The Infinitive

WHAT IS AN INFINITIVE? It is a verbal, meaning, a word formed from a verb. Since an infinitive is not a verb, you cannot add s, es, ed, or ing to the end. Pattern: to + verb = infinitive Examples: to sleep, to fly, look, to read, to throw, to smoke, to go; to have seen, to be swimming, to have been waiting, to be given, and so on. WHY USE THE INFINITIVE? Infinitives are often used when actions are unreal, abstract, or future. Sample Sentence: I stopped to smoke. Meaning: (I was doing something else, and I stopped; the smoking had not happened yet.) There is a specific situation in which the infinitive is used like an "impersonal future tense", replacing "will". In this way, statements are given weight (as if some external force, rather than the speaker, is governing events) or that the knowledge is simply being reported (or pretends to be) from an independent source. Pattern: to be + "to" + bare infinitive Example: The Prime Minister is to go. (Note: The Prime Minister will go.) In cases when the repetition of the verb is avoided, to takes the place of the full infinitive.

Example: Do I have to? (instead of Do I have to go?) HOW DO WE RECOGNIZE AN INFINITIVE? Infinitives in sentences can be:

a noun (subject): To sleep is the only thing Eli wants after his double shift waiting tables at the

neighborhood caf.

a noun (direct object for the verb): No matter how fascinating the biology dissection is, Emanuel turns his head

and refuses to look.

an adjective: Wherever Melissa goes, she always brings a book to read in case conversation

lags or she has a long wait.

as an adverb:

Richard braved the icy rain to throw the smelly squid eyeball stew into the apartment dumpster. The Bare Infinitive An infinitive will almost always begin with to. Exceptions do occur, however. An infinitive will lose its to when it follows certain verbs. These verbs are feel, hear, help, let, make, see, and watch. Pattern: special verb + direct object + infinitive - to Examples:

As soon as Theodore felt the rain splatter on his hot, dusty skin, he knew that he had a good excuse to return the lawn mower to the garage. When Danny heard the alarm clock buzz, he slapped the snooze button and burrowed under the covers for ten more minutes of sleep. Although Dr. Ribley spent an extra class period helping us understand logarithms, we still bombed the test. Because Freddie had never touched a snake, I removed the cover of the cage and let him pet Squeeze, my seven-foot python. Since Jose had destroyed Sylvia's spotless kitchen while baking chocolate-broccoli muffins, she made him take her out for an expensive dinner. I said a prayer when I saw my friends mounting the Kumba, a frightening roller coaster that twists and rolls like a giant sea serpent. Hoping to lose her fear of flying, Rachel went to the airport to watch passenger planes take off and land, but even this exercise did not convince her that jets were safe. Exception: Make takes a to-infinitive in the passive voice: "I was made to do it." (Note: When the past participle of the verb is used, the entire event is taken into view while if the present participle is used, a part of the event is considered.) WHEN IS THE SPLIT INFINITIVE REQUIRED?

The general rule is that no word should separate the to of an infinitive from the simple form of the verb that follows. If a word (adverb) does come between these two components, a split infinitive results. Look at the example that follows: Example: To boldly go where no one has gone before.... So, use the split infinitive for meaning or sentence cadence in informal writing. But if the piece of writing is very formal, avoid splitting the infinitive, as in the example: Example: To go boldly where no one has gone before.