtypes of this predicate can be distinguished according to the structure which constitutes the first part:

 

1. The first part is expressed by one of the following intransitive verbs in the active voice: to seem — казаться; to appear— оказаться, казаться; to prove, to turn out— оказаться; to happen, to chance— слу­чаться.

 

The strange little man seemed toread my thoughts. - Странный человечек, казалось,читал мои мысли.

The, man seemedtohavecome from far off. - Казалось, этот человек при ехал откуда-то издалека.

Nothing appearedtobehap pening there. - Казалось, что здесь ничего не происходило.

 

He appeared to have been running all the way. - Казалось, что он пробежал всю дорогу бегом.

He proved to be a healthy child. -Он оказался здоровым ре­бенком.

The night turned out to be cold. -Ночь оказалась холодной.

Don't you happen to know her? – Ты ее случайно не знаешь?

 

Note 1: After the verbs to prove and to turn out the infinitival part is mostly presented by the phrase "to be + noun or adjective".

Note 2: After the verbs to seem, to appear, to happen, which are the most frequent of the group all analytical forms of the infinitive are rather broadly used.

Note 3: Simple sentences with this type of predicate are synonymous with complex sentences of certain pattern:

He seems to be smiling. It seems that lie is smiling.

She appeared to have said all. It appeared that she had said all.

 

2. The first part of the predicate is expressed by me passive voice forms of certain transitive verbs. They are:

 

a) verbs of saying: to announce, to declare, to report, to say, to state.

She was announced to be the winner. – Ее объявили победительницей. (Было объявлено, что победила она).

He is said to have returned at last. – Говорят, что он наконец вернулся.

c) verbs of mental activity: to believe, to consider, to expect, to find, to know, to mean, to presume, to regard, to suppose, to think, to understand

He’ ssupposedtobeleavingtonight. – Предполагают (предполагается), что он уезжает сегодня вечером.

She is believed to be a clever girl. – Ее считают умной девушкой. (Считается, что она умная девушка.)

Her father was thought to have died long ago. – Считалось (считали, думали, полагали), что ее отец давным-давно умер.

d) the verb to make:

He was made to keep silent. – Его заставили замолчать.

 

3. The first part is expressed by the phrases: to be likely, to be unlikely, to be sure, to be certain. In this case only the non-perfect forms of the infinitive are used, with future reference.

 

She is likely to be late.

He is sure to become your friend.

In all these three subtypes the infinitive is always used with the particle to.

The Infinitive as Object

 

The infinitive can have the function of object after verbs, adjectives, adjectivized participles and statives.

 

I. After verbs the infinitive may be either the only object of a verb or one of two objects.

 

1. Verbs that take only one object are: to agree, to arrange, to attempt, to care (to like), to choose, to claim, to consent, to decide, to deserve, to determine, to expect, to fail, to fear, to forget, to hesitate, to hope, to intend, to learn, to like, to long, to love, to manage, to mean, to neglect, to omit, to plan, to prefer, to pretend, to refuse, to regret, to remember, to swear, to tend.

She agreed to come at ten.

He planned to spend the day in town.

You 'll soon learn to read, sonny.

These verbs are generally used with the non-perfect forms of the
infinitive.

Some of them, however, also occur with perfect forms. Among
them two groups of verbs can be distinguished:

a) the. verbs to claim, to fail, to forget, to hate, to like, to omit, to regret, to remember, to swear, with which the perfect infinitive expresses priority proper, that is actions which actually take place or are supposed to take place before the action of the finite verb:

I regret to have said it to her.

I remembered to have met him once.

She claims to have seen him before

Note: In such structures the finite verb can take the form of any tense.

b) the verbs to attempt, to expect, to hope, to intend, to mean,
to plan, to try, which add to the perfect infinitive a modal colouring
showing that the action of the infinitive was not fulfilled:

I hoped to have found him at home.

He intended to have reached the coast long before.

Note: In these structures the finite verb can be used only in the past tense.

