Грамматика английского языка Морфология. Синтаксис (стр. 18 из 71)

His to blame.

The house is to let.

The question is difficult to answer.

There was only one thing to do.

The active infinitive thus used is called retroactive.

The retroactive infinitive is rather productive although in nearly all cases it can be replaced by the corresponding passive form:

He is to blame —> He is to be blamed.

There was only one thing to do ——> There was only one thing to be done.

Syntactical functions of the infinitive

§ 101. The infinitive performs almost all syntactical functions characteristic of the noun, although in each of them it has certain peculiarities of its own. In all syntactical functions the infinitive may be used:

1) alone, that is, without any words depending on it:

She would like to dance.

2) as the headword of an infinitive phrase, that is, with one or more words depending on it:

She would like to dance with him tonight.

3) as part of an infinitive predicative construction, that is, as a logical predicate to some nominal element denoting the logical subject of the infinitive:

She would like him to dance with her.

She waited for him to dance first.

As to the functioning of single infinitives and infinitive phrases, they are identical in this respect and therefore will be used without distinction in illustrations. However it should be noted that in fact the infinitive phrase is much more common than the single infinitive.

The infinitive as subject

§ 102. The infinitive functioning as subject may either precede the predicate or follow it. In the latter case it is introduced by the so-called introductory it, which is placed at the beginning of the sentence:

To be good is to be in harmony with oneself.

It’s so silly to be fussy and jealous.

The second of these structural patterns is more common than the first, and the subject in this pattern is more accentuated (compare for example: It’s impossible to do it and To do it is impossible). The other difference is that in the second case the sentence can be both declarative and interrogative, while in the first one the sentence can only be declarative:

Declarative sentences
It’s nice to see you again. It was not a good idea to bring her here	To find him still at home was a relief. To see her again did not give him the usual pleasure.
Interrogative sentences
Is it bad to love one so dearly? Wasn’t it a waste of time to sit there?

The infinitive subject in both structural patterns is a “to” - infinitive. If there are two or more homogeneous infinitive subjects in a sentence, all of them keep the particle to:

To be alone, to be free from the daily interests and cruelty would be happiness to Asako.

It was awfully difficult to do or even to say nothing at all.

The function of the subject can be performed by the infinitive of any voice, aspect and perfect form, although the common aspect non-perfect active forms are naturally far more frequent.

To expect too much is a dangerous thing.

To be walking through the fields all alone seemed an almost impossible pleasure.

To have seen her was even a more painful experience.

To be recognized, to be greeted by some local personage afforded her a joy which was very great.

To have been interrogated in such a way was a real shock to him.

§ 103. The predicate of the subject expressed by an infinitive always takes the form of the 3rd person singular. As to its type, it is usually a compound nominal predicate with the link verb to be, although other link verbs may also occur, as well as a verbal predicate.

To acquire knowledge and to acquire it unceasingly is the first duty of the artist.

To understand is to forgive.

To talk to him bored me.

To see the struggle frightened him terribly.

To write a really good book requires more time than I have.

The infinitive as part of the predicate

The infinitive is used in predicates of several types, both nominal and verbal.

The infinitive as predicative

§ 104. In the function of a predicative the “to”-infinitive is used in compound nominal predicates after the link verb to be:

His dearest wish was to have a son.

With homogeneous predicatives the use of the particle to varies. If the infinitives are not linked by conjunctions, the particle is generally used with all of them:

My intention was to see her as soon as possible, to talk to her, to calm her.

If they are linked by the conjunctions and or or the particle to is generally used with the first infinitive only:

Your duty will be to teach him French and play with him.

His plan was to ring her up at once, or even call on her.

The use of the infinitive as a predicative has some peculiarities.

1) In sentences with an infinitive subject the predicative infinitive denotes an action that follows, or results from, the action of the subject infinitive.

To see her was to admire her.

To come there at this hour was to risk one’s life.

Sentences in which both the infinitives are used without any modifiers are usually of aphoristic meaning:

To hear is to obey.

To see is to believe.

To define is to limit.

The predicative function is generally performed by the common non-perfect active forms of the infinitive. Still passive forms sometimes occur:

To be born in poverty was to be doomed to humiliation.

2) The set of nouns that can function as the subject of a compound nominal predicate with an infinitive predicative is very limited. It includes about 50 nouns describing situations:

action advice aim ambition attempt business consequence custom desire difficulty duty experience

function habit happiness hope idea ideal instruction intention job method need object

order plan principle problem purpose reason risk role rule task thing wish, etc.

