THE INFINITIVE MOOD

Characteristics
The infinitive has characteristics of both verbs and nouns.

a) Verb characteristics of the Infinitive

1. Tense: Present: to go Perfect: to have gone I want to go on a trip. He asked me to sit down. I'll tell her to read that book. He proved to have told the truth. By the end of next month I hope to have bought a new car. I expected him to have understood us. 2. Voice: Active: I want to see his house. Passive: She didn't want to be seen there. 3. Aspect: Common/Simple: I want to speak to her. Continuous: I imagined her to be speaking English. 4. The infinitive can be followed by a direct, an indirect or a prepositional object, or by an adverbial modifier: I was pleased to meet her there. She had to give me all her money. They began to talk about the accident. The policeman advised me not to drive fast. I'll do my best to arrive there in time.

b) Noun characteristics of the Infinitive

1) the subject of a sentence: To swim in the sea is very pleasant. In this case the anticipatory it can also be used: It is very pleasant to swim in the sea.

2) a direct object: She wants to tell us something. 3) the predicative: Her only wish is to win the first prize. 4) an attribute: This is a book to read on holiday.

With or Without To
a) THE INFINITIVE WITHOUT TO (Bare/Short Infinitive) is used: 1. After modal verbs (except ought to and used to): She can speak English. You must go there. They may come. You shall know. But: You ought to help her. I used to see him. 2. After verbs of perception: to see; to hear; to feel and after to make, to let: She saw me leave the room. I heard her say that. She made me laugh. Let them speak! 3. After the expressions: had best; had better; had/would rather; had/would sooner; cannot but; need hardly: She had best admit her fault. You had better stay here now. They had/would sooner spend their holiday in a camp. Maggie couldn't but consent to her brother's plan. 4. In a number of stock phrases: to go hang, to go fetch, etc. 5. After except or but, in the expressions: to do nothing but/except, to do anything but/except: The girl does nothing but lie in the sun all day long. He will do anything except start working.

6. In elliptical constructions: Why not go on this trip tomorrow? 7. In a number of phrases in which the governing verb may be inflected: to let drop, to let fly, to let drive, to let go, to let slip, to hear tell, to hear say, to make believe, to make do: Before starting the debates, the manager let drop an interesting remark. , His advice is that I shouldn't let slip such an opportunity. You heard say that she bought a very expensive car. We shall have to make do with less money. He makes believe he knows the secret. b) THE INFINITIVE WITH TO (Long Infinitive) is used: 1. To express purpose. It may be preceded by in order (not) to, so as (not) to: William went to the country to visit his grandparents. Peter took a taxi in order not to miss the train. The Infinitive of purpose is not usually used after the Imperative of to go or to come. Instead, this Long Infinitive is replaced by another Imperative preceded by and. So, we do not say: Come to admire this painting! but: Come and admire this painting! or, instead of saying: Go to shut the door! we must say: Go and shut the door! However, the verb to see can occur after an Imperative either as an Infinitive or as another Imperative: Come to see my flowers. Come and see my flowers. 2. To replace a subordinate clause being preceded by an interrogative word: what to buy, where to look for them, how to get there. 3. After some adjectives expressing moral or intellectual qualities: brave, careless, clever, considerate, courageous, cowardly, cruel, -foolish, generous, good, inconsiderate, kind, mean, thoughtful, wicked, etc. These adjectives may refer both to persons and to the actions they do. Thus, we can have "a kind woman" or "a kind act". When such adjectives refer to persons, they are followed by the preposition of. It is very kind of her to say that. It was cruel of them to tell us that bad news at that moment. It was thoughtful of Maggie to keep this secret.

