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An infinitive phrase is a verb phrase constructed with the verb in infinitive form. This consists of the verb together with its objects and other complements and modifiers . Some examples of infinitive phrases in English are given below – these may be based on either the full infinitive (introduced by the particle to ) or the bare infinitive ...
phrases formed by the determiner the with an adjective, as in the homeless, the English (these are plural phrases referring to homeless people or English people in general); phrases with a pronoun rather than a noun as the head (see below); phrases consisting just of a possessive; infinitive and gerund phrases, in certain positions;
Perfect infinitives (prior infinitives) occur at a time before the main verb. Future infinitives (subsequent infinitives) occur at a time after the main verb. For example, the contemporaneous infinitive in this sentence, Dīxērunt eum iuvāre eam. would still be translated "They said he was helping her," even though iuvāre is a present ...
In many of the uses above, the implied subject of the infinitive can be marked using a prepositional phrase with for: "This game is easy for a child to play", etc. However this does not normally apply when the infinitive is the complement of a verb (other than the copula, and certain verbs that allow a construction with for , such as wait ...
An auxiliary verb (abbreviated aux) is a verb that adds functional or grammatical meaning to the clause in which it occurs, so as to express tense, aspect, modality, voice, emphasis, etc. Auxiliary verbs usually accompany an infinitive verb or a participle, which respectively provide the main semantic content of the clause. [1]
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).
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). Further, infinitives introduced by to can function as noun phrases or even as modifiers of nouns ...
(use of infinitive phrase) I am a traitor... You believe me to be a traitor... [5] (use of infinitive phrase) The tense changes illustrated above (also called backshifting), which occur because the main verb ("said", "asked") is in the past tense, are not obligatory when the situation described is still valid: [6] [7] [8] Ed is a bore.