英文文法筆記第三。五課: 名詞: 不定式動詞
LESSON #3.5: NOUN: INFINITIVE
(* 建議著重英文造句結構和文法，不用理會文法的名稱。)
Identifying Nouns: 5(d) Verbal (Cont’d)
7. Infinitive (不定式動詞)
a. “To” Marker + Base Form Verb
Most Infinitives begin with the infinitive marker (標志) “to” (not a Preposition) and are followed immediately by a base-form (基礎形式) Verb. For example:
o To forgive is divine.
o To admit your mistake is not easy.
o To be a millionaire takes efforts. (Note: Notice that “be” is the base-form of “is”, “are”, “was”, and “were”).
Bold: Infinitive or Infinitive Phrase
Some Bare Infinitives (原形不動詞) abbreviate (省略) the marker (標志) “to”, e.g., “I must go” instead of “I must to go”, and “Birds can fly” instead of “Birds can to fly”. Since most Bare Infinitives are Modifiers (i.e., Adjectives and Adverbs), it is not part of the discussion here on Noun.
b. No Split (分開) Infinitive
The base-form Verb must follow immediately after the marker “to”, such as “to run quickly”. Any interruption (中斷) of this consecutiveness (順序), such as “to quickly run”, is bad grammar.
c. Hybrid Noun and Verb Qualities
Similar to Gerund, Infinitive is a hybrid (雜種) of Noun and Verb and it retains some of their qualities.
d. Infinitive’s Noun Qualities
Infinitive’s Noun qualities allow it to function as Subject, Direct Object, and Subject Complement (主語補足語).
For example:
o To admit your mistake takes courage.
Analysis: The Infinitive Phrase functions as Subject.
o Her career ambition is to sing professionally.
Analysis: The Infinitive Phrase functions as Subject Complement of the Linking Verb “is”.
o The manager wanted to fire the incompetent salesperson.
Analysis: The Infinitive Phrase functions as Direct Object of the Transitive Verb “wanted”.
Bold: Infinitive Phrase
e. Infinitive’s Verb Qualities
Infinitive’s Verb qualities allow it to take Object and to be modified (修飾) by Adverbials.
For example:
o To beg your girlfriend for forgiveness is the only way to win her back.
Analysis: The base-form Verb “beg” in the Infinitive Phrase is a Transitive Verb by nature that takes the Noun Phrase “your girlfriend” as its Object.
The Verb “beg” is also modified by the Adverbial Phrase “for forgiveness”.
o To run quickly for a long distance requires stamina.
Analysis: In the Infinitive Phrase, the base-form Verb “run” is modified by 2 Adverbials: “quickly” and “for a long time”.
Bold: Infinitive Phrase
f. Perfect Form of Infinitive
The construction (構造) of the Perfect Form of Infinitive is by using “have” and the Past Participle form of a verb after the infinitive marker “to”. For example:
o To have taken an enjoyable vacation in China is a real treat.
o I have the honor to have been invited to the Mayor’s inauguration dinner.
Bold: Perfect Form of Infinitive Phrase
g. Infinitive – Plural or Singular
Again similar to Gerund, each Infinitive is counted as one unit for the purpose of determining if the singular or plural form of Verb should be used. For example:
o To drink four cups of coffee each day is excessive.
Analysis: The entire Infinitive Phrase is counted as 1 unit regardless that the Object (a Noun Phrase) “four cups of coffee” is in plural form. Therefore the Linking Verb “is” is in singular form.
o To fool around and to maintain a long-term relationship are two different things.
Analysis: The 2 Infinitive Phrases are counted as 2 units. Therefore the Linking Verb “are” is in plural form.
Bold: Infinitive Phrase
h. Gerund or Infinitive
Gerunds, and sometimes Infinitives (Note: Infinitives can be used as Adjectives and Adverbs besides as Nominals), are Nominals. However, there are no easy rules to determine when we should use Gerunds or Infinitives. Here are some situations:
o After “Look Forward”
i. I look forward to meeting you.
ii. I look forward to meet you.
Comment: In (i), the Gerund/Noun Phrase “meeting you” is Object of the Preposition “to”. The Prepositional/Adverbial Phrase “to meeting you” modifies the Verb “look”.
In (ii), the Verb “meet” teams up with the Preposition “to” to form the Infinitive “to meet”. The Infinitive/Adverbial Phrase “to meet you” modifies the Verb “look”.
Both sentences are grammatically correct and there is no difference in meaning. However, there seems to be more people using “to meeting” than “to meet”.
o After “Like”
i. I like jogging.
ii. I like to jog.
Comment: In (i), “jogging”, a Nominal/Gerund, is Object of the Transitive Verb “like”.
In (ii), “to jog”, a Nominal/Infinitive, is Object of the Transitive Verb “like”.
Both sentences are grammatically correct but there is a subtle difference in meaning.
In sentence (i), you are jogging and you like it. In sentence (ii), you are not jogging and would like to jog.
o Interrogative (疑問詞) Sentences
Interrogative type sentences usually use Infinitives and not Gerunds. For example:
i. Do you know how to do it? (Incorrect: Do you know how doing it?)
ii. I don’t know where to go in life. (Incorrect: I don’t know where going in life.)
iii. I don’t know whom to turn to. (Incorrect: I don’t know whom turning to.)
Your intuition (直覺) will tell you whether to use Infinitive or Gerund after you have read and used English a lot.
i. Parallelism (對應)
Similar grammatical forms should be chosen for a series of Nominals joined by Conjunction (連詞). For example:
o Jogging, chess and to swim are my favorite pastimes. (Incorrect by mixing Gerund, Noun and Infinitive)
o Jogging, playing chess and swimming are my favorite pastimes. (Correct by using only Gerunds)
Exercises
1. (a) Name the 3 groups of Verbals (Hint: See Lesson #3.3 Nominal).
(b) Describe the other parts of speech (in particular – Noun, Adjective or Adverb) that each particular group of Verbal functions as.
2. Identify the Infinitives in the following sentences (Hint: Watch for Bare Infinitive and some may not have an infinitive):
a. The student said to cheat in class is against his personal principle.
b. I don’t think I can do it.
c. To fly to Hong Kong by plane takes 14 hours.
d. I have done everything I can to help you.
e. I really don’t know how to renovate the basement.
3. Identify the Infinitive Phrase (i.e., Infinitive plus modifiers, objects and complements) in each of the following sentences:
a. To run quickly takes efforts.
b. To beg for forgiveness is the only thing you can do.
c. To yell at your mother is uncalled for.
4. In the 3 sentences under Question #3 above, analyse the grammatical components of each of the Infinitive Phrase (i.e., name each phrase and each word).
5. What’s wrong with the Infinitive of the following: “To quickly find out where we are is important.”?