Revision of the Infinitive

Ex.1. PROOFREAD the story for the forms of underlined infinitive phrases.

I meant to call

The clock radio boomed on at 8:30 and jarred Carolyn Reynolds awake. It was a Saturday morning, and as Carolyn rolled over she caught a glimpse of heavy thunderheads in the sky outside the window. It looked like it was going to have been another one of rainy, sleepy days. Even though it was Saturday, she needed to go to work later, and she’d arranged for the office to be open by one of the security people so that she could use the computer to work on that awful annual report. The report was supposed to have completed and left on her supervisor’s desk three days ago. Carolyn sighed and snuggled back down under the covers. To sleep for just a few more minutes wouldn’t hurt, would it?

When Carolyn woke up the second time, the clock read 10:35. She’d better to get rolling if she was going to get anything done today. She went into the kitchen and put a cup of coffee in the microwave heat up. She glanced at two pieces of mail that had been lying on the counter for more than a week now. One was a postcard from her veterinarian reminding her that Omar, her pet cat, was to have been given his distemper and feline leukemia shot a month ago. The other piece of mail was a letter from her mother, who lived in a nursing home in a town thirty miles away. The letter was actually three weeks old; Carolyn hadn’t spoken to her mother recently and she was sure her mother expected her to have written or called by now, though of course she hadn’t said anything about it. She really should to give her mother a call, though – perhaps when she came back from work tonight. She sat down at the dining room table and glanced at the newspaper while she drank her coffee and ate a doughnut. Omar jumped up into her lap, but she pushed him off, annoyed. “Not now, Omar – I don’t feel like holding you right now.”

When Carolyn arrived home at 6:30 that evening, she was drained and irritable. The message light on her answering machine was blinking, but Carolyn thought she’d wait until later to be listening to the message. Feeling too tired to cook a regular meal, Carolyn called and ordered some Chinese food to deliver.

The next day was Sunday. Carolyn got up at nine feeling refreshed and spent a leisurely hour reading the Sunday paper. She’d arranged to meet her friend Hal for brunch at a new restaurant that was rumored to have had excellent omelets.

* * *

The brunch was delicious, and Carolyn enjoyed Hal’s company. She felt good, so she decided to stop at a nearby shopping mall to get her mother a birthday present. Her mother’s seventy-fifth birthday had actually occurred a month previously, but they had agreed that it wasn’t important to be celebrating the precise day; the important thing was the thought, no matter when the gift came. Carolyn had said, “Mom, I want to get you the right thing, something really nice. I don’t want to have been rushed into it.” Her mother had agreed, saying, “Of course, honey, I’m long past the age when I expect to be fussed over for a silly birthday or be given a birthday party.”

When Carolyn walked into her apartment, she noticed that the red phone message light was still blinking, and she realized that she had forgotten to have listened to her messages the evening before. She pressed the play button and heard the first message:

Hi, honey, this is Mom. I just wanted tell you that I’m going into the hospital for a couple of days. I just haven’t been feeling well these last two weeks or so, and the doctor thinks I need to have had some tests. Maybe you could give me a call later if you have time. My number at the hospital is 688-9294.

The machine beeped, and then the second message came on.

Carolyn, this is Doctor Stephenson at Parkland General Hospital. Please give me a call right away at 688-9299.

Carolyn’s heart was racing now, and she quickly dialed the number. The phone was answered by an aid, and it took several minutes for Dr. Stephenson to have tracked down. Finally she heard his voice on the other end: “This is Mark Stephenson.”

“Hello, Dr. Stephenson. This is Carolyn Reynolds. I got a message on my machine this morning from my mother. She said she was going to the hospital. Then I got your message. Is everything OK? She’s all right, isn’t she?”

“Ms. Reynolds, I’m sorry to have to be the one to be told you this, but I have some very sad news. Your mother passed away this morning at 11:15.”