4. After ordinal numbers, superlatives and the only: She was the first to speak. He is the best to act in that play. You are the only person to know the truth. 5. After only, to express disappointment: He saved a lot of money only to lose it in a terrible fire. 6. After nouns or pronouns to show how they can be used: Here is a pen to write with. 7. After the adjectives: easy, difficult, dangerous, hard, safe, etc.: Mary is difficult to persuade. It is dangerous to swim here. Such sentences may be reconstructed as follows: To persuade Mary is difficult. To swim here is dangerous. (The Infinitive becomes the subject.) However, the Gerund is better here: Persuading Mary is difficult. Swimming here is dangerous. 8. In exclamatory sentences: How hard it is to please everybody! Oh, to see him again! 9. With too and enough: This problem is too difficult to be solved by my pupils. She is clever enough not to repeat that mistake. 10. In some well-known sayings: To know all is to forgive all. To err is human, to forgive is divine. 11. In "absolute constructions" such as: to tell the truth; to be sure; to be frank; to say nothing of; to be honest; to be more precise, etc.: To be more precise, Lucy was not at home at that time. 12. In Indirect Speech, to express an Imperative from Direct Speech: "Sit down," the teacher told her. The teacher told her to sit down.

13. The verb to know is not followed by a simple Infinitive. This Infinitive must always be preceded by how: She knows how to light the fire. 14. Sometimes, the Infinitive is represented only by to, in order to avoid repetition after such verbs as: to want, to like, to wish, to hate, to hope, to try, etc.: "Did you visit New York?" "No, I didn't. But I would like to." 15. The "Split Infinitive" is a very old form, usually considered to be ungrammatical. But it is, however, met in literary works, too: The old man was too tired to really understand what was going on.

Constructions with the Infinitive

A) THE ACCUSATIVE WITH THE INFINITIVE consists of a noun or a pronoun (in the Accusative) followed by an Infinitive. This type of construction is used: 1. After verbs that express perception: to hear, to feel, to notice, to perceive, to see, to watch and after to let, to make, to have( to experience, to cause), to have known. All these verbs will be followed by Short Infinitives: I saw her shut the window. We heard them sing that song. I will let her know about this. She made the child smile. Peggy was disappointed to have this thing happen to him. Martin has not known anything like that happen in his town before. Verbs of perception can also be followed by Present Participle (ing-form). But, while the Short infinitive expresses a complete action, the Present Participle shows that the action is not complete. Compare: I saw Alison cross the street. (I watched her from one side of the street to the other.) I saw Alison crossing the street. (I noticed her while she was crossing.) or: She heard me sing. (the whole song) She heard me singing. (a fragment of the song) When all these verbs mentioned above are turned into the Passive, they will be followed by Long Infinitives: Alison was seen to cross the street. I was heard to sing.

2. After verbs expressing volition: to want, to desire, to forbid, to intend, to demand, to wish: I want them to understand that. 3. After verbs expressing mental activities: to believe, to consider, to expect, to imagine, to know, to suppose, to think, to trust, to understand, etc.: She imagined him to be right. I know her to live in a big house. You considered them to be friendly. 4. After verbs expressing permission or a command: to allow, to command, to compel, to force, to oblige, to order, to permit, to urge, to warn: She permitted/allowed us to sit down. I ordered him to open his bag. 5. After impersonal constructions: It is difficult for him to take a decision.

6. After verbs like: to advise, to appoint, to assist, to choose, to challenge, to convince, to enable, to persuade, to send, etc.: She advised me not to leave. B) THE NOMINATIVE WITH THE INFINITIVE consists of a noun or pronoun (in the Nominative) followed by an infinitive. It is used: 1. With the following verbs in the Passive Voice: to believe, to expect, to feel, to find (out), to hear, to imagine, to know, to notice, to perceive, to report, to say, to see, to suppose, etc.: Jane was known to be a great pianist. You are supposed to help her. 2. With the following verbs in the Active Voice: to appear, to chance, to happen, to prove, to seem, to turn out, etc.: I happened to be present there. She seems to know the answer. 3. With such constructions as: to be lucky/fortunate/unlucky/unfortunate, to be certain/positive/sure, to be likely: I was lucky to find a taxi. She is likely to arrive tonight.