§ 189. The infinitive may serve as object in a special sentence pattern with a formal it as subject. It is lexically dependent here as it follows quite definite verbs.

The most commonly occurring verbs after which the infinitive is used in this function are: to amaze, to annoy, to cause, to com- fort, to delight, to distress, to enrage, to excite, to frighten, to hurt, to interest, to irritate, to mean, to occur, to please, to puz- zle, to shock, to soothe, to startle, to stir, to surprise, to trouble, to upset, to worry and some others.

The verbs in this sentence pattern are usually followed by some other objects (direct, indirect or prepositional) which pre- cede the infinitive.

e-g. In those days my experience of life at first hand was small, and it excited me to come upon an incident.

It did not annoy him to live always in the same shabby room.

It pleased her particularly to see how often the other chil- dren asked her son how they should play.

It never occurred to him to pretend that he had no influence

on events.

Besides, there are a number of set phrases which are in com mon use and are treated as verb equivalents. They are all differ- ent in structure and in meaning. But since they have the function of the predicate in the sentence they are best to be classed as verb equivalents and treated here.

e.g. It does me good to watch her playing with the other children. It couldn't do any harm to take her out of town. It will take a long time to talk over the whole of it with you. It took several days for her to fully realize it. A porter's voice informed them that it was time to board the

train.

One morning it was his turn to cook breakfast. Mr Brooke said it was up to the girl to decide whether or not

to accept the invitation.

The infinitive is always preceded by to in this function. The subject of the infinitive in most cases is the person denot- ed by the noun (or pronoun) object following the verb.

e.g. It would interest him to hear about it. It didn't occur to me to ask him about it. (For comparison with the ing-form see §§ 218 and 239.)

§ 190. In a sentence pattern with it as a formal subject, the in- finitive (with the particle to) as object is also found after a con- siderable number of adjectives, adjectivized participles and ing- forms. The most commonly occurring of them are: absurd, advisable. amazing, astonishing, awful, awkward, bad, careless, characteristic, charming, complicated, convenient, correct, cruel, curious, custom- ary, dangerous, decent, delightful, desirable, difficult, dull, easy, embarrassing, enough, essential, fair, fine, foolish, funny, futile good, hard, helpful, (dis)honourable, horrid, important, insulting interesting, intolerable, jolly, (un)just, kind, late, marvellous- monstrous, naive, (un)natural, (un)necessary, nice, normal, odd- pleasant, (im)possible, preposterous, proper, queer, (un)reasonable remarkable, ridiculous, right, sad, safe, satisfying, sensible, shock

ing, silly, splendid, strange, stupid, sufficient, suitable, surprising, sweet, terrible, typical, unbearable, useful, useless, vital, wicked, (un)wise, wonderful, wrong, etc.

e.g. It's a little late to admit it, I know.

It was surprising to hear how strong his voice sounded.

It's stupid to fall asleep like this, it gives you a headache.

It's wrong to hurt people.

It was unwise to be rude to David.

It's unusual to meet a shy girl nowadays.

It's important to remember the figures.

Note. It should be mentioned that it is worth while is normally followed by an infinitive object whereas it is worth is modified by an ing-form object (see "Verbs", §219).

e.g. It might be worth while to mention that there is a train soon after 5.

Do you think it would be worth while to open a shop somewhere else in the neighbourhood?

The subject of the infinitive in this sentence pattern is usually associated with every or any person or an indefinite number of unidentified persons (see the examples above). Yet it is not un- usual for the infinitive object in this sentence pattern to have a subject of its own. In this case the infinitive far-phrase is used.

e.g. It was rare for him to go out to dinner.

It's very good for them to have an older man with plenty of experience to come to for advice.

"Of course," said Mont, "it's natural for young men to be in- terested in politics."

It was necessary for her to earn her living as quickly as she could.

The peculiar feature of this sentence pattern is that the infini- tive and its subject can be introduced by the preposition of.

e.g. "It's kind of you to come," she said. It was inconsiderate of her to ask that.

He thought it was wrong of him to go off forever and leave his mother all on her own.

(For comparison with the ing-form see §§ 219 and 239.)

§ 191. The infinitive as object of an adjective is sometimes found in a sentence pattern with it as a formal object of some verbs. They are commonly the verbs to feel, to find, to make and to think.

e.g. I find it difficult to believe that anyone can be that lazy.

Yet I found it necessary to tell him that I had been in touch

with Mont.

I had thought it impolite to smoke a cigar in her presence. He felt it natural to accept hospitality. His anger made it impossible for us to continue the conversation.

For the means of expressing the subject of the action denoted by the infinitive see "Verbs", § 166. (For comparison with the ing form see §§219 and 220.)

The Infinitive as Subjective Predicative

§ 192. The infinitive as subjective predicative is always preced ed by to. It is lexically dependent — it follows a number of transi- tive verbs used in the passive. The most frequently occurring of these verbs are: to advise, to allow, to ask, to authorize, to be lieve, to command, to compel, to consider, to direct, to expect, to feel, to find, to force, to hear, to impel, to instruct, to intend, to invite, to know, to leave, to let, to make, to mean, to order, to permit, to persuade, to presume, to report, to request, to re quire, to rumour, to say, to schedule, to see, to sentence, to show, to suppose, to teach, to tell, to tempt, to think, to trust, to under stand, to watch and some others.

e.g. I have been advised to rest.

He had been heard to discuss the possibility.

I believe they have been instructed to report to you by October.