Ex.2. PARAPHRASE the sentences using various types of infinitive phrases and predicative complexes with the Infinitive.

Examples:

1) Don’t worry about the dinner. We can eat out. à Why worry about dinner? We may just as well eat out (Why don’t we eat out?)

2) He cannot do anything at all. He just lies on the sofa and watches TV. à He cannot do anything but lie on the sofa and watch TV (He can do nothing but lie on the sofa and watch TV).

1. I have no tie that I can wear with this shirt. 2. We saw him. He ran across the street and turned round the corner. 3. It seems that we have already met before. 4. I prefer not to go out tonight. I am tired as it is. 5. Do you know him so well? Can we trust him? 6. He is doing nothing – he is just whiling away the time. 7. I came to the club but I merely learned that my friends had already left. 8. My idea is to wait a little. It’s rush hour now. 9. The teacher waited. The class should become quiet again. 10. She was certainly a beauty when she was a girl. 11. In the old days he often visited me and we talked and talked for hours. 12. I don’t see why we should keep this a secret from the others. 13. If you see how they dance you may think they are trained dancers. 14. I didn’t hear how you opened the door. 15. Why are you standing? Have a seat, please. I’m so sorry that you had to wait for me.

Ex.3. TRANSLATE into Russian and state the functions of the infinitives.

1. When Caroline arrived, Michael had scarcely a moment of her, but it was enough to note that she was tired. 2. He swung his feet off the bed to stand up. 3. Emily realized that it was much pleasant to tell people truth than to lie. 4. The most I can do for you is to give you a letter of recommendation. 5. The snow floated to cover Schroff’s head and shoulders. 6. In the evening the family joined together in the sitting room to discuss the things that had happened during the day. 7. It’s not easy for a man of catholic tastes and healthy appetites to exist for twenty-four days on fifty shillings. 8. Elizabeth saw that he was anxious for his sister and herself to get acquainted. 9. He was the first to read my writing. 10. But again, to be practical, Mr. Pennyfeather, I can hardly pay one hundred and twenty pounds to anyone who has been sent down for indecent behavior. 11. It would be a thousand pities to throw away such a chance of fun. 12. Dick appeared to be ignorant of the harm that had been done to him. 13. I am sure he was a very nice young man, but I could not make him understand a word I said. 14. To see him there, a poor afflicted man, earning money by the sweat of his brow, had at first moved her to tears. 15. How long have you been waiting for the train to arrive? 16. Katherine decided that for Van Alden to come to villa Marguerite would be both painful and unnecessary. 17. In that same week I happened to have been inquiring whether all the invitations had been sent out. 18. Under the circumstances he was caused to stay an extra week in the Ritz Hotel. 19. The room was stuffy with the window closed, but he was too tired to get up and open it. 20. He waited for them to speak first as if to allow them the reassurance of their own voices in new surroundings. 21. He opened his bag just to see he had left the papers in his office. 22. The story of Her Royal Highness, who was getting married to a carpenter, was mentioned to have created quite a stir. 23. I looked out, and she stood at the garden-gate alone, holding her baby up in her arms for me to see.

Ex.4. TRANSLATE the sentences using infinitives in different functions.

А. 1. «Я слишком молод, чтобы уходить на пенсию, и слишком стар, чтобы жить дальше», - написал один английский юноша, который не мог найти работу. 2. Я не представляю, что делать дальше! Её так трудно убеждать. 3. Как я рада, что меня не заметили! Я хочу побыть одна. 4. Она нарушила молчание первой. 5. Я не хочу, чтобы между нами было непонимание. 6. Никто не заметил, как я открыл дверь и вышел. 7. Боюсь, что мне нечего сказать в свое оправдание. 8. Нам стоило лишь взглянуть на неё, чтобы понять, что что-то произошло. 9. Много говорить и много сказать не есть одно и то же. 10. Я сделаю всё возможное, чтобы вы подружились. 11. Постепенно его знакомым стали понятны его странные привычки. 12. Она не желает уезжать. 13. Вы способны идти самостоятельно или Вам нужна помощь? 14. Теперь вам можно начинать планировать летний отпуск. 15. Увидев нас, он почему-то побежал прочь. 16. Сообщали, что туристы уже прошли перевал, когда сошла лавина.

