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The Infinitive and the ing-form§ 165.The infinitive and the ing-form have the same lexical But with regard to their grammatical categories the two ver- 1) The infinitive and the ing-form lack the forms of person 2) Mood can be expressed only by the finite forms. It should be pointed out, however, that although the infinitive as a real fact or as something unreal, it may in some functions e.g. a) necessity — I've got something dreadful to tell you. b) possibility — I had nobody to talk to. c) purpose — I'm going upstairs to pack my things. The Perfect infinitive, in combination with some modal verbs, e.g. They should have told him about it. 3) Like the finite forms, the infinitive and the ing-form have Like the finite forms, the infinitive and the ing-form can ex- Yet, the two verbals differ considerably from finite verbs in e.g. a) He seemed to know all about it. Roger was at home working on his speech. b) He seemed to have guessed the truth. Having looked at his watch he closed the book and put it c) He was ready to assist them. One afternoon, about half past five, when Thomas was Besides, the simple forms of the verbals themselves are capa- 1 It is true that the finite forms may also express time relatively, but that occurs The infinitive tends to express an action following that of the e.g. a) He felt a quick impulse to call the boy back. b) She was admiring his ability to concentrate on any task. c) Sylvia was glad to run across her old schoolmate. The ing-form tends to express actions simultaneous with that e.g. a) This Saturday afternoon Henry, home from his office, sat b) I remembered hearing my aunt telling me in my childhood that great men never cared for flattery. 1 c) She insisted on coming with me but I finally managed to talk her out of it. The time relations expressed by the passive forms are the same On the whole it should be noted that it is the simple form of In other cases the continuous infinitive is generally used only 1 Here the action of hearing precedes the action of the predicate verb remembered, e.g. It was pleasant to bedriving the car again. I'm not a man to be talkingof what does not concern me. It would be possible to use the simple forms to drive and to The perfect infinitive is more or less frequent after verbs of e.g. Their marriage was supposed to have beena very happy one. The Perfect Continuous infinitive is mainly found after the e.g. She was believed to have been feelingunwell for some time. The forms of the two verbals are summed up in the following The Infinitive
The ing-form
§ 166.The infinitive and the ing-iorm, like the finite forms, Since the finite forms have the function of the predicate in the In a number of functions the subject of the verbals is the e.g. He struggled to findthe first words of his story. Shewasn't used to beingmiserable without doingsomething But in certain other functions the subject of the verbal is fre- e.g. He gave herpermission to leave. Seeingyou there, by the door, made me remember what I had to do. too much for her. Moreover, the subject of the infinitive and the ing-form may be e.g. She told himwhat a wonderful place it was to takeher to. There was a vast useless stretch of time to fill. Ioccupied Startingthis relationship seems to me one of the better "You won't do the same thing again, will you?" "I can't ex- In all the above cases the relation between the action of the Occasionally the subject of the verbal is not indicated at all — e.g. Knowledge is not something toboast about. Finally, a verbal may have a subject of its own, specially ex- The subject of the infinitive is expressed by a noun or an in- About. For a bachelor to havesuch well-trained servants was a prov- It was rare for him togo outto dinner. He was too embarrassed forus to askhim about anything. This kind of construction is called the for-phrase. The subject of the ing-form may be expressed in four different e.g. a) I appreciate your comingto my defense. b) I just couldn't complain about him and be the cause of him losingthe job. c) Doyou recall Richard's doingthat? d) She was worried by astranger staring at her from a dark corner. The ing-form with its subject is called the ing-complex. But the four complexes differ with regard to the frequency of Possessive pronouns are in current use, whereas the use of per- Note. Note the pattern in which the subject of the ing-form is introduced by Verbals, like the finite forms, can be used in the active and in e.g. I have not come here to be insultedbut to talkto you as a friend. I watched her for a little while without beingseen. The two different kinds of subject may be called the active § 167.With regard to their meaning and function, the infini- 1) They can serve as notional verbs. e.g. It amused him to tease the girl. He went downstairs, holdingon the banister. 2) They may also serve as structural words. Some of them, e.g. He is said tobe a good chap. Tom said something about it being pretty late. The verb to have may be used as a modal verb. e.g. Well, I'm sorry to haveto tell you that. He looked at his wrist-watch and talked about having to The infinitive and the ing-form may also be used as auxiliary Both verbals are widely used as second (or third) components e-g. She will be there. § 168.The syntactic functions of the verbals and those of the The finite forms, as has been said, have one function in the e.g. To know allabout English is one thing; to knowEnglish is quite another. Everything you've planned to dois sensible. The infinitive and the ing-form may also have adjective func- e.g. He was not a man to dorash things. Singing people, arm in arm, filled the street. The two verbals can also perform adverbial functions (e.g. the e.g. I came here todiscuss matters with you. I had only to hear her voice to knowwhat she felt. After hesitatinga moment or two, Jim knocked on the door. You begin learning a language by listeningto the new sounds. The infinitive and the ing-form may also have purely verbal a) In certain sentence patterns they may serve as the predicate e.g. Why not gowith me? What about havinga look at my new house? b) As is well known, in the absolute majority of English sen- e.g. I woke to findMaud cooking a meal (=and found). He took a seat next to mine, watchingmy face with close at- The infinitive and the ing-form may also serve as parenthesis, e.g. To tellthe truth, I'm beginning to find her a bore. § 169.In some of their functions the infinitive and the ing- Besides, the infinitive and the ing-form are in some functions e.g. It was a relief to bein the car again. "It's no use going onlike that," he said in an angry tone. § 170.Although the syntactic functions of the infinitive and e-g. He told me about it himself. He wanted to tell me about it himself. He insisted on telling me about it himself. Date: 2016-01-03; view: 1205
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