Besides the above-mentioned verbs there are also some rather common phrases used with the infinitive-object. They are the phrases can afford, can bear in the negative or interrogative and such phrases as to make sure, to make up one’s mind, to take care, to take the trouble.

Can you afford to buy it yourself?

I can’t bear to hear it again.

At last he made up his mind to answer Sybil’s letter.

2. Verbs that has two objects, the first of which is a noun or a pronoun and the second an infinitive. These are the verbs of inducement:

to advise	to direct	to induce	to permit
to allow	to encourage	to instruct	to persuade
to ask	to forbid	to invite	to recommend
to beg	to force	to leave	to request
to cause	to have	to let	to require
to command	to impel	to make	to tell
to compel	to implore	to order	to urge

Tell him to hurry. He asked her to keep an eye on the clock. What would you recommend me to do?

With all these verbs except to have, to let and to make, the infinitive is used with the particle to. After to have, to let and to make it loses the particle.

She’ll have you do it at once. Don’t let it bother you. Soon she made me see where I was wrong.

The first of the two objects, which is a noun in the common case or a pronoun in the objective case, denotes a person (or, very seldom, a non-person) who is to perform the required action expressed by the infinitive.

Note: The verb to help can be used either with one or with two objects:

She helped to pack. She helped me to make up my mind.

In either case the infinitive can be used with or without to.

And she actually helped find it. I’ll help you do it.

 

With some verbs the function of object may be performed by a conjunctive infinitive phrase. These verbs are very few in number and fall into two groups:

a) Verbs that can take either an infinitive or an infinitive conjunctive phrase as their object. These are: to advise, to decide, to forget, to learn, to remember.

They advised me to go on.

He decided to begin at once.

I forgot to tell you about the last incident.

He advised me at last how to settle the matter.

He could not decide whether to come at all.

I forgot how to do it.

b) Verbs that can take only a conjunctive infinitive phrase as their object: to know, to show, to wonder.

She did not know what to say.

I know well enough where to stop.

Will you show me how to do it?

II. After certain adjectives (adjectivized participles), mostly used as predicatives. Semantically and structurally these fall into two groups.

 

1. The, most frequent of the first group are; anxious, apt, bound, careful, curious, determined, difficult, eager, easy, entitled, fit, free, hard, impatient, inclined, interested, keen, liable, powerless, prepared, quick, ready, reluctant, resolved, set, slow, worthy.

She's determined to go on.

I am powerless to do anything.

He’s fully prepared to meet them any time they choose.

I was so impatient to start.

 

When used with these adjectives, the infinitive denotes actions either simultaneous with or posterior to the states expressed by the predicates, and cannot therefore be used inperfect forms.

 

2. The most frequent adjectives (adjectivized participles) of the second group are: amused, annoyed, astonished, delighted,-distressedfrightened, furious, glad, grateful, happy, horrified, pleased, proud, puzzled,relieved, scared, sorry, surprised, thankful, touched.

He was amused to hear it.

I'm delighted to see you again, darling.

She is proud to have grown such a son.

Mother was furious to see them together again.

 

These adjectives and participles express certain psychological states which are the result of the action of the infinitive object, so the latter therefore always denotes an action slightly preceding the state expressed by the predicate, and can have both non-perfect and perfect forms. The non-perfect forms are used to express immediate priority, that is, an action immediately preceding the state:

I'm glad to see you (I see you and this makes me glad).

The perfect forms are used to show that there is a gap between the action and the resulting state.

I am glad to have seen you (I have seen you and this makes me. glad).

 

III. After certain statives denoting psychological states, such as afraid, agog, ashamed:

 

I’d be afraid to step inside a h ouse that Rupert had designed all by himself.

Mary herself was agog to know what was going on.

In such cases the infinitive points out the source of the state expressed by the stative.

 

The Infinitive as Attribute

 

The English infinitive functioning as an attribute is far more Sequent than the Russian infinitive. This is because in Russian the infinitive attribute can combine with abstract nouns only while in English it is used with a much wider range of words.

