The infinitive is an abstract noun. The chief or root infinitive of a verb names the idea which the verb stands for, and thus becomes the name of the verb itself. The infinitive originally had no sign to, and is occasionally still so used, as, "Better dwell in the midst of alarms Than reign in this horrible place." But the modern infinitive is usually accompanied by to,which was originally a preposition, but is now thought of almost as a part of the infinitive itself and is called its sign. When an infinitive becomes a part of a verb phrase the sign is omitted, as in "may go,” “can do," etc. It was The infinitive originally had different cases. often used in the dative though sometimes in the accusative, or in the old case called in some languages the locative. The infinitive of purpose was a dative infinitive and corresponded in meaning to the dative supine in um, as, "A sower went out to sow his seed." Such phrases as, "rooms to rent," "apples to sell," also represent the usage of the old dative infinitive. It was this infinitive of purpose only that in old English had the sign to. In the seventeenth century when the sense of to was weakened, for sometimes preceded this infinitive form, as, "What went ye out for to see ?" The usual infinitive termination was an, as drinc-an, to drink. In the twelfth and following centuries, an became en and finally e and the e itself became a silent letter. As the terminations of the infinitive fell away the to of the infinitive of purpose extended itself to the other forms. Yet some verbs were so constantly followed by an infinitive that the sign was not introduced with these. To this class belong the potential auxiliaries, and a few other verbs, such as bid, dare, need, let, make, and a few others. In many of the phrases thus formed the infinitives seem to have lost their original independence, and the phrase is usually treated as inseparable. Yet the student of English should be able to recognize in each phrase the original character of each component word. There are also various idiomatic or abbreviated expressions in which the sign to is not used, as, Please go. You had better go and see. What, be gone all day? Why not tell me? He cannot choose but know. A colloquial idiom that has come into use during the last century is the use of the sign to to take the place of the entire infinitive, as, "I should like to." The little beggars are doing just what I don't want them to.-STEVENSON. An adverb is sometimes placed between to and the infinitive, though this practice was objected to by the older grammarians. (See Chapter 57.) Besides the ordinary simple infinitive with to, there is also a participial infinitive. It has the form of the active participle, but the use of a noun, and can take the limitations of the verb from which it was derived as, "There is a pleasure in seeing plants grow." It resembles the Latin gerund, and is sometimes called by that name in English. (See Chapter 41.) In addition to these two simple infinitive forms, there are several infinitive phrases. All the infinitives of the verb give may be shown as follows: Give, or to give, root infinitive; giving, participial infinitive. PHRASE FORMS. To be giving-active progressive. To have given-active perfect. To have been giving-active, perfect progressive To have been given-passive, perfect. In its primary use the infinitive is a noun in either the nominative or the objective relation, as, To do so is to be a coward. I want to try it. But the infinitive (as well as other substantive words) has certain uses that shade off into adjective or adverbial constructions, as "a house to let," "good to eat," "wonderful to tell." It is not always easy to interpret an infinitive in its relationships. In an adjective relation an infinitive may limit a noun directly as, A rule to go by; O. as an appositive, as, A desire to be loved. It may also be the attribute of a sentence, as, He is to die at sunrise. Or an objective predicate, as, I declare this to be true. I wanted him to go at once. In an adverbial relation, it may limit an adjective, as, Glad to see you. Eager to go. Or an adverb, as, Not strong enough to lift it. The infinitive of purpose is an adverbial infinitive, as, He went to find it. In a similar way the infinitive may express a result adverbially, as, It fell so as to obstruct the view. Some knowledge of historical and comparative grammar will help a teacher to understand and interpret the infinitive in its various uses. 1 XLI VERBAL FORMS IN ING. The grammarian in some unexplained way became greatly afraid of the word "gerund," and huddled that form of the verb in with participles, or with nouns, by extending too widely the use of the phrase "verbal noun." In the best of recent grammars this error has been righted and the gerund is given its proper recognition. The matter is complicated by the fact that the ending ing belongs also to nouns pure and simple.-ARLO BATES. The gerund is Janus-faced; a noun on one side and a verb on the other.-RAMSEY. "The gerund gives the idea of processes going vitally forward with vivid force." Modern English forms in ing represent different original forms which in old English had different endings. The participle in old English ended in ende, or ande, which later became inde or ynde and finally yng or ing. The abstract or verbal noun originally ended in ung and this was afterwards also written yng or ing. The two verbal forms thus became blended and were finally thought of as one. The true infinitive of the verb is also closely related to the abstract noun. Thus, "Seeing is believing" and "To see is to believe" are nearly alike in meaning. Modern English uses a verbal in ing in many cases |