Plain English Part 31

_To be_, or not _to be_, that is the question.

_To have_ and _to hold_ is the problem.

He likes _to travel_.

You note in all of these infinitives _to_ is used with the simple form of the verb.

+153.+ _To_ is generally omitted after verbs like _help_, _hear_, _bid_, _feel_, _let_, _make_, _see_ and _have_, or words of similar meaning.

For example:

Help me (to) find it.

He bade me (to) stay.

Feel it (to) shake.

Make him (to) come.

Hear me (to) sing.

Let us (to) go.

See him (to) run.

Have him (to) copy this.

+154.+ _To_ is also omitted after _need_ and _dare_ when _not_ is used.

They need to work.

They need not work.

They dared to come.

They dared not come.

+155.+ _To_ is sometimes omitted after prepositions:

He will do anything for his cla.s.s, except (to) fight for it.

He would do nothing but (to) go away.

+156.+ We have a number of different forms of the infinitive, both active and pa.s.sive. Note the following table:

+Active+

_Present._ To love.

_Perfect._ To have loved.

_Present Prog._ To be loving.

_Perfect Prog._ To have been loving.

+Pa.s.sive+

_Present._ To be loved.

_Perfect._ To have been loved.

+157.+ Notice that only the _present_ and _perfect_ infinitives have the _pa.s.sive_ form. The progressive infinitives cannot be used in the pa.s.sive. Remember also that only _incomplete_ verbs, those which require an object to receive the action, can have a pa.s.sive form.

The verb _loved_, which we have used in the above table, has a pa.s.sive form because it is an incomplete verb, for there must be that which is the object of our love.

+158.+ The complete verbs,--verbs which require no object,--cannot have a pa.s.sive form for there is no object to become the receiver of the action. Take for example the verb _dwell_. This is a complete verb which can have no pa.s.sive form. You cannot dwell anything, therefore you cannot say _to be dwelt_ or _to have been dwelt_.

+So complete verbs have only the four active forms+, as follows:

+Active+

_Present._ To dwell.

_Perfect._ To have dwelt.

_Present Prog._ To be dwelling.

_Perfect Prog._ To have been dwelling.

+159.+ Infinitives, like participles, may be used either as nouns or adjectives. When used as nouns, they are used in the various ways in which nouns are used. The infinitive may be the _subject_ of a sentence, thus:

_To hesitate_ now will be fatal.

_To be defeated_ is no crime.

+160.+ The infinitive may be the _object_ or _complement_ of the verb.

For example:

He wanted _to see_ you.

His desire is _to learn_.

+161.+ The infinitive may be used as the object of a _preposition_; as,

He is about _to go_.

They will do anything for the cause except _to live_ for it.

+162.+ The infinitive may be used as an adjective to modify a noun. For example:

He showed me the way _to go_.

We must have food _to eat_ and clothes _to wear_.

The question _to be decided_ is before us.

Claim your right _to live_.

+163.+ The infinitive may also be used as an adverb to modify the meaning of a verb, adjective or adverb, thus:

He was forced _to go_.

They are slow _to learn_.

The fruit was not ripe enough _to eat_.

Note that the infinitives in these sentences may all be changed into adverb phrases. As for example in the first sentence, He was forced _to go_, the infinitive _to go_, which modifies the verb _forced_, may be changed to the adverb phrase, _into going_, thus, _He was forced into going_. In the second sentence, _They are slow to learn_, the infinitive _to learn_ may be changed into the adverb phrase _in learning_, thus, _They are slow in learning_. In the last sentence, _The fruit is not ripe enough to eat_, the infinitive _to eat_, which modifies the adverb _enough_, may be changed into the adverb phrase, _for eating_, as for example, _The fruit was not ripe enough for eating_.

+164.+ The infinitive is quite a useful form of the verb, and we will find that we use it very frequently in expressing our ideas. While it is not the a.s.serting word in the sentence, it retains the nature of a verb and may have both an object and an adverb modifier. As for example, in the sentence:

I wish _to learn_ my lesson quickly.

_To learn_ is the infinitive, used as a noun, the object of the verb _wish_. The infinitive also has an object, to learn--_what?_ _My lesson_ is the object of the infinitive _to learn_. We also have an adverb modifier in the adverb _quickly_, which tells _how_ I wish to learn my lesson. So the infinitive retains its verb nature, in that it may have an object and it may be modified by an adverb.

Exercise 3