Douglas was invited to have a drink with a Cabinet Minister.

No doubt no one could be persuaded to give her a job.

The public are requested not to walk on the grass.

He is said to be a good chap.

Note. When the verb to know is used in the Passive and is followed by an in finitive it may have two meanings — 'to be aware' and 'to experience'. In the former case the verb to know is found only in the Present or Past Indefinite and is followed by the infinitive to be.

e.g. You are known to be a preposterously unselfish friend.

Mr Dinis, who was known to be interested in the case, made it clear that he would proceed with it.

In the latter case the verb to know is found only in the Present and Past Per- fect and can be followed by other infinitives as well.

e.g. He has been known to drop a hint.

He's been known to take part in the work of different committees.

In the function of subjective predicative the infinitive is often used in its different analytical forms.

e.g. He was believed to be preparing a report on the incident.

Some professors are known to have disagreed with the au- thorities on students' demands.

The new system is intended to be applied in a month. The victim is believed to have been poisoned.

(For comparison with the ing-form see §§ 221 and 240.)

The Infinitive as Objective Predicative

§ 193. The infinitive as objective predicative is lexically depen- dent — it is used after a number of transitive verbs in the active followed by an object which is expressed by a noun or a pronoun. Most of these verbs require an infinitive with to. The most fre- quently occurring of them are: to advise, to allow, to ask, to as- sume, to authorize, to beg, to believe, to cause, to challenge, to command, to compel, to consider, to enable, to encourage, to ex pect, to find, to forbid, to force, to get, to guess, to hate, to imag- ine, to impel, to implore, to induce, to inspire, to instruct, to in- tend, to invite, to know, to lead, to like, to love, to mean, to observe, to order, to permit, to persuade, to prefer, to press, to re- alize, to recommend, to request, to require, to suppose, to suspect, to take (= to understand), to teach, to tell, to tempt, to think, to trust, to understand, to urge, to want, to warn, to wish and some others.

e-g. Why did he advise me to visit Westminster Abbey? I must ask you to ring him up tonight. You've encouraged people to believe that. We can't force you to stay here.

Why don't you get my wife to explain it to you? He ordered the door to be thrown open. Did he urge you to reconsider your decision?

Note that after verbs expressing opinion or perception by far the most common infinitive is the verb to be which is a link-verb in this case.

e.g. No one could expect her to be happy.

I hope you'll find the new method to be of considerable inter- est.

I never took him to be a Norwegian. I always believed him to be a brute. He didn't mean this to be a long meeting.

There are a few verbs in English after which the infinitive as objective predicative is used without the particle to. They are: to feel, to have (=to get, to make), to hear, to know (=to experience), to let, to make, to notice, to see, to watch.

e.g. I felt Margaret's hand tighten in mine.

I had not heard him speak before, and now I realized that he was a good speaker.

What makes you think you have any talent?

In the library I noticed Diana talk for a moment with her sis- ter alone.

She struggled for self-control, and I saw her hands clench and unclench spasmodically.

I've watched you grow for many years, from when you were a little baby.

She was not quite so naive as she would have had me think.

Note. The verb to know in the meaning 'to be aware' is generally used in the Present or Past Indefinite and followed only by the infinitive to be with the par- ticle to.

e.g. We all know it to be impossible.

I knew that to be true.

In the meaning to experience', the verb to know is generally used in the Present or Past Perfect and may be followed by the infinitive of any verb. The in finitive is used without to in this case.

e.g. She is worried; I've never known her lose her nerve before. 1 had never known Hector behave like this.

The infinitive after the verb to help may be used with or with- out the particle to.

e.g. He said he would have helped me move in.

I was helping him to win as thoroughly as if my happiness were at stake.

Note. To let somebody know is a set phrase, e.g. Why didn't you let me know you were coining? The subject of the infinitive in the function of objective pred- icative is the noun or pronoun which serves as the object to the predicate verb (see the examples above). There are instances when the object of the predicate verb is a reflexive pronoun. Then it in- dicates that the subject of the infinitive is the same person or thing as denoted by the subject of the sentence.

e.g. Roger had made himself seem friendly again.

Note. Note the set phrases can't bring oneself to do something and to set one- self to do something which always require reflexive pronouns as objects.

e.g. But I still can't bring myself to feel the way he does about things. I had set myself to tell the absolute truth.

§ 194. The infinitive as objective predicative is also used after a few verbs taking a prepositional object. The most regularly oc- curring of them are: to appeal to, to call upon, to listen to, to long for, to look for, to nod to, to rely on, to wait for, to watch for. After these verbs the infinitive is used with to except for the verb to listen to which takes an infinitive without to.

e.g. He was looking for someone to help him.

But later, I'd lie awake, watching for the light to come

through the little window.

Her whole life had been spent listening to other people talk. He nodded to the mechanics to remove the block. They appealed to him to give up the idea. They were waiting for dinner to be announced.

Occasionally, the infinitive as objective predicative may be found after a few verbs which do not regularly require preposition- al objects. Here belong, for example, such verbs as to arrange, to

ask, to beckon, to cry, to manage, to plan, to provide, to shout, to sign, to telegraph, to wire and some others. The most commonly used preposition is for, but occasionally we may also find with or to. e.g. Then she looked at me and beckoned for me to come over.

By the way, I must arrange for you to meet the old man some

time.

I arranged with the concierge to make my coffee in the morn- ing and keep the place clean.

I know that she telegraphed to