A predicative infinitive phrase may be introduced by the conjunctive, adverbs and pronouns how, when, where, what, whom, the choice depending on the lexical meaning of the noun:

Now the question was what to tell him.

The problem was how to begin.

3) The function of the subject may be also performed by the pronoun all or the substantivized superlatives the most and the least with an attributive clause attached to them:

All he wanted was to be left alone.

The least I can expect is to have this day all to myself.

In such cases the predicative infinitive can lose its marker to:

All I can do is get you out of here.

4) Occasionally the function of the subject can be performed by a gerund or a what-clause:

Living with hemophilia was to live off balance all the time.

“What we want to do,“ said Brady, “is to fight a world.”

The infinitive as simple nominal predicate

§ 105. The infinitive as simple nominal predicate may be used in exclamatory sentences expressing the speaker’s rejection of the idea that the person to whom the action of the infinitive is ascribed is likely to perform this action, or belong to such sort of people*, as in:

* For details see Syntax § 41.

You - of all men - to say such a thing!

Me - to be your lover!

As a rule the infinitive in exclamatory sentences is used with the particle to, although it occasionally occurs without it:

Me - marry him! Never!

The infinitive may be also used as predicate in interrogative infinitive why-sentences, both affirmative and negative, where it expresses a suggestion:

Why let him sleep so long?

Why not go away?

In such sentences the infinitive is always used without the particle to.

The infinitive as part of a compound verbal predicate

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

I. In a compound verbal modal predicate after the modal verbs can, may, might, ought, must, shall, should, will, would, need, dare, to be, to have, and expressions with modal meaning had better, would rather.

I can tell you nothing at all about him.

She ought to have told me before.

II. In a compound verbal phasal predicate after verbs denoting various stages of the action, such as its beginning, continuation, or end. These verbs (to begin, to come, to start, to continue, to go on, to cease, etc.) followed by a “to”-infinitive form a compound verbal phasal predicate.

Now I begin to understand you.

Then she came to realize what it all meant.

They continued to whisper.

The verbs to begin, to continue and to start can also be followed by a gerund, although with a certain difference in meaning. Thus the verb to stop followed by a gerund means to put an end to an action, to interrupt, whereas followed by an infinitive means to pause in order to do something. So the infinitive after the verb to stop is used in the function of an adverbial modifier of purpose.

He stopped to see what it was. Он остановился, чтобы посмотреть, что это такое.

He stopped seeing her. Он перестал с ней встречаться.

III. The compound verbal predicate of double orientation* has no analogy in Russian. The three subtypes of this predicate can be distinguished according to the expression of the first part:

* For details see Syntax § 53.

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. After the verbs to prove and to turn out the infinitive is mostly nominal, that is presented by to be + noun or adjective. After the verbs to seem, to appear, to happen all types and forms of the infinitive are possible.

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

He seems to be smiling. She appeared to have said all.

It seems that he is smiling. It appeared that she had said all.

Sentences with compound verbal predicates of double orientation are translated into Russian in different ways depending on the meaning of the first verbal element:

The strange little man seemed to read my thoughts. The man seemed to have come from far off. Nothing appeared to be happening there. Не appeared to have been running all the way. Не proved to be a healthy child. The night turned out to be cold. Don’t you happen to know her?

Странный человечек, казалось, читал мои мысли. Казалось, этот человек приехал откуда-то издалека. Казалось, что здесь ничего не происходит. Казалось, что он пробежал всю дорогу бегом. Он оказался здоровым ребенком. Ночь оказалась холодной. Ты ее случайно не знаешь?

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

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

She was announced to be the winner. Не is said to have returned at last.

Было объявлено, что победила она. Говорят, что он наконец вернулся.

b) verbs of mental activity: to believe, to consider, to expect, to find, to known, to mean, to presume,

to regard, to suppose, to think, to understand, etc.

He’s supposed to be leaving tonight. She is believed to be a clever girl. Her father was thought to have died long ago.

Предполагают (предполагается), что он уезжает сегодня вечером. Ее считают умной девушкой. (Считается, что она умная девушка.) Считалось (считали, думали, полагали), что ее отец давным-давно умер.

c) verbs of sense perception: to feel, to hear, to see, to watch.