Б. 1. Было просто восхитительно услышать на концерте столько чудесных мелодий. 2. Не стоит обращать на это внимание. 3. На этом диване удобно спать. 4. Понять – еще не значит простить. 5. Сказать об этом значило все испортить заранее. 6. Короче говоря, Вы теперь знаете, чем нужно заняться. 7. Единственное, чего ей в тот момент хотелось, - это найти свободную комнату в мотеле, чтобы отдохнуть перед завтрашней дорогой в Кент. 8. Я был рад, что меня пригласили. 9. Он, наверное, не слушал в тот момент, а лишь делал вид, что слушает. 10. Он был рад, что получил такую ответственную работу, хотя планировал получить её гораздо раньше. 11. В любой момент мальчишки могли быть в гараже или играть в футбол. 12. Он, кажется, и другим студентам помогал с контрольными. 13. Эта новая команда сегодня наверняка выиграет матч. 14. Оказалось, что мы вместе отдыхали в Крыму. 15. Вскоре дождь прекратился. 16. Полагают, что картина принадлежит кисти Васнецова.

Ex.5. REPLACE what is given in bold type by infinitive phrases. Some sentences will also require lexical rephrasing.

I. 1. He hesitated, not sure how he should answer her, what tone he should take. 2. But I wanted that you should know how I feel. 3. Sanders hated it when he saw that his daughter cried. 4. He opened the refrigerator and got the milk. 5. “No apologies. There’s too much work and we can’t spend time apologizing.” 6. At first, I was too shocked and did not believe anything. 7. Her goal was a career of the greatest female neurosurgeon in the country. 8. She had declined all offers of assistance with thanks, and had only asked if she could be left in quiet for some rest. 9. It seemed that the guard was familiar with him, and he waved us through. 10. Nat was not strong enough for the long walk, and asked if he could stay at home with Tommy. 11. There are so many things that must be thought over and decided when you are beginning to grow up. 12. The work she did that day! There were many things she had to bring up from the beach and store in the outhouse – as oars, nets, sails, cordage, spars, lobster-pots, bags of ballast, and the like. 13. Behind the sofa was a wall of bookshelves crammed with law treatises; it appeared they had been neglected for decades.

II. 1. I am glad that I was able to be helpful to you. 2. He was so astonished that he could not speak or think. 3. I left the window open so that I might hear the arriving cars. 4. The monument that will be raised here was designed by a famous sculptor. 5. How thoughtful it was of him that he had made a reservation for me in Hilton. 6. At the lecture the students followed every word lest they should miss an important idea. 7. She cast a glance of surprise at him as though she wanted an explanation from him. 8. He returned to his old flat and got to know that it had been let to another tenant. 9. Helen reached the hospital and found her brother a little better than when she had last seen him. 10. My idea is that we should make a stop there for a couple of nights. 11. She proofread her composition another time for fear that she might overlook a mistake. 12. There was nothing in the article that might interest him. 13. It made me feel sad when I saw him in distress.

Ex.6. PRACTICE written translation. TRANSLATE the abstract paying attention to the use of the Infinitive.

In the spring the lake would hold the distinction of being the largest body of water in Mississippi. But by late summer the rains were long gone, and the sun would cook the shallow water until the lake would dehydrate. Its once ambitious shorelines would retreat and move much closer together, creating a depthless basin of reddish brown water. It was fed from all directions by innumerable streams, creeks, sloughs, and a couple of currents large enough to be named rivers. The existence of all these tributaries necessarily gave rise to a good number of bridges near the lake.