Thus it can modify:

1. nouns, both abstract and concrete:

Because of his quarrel with his family he was in no position to get the news.

The best thing to do would be to go back.

2. indefinite, negative and universal pronouns in -body, -thing,-one (one):

Have you anything to offer me?

He was someone to admire.

He had everything to make his life a happy one.

Note: Occasionally the infinitive can have the function of an attribute to personal and reflexive pronouns:

I've only you to look to.

Oh, but you have only yourself lo praise.

3. substantivized ordinal numerals (especially first) and the substan­tivized adjectives next and last:

Jack was the first to come.

She was the last to reach the hall.

4. the substantivized quantitative adjectives much, little, (no) more,
(no) less, little more, enough:

A man in your position has so much to lose. I've no more to add.

Note: The infinitive attribute can also be used with the substantivized adverb nowhere: Now 1 had nobody to see, nowhere to go.

5. the noun-substitute one.

I am not the one to run about and discuss my affairs with other people.

 

The most common form of the infinitive functioning as an attribute is the non-perfect common aspect active voice form. The non-perfect common aspect passive form is also rather freely used, although, with certain semantic restrictions. Occasionally the perfect form of the active voice is also found in this position:

The "Watchman" was the only paper ever to have published any of Nevil's poems.

 

When performing the function of an attribute the infinitive is always used with the particle to. If there are two or more homogeneous attributes the second (and the following) retain to if joined asyndetically, but drop it if joined by conjunctions.

There was, however, my little Jean to look after, to take care of.

Did he give you any small parcel to bring back and deliver to anyone in England?

I suppose there’s nothing to be done, but comply and depart.

The relation between the attributive infinitive and its headword can be of four kinds: subjective, objective, adverbial and appositive.

 

1. In phrases with subjective relation the head word denotes:

a) the doer of the action of the infinitive (the most common case).The infinitive is always in the active voice:

But I wasn't the only person to bear you (who heard you).

There was nothing to take him into the city (which would take).

b) the bearer of the state expressed by an adjective or stativefollowing the infinitive of the verb to be:

He was not the man to be proud of his wealth. He is the last man to be afraid of you.

 

2. In phrases with objective relation the head word denotes anobject (direct or prepositional):

a) of an action denoted by the infinitive in the active or passiveform:

I have no money to give him: we are getting poor. But isn't there something to be done right now?

If the infinitive requires a prepositional object, the latter is placed after the infinitive:

Now I had nothing more to think about. There was Irene to be thought of.

b) of the state denoted by an adjective or a stative following theverb to be. As these adjectives and statives take prepositional objects,they are always followed by prepositions:

It isn't an idea to be proud of. He's done nothing to be ashamed of.

 

Note: In phrases with subjective and objective relations the attributive infinitive very often acquires a modal meaning, generally that of possibility or necessity:

He is not a man to be trusted. I've still got so much to do here.

 

3. In phrases with an adverbial relation the head word denotes thetime, place, or manner of the action expressed by the infinitive. Therange of nouns used in such phrases is semantically limited:

All this I saw in a moment, for I had only a moment to see in. (time relation)

I have no home to go. It was a wonderful place to be taken to. (space relation).

This is the way to teach him. (relation of manner)

In phrases with an adverbial relation the infinitive usually has some modal meaning, generally that of possibility (see the examples above).

 

4. In phrases with an appositive relation the head word is an abstract ­noun which requires a certain explication of its meaning, andthe infinitive provides that explication:

She manifested the greatest anxiety to be on good terms with him. They had no desire to spread scandal, no desire to be ill-natured.

The active infinitive is the most common in appositive phrases, although the passive form is also used:

He had no wish to be seen there again.

Note: In phrases with an appositive relation the infinitive never has any modal meaning (see the sentences above).

 

The infinitive as an attribute may be introduced by a con­junction:

He had sought in vain for inspiration how to awaken love.

I had now an idea what to do.

The conjunctive infinitive phrase may be governed by a preposition:

They had no knowledge of how to live on. He's got no information about when to start.