The Objective infinitivecomplex

THE PREPOSITIONAL INFINITIVE COMPLEX

THE INFINITIVE

Infinitive	Active voice	Passive voice	Uses
Indefinite	to write to come	to be written —
He wants to writeher about it. He wants to be writtenabout it.
Continuous	to be writing to be coming	— —
He may be writinga new novel
Perfect	to have written to have come	to have been written —
I am glad to have written her about it. I was surprised to have been written about it.
Perfect Continuous	to have been writing to have been coming	— —
He is said to have been writing this novel for 2 years already.

Functions	Examples
Subject	To know him is to trust him. It is difficult to translate this text.
Predicative	Our aim is to masterEnglish. What I want is to be left alone.
Part of a Compound Verbal Predicate	We must stay at home. We decided to work together.
Object	He asked me to wait. He promised to come in time.
Attribute	He is always the first to come. The article to be translated is on the table.
Adverbial Modifier	I have come here to help you. The problem is too complicated to be solved at once.

Subject	It is easy for you to say that. For him to help his friends is quite natural.
Predicative	The question is for you to decide. The best thing is for you to move to the South.
Object	I waited for him to speak.
Attribute	This is the book for you to read.
Adverbial modifier or purpose	He opened the doors of the car for us to get in. I’ve brought two books for my son to read.
Adverbial modifier of result	The weather was too cold for the children to go out. It was too dark for her to see him.

is used after the verbs denoting a) perceptions of senses*:

to see to hear to feel to watch to observe to notice

I saw him get off the bus. Did you hear her sing? She felt her voice tremble. I watch her enter the shop. We observe the direction constantly change. Nobody noticed him come in.

b) wish, intention, emotions:

to want to wish to like to dislike to hate to intend should/would like

I want you to help me. He wished the work to be done at once. He likes dinner to be in time. I dislike you to say such words. I hate you to talk like that. He intended me to go with him. I should like you to say here.

c) mental activity:

to consider to believe to think to find to know to expect to suppose

I consider him to be right. I believe her to be a good teacher. We thought him to be sleeping. We find this value to be accurate enough. I know him to have said that. We expected her to return. I suppose him to be about fifty.

d) order, request, permission, advice, compulsion:

to order to ask to request to allow to advise to recommend to cause to force get to make^* to let^*

He ordered the children to stop talking. I asked Tom to help me. He requested the matter to be kept secret. She doesn’t allow anyone to smoke. She advised me to tell the police about it. I wouldn’t recommend you to stay here. Her laziness caused her to fail. He forced me to go there. I got him to repair my car. What makes you think so? Let me go.

^*The verbs to make, to let and the verbs of physical perception are followed by the infinitive without «to».

Дата добавления: 2014-11-29