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Infinitive (abbreviated INF) is a linguistics term for certain verb forms existing in many languages, most often used as non-finite verbs that do not show a tense.As with many linguistic concepts, there is not a single definition applicable to all languages.
A split infinitive is a grammatical construction specific to English in which an adverb or adverbial phrase separates the "to" and "infinitive" constituents of what was traditionally called the "full infinitive", but is more commonly known in modern linguistics as the to-infinitive (e.g., to go).
Sē here is an accusative reflexive pronoun referring back to the subject of the main verb i.e. Iūlia ; esse is the infinitive "to be." Note that the tense of the infinitive, translated into English, is relative to the tense of the main verb. Present infinitives, also called contemporaneous infinitives, occur at the time of the main verb.
The infinitive without the article is of two sorts and has two discrete uses: the dynamic infinitive and the declarative infinitive. [10] [11] Traditionally they are said to be used not in indirect discourse and in indirect discourse respectively, [12] yet this terminology is misleading; for infinitives of both sorts may be used in indirect discourse transformations (for example one may say (a ...
These do not inflect for person or number, [20] do not occur alone, and do not have infinitive or participle forms (except synonyms, as with be/being/been able (to) for the modals can/could). The modals are used with the basic infinitive form of a verb (I can swim, he may be killed, we dare not move, need they go?
A typical English verb may have five different inflected forms: . The base form or plain form (go, write, climb), which has several uses—as an infinitive, imperative, present subjunctive, and present indicative except in the third-person singular
The infinitive form of a verb is considered the canonical form listed in dictionaries. English infinitives appear in verb catenae if they are introduced by an auxiliary verb or by a certain limited class of main verbs. They are also often introduced by a main verb followed by the particle to (as illustrated in the examples below).
There is a reason not to call the English gerung an "infinitive": it is an infinitive only sometimes. "Eating good food is great." This is syntactically speaking an infinitive. The embedded clause ("Eating good food") works as a noun (or a NP). "She's a sleeping beauty." Syntactically, this is not an infinitive. "Sleeping" functions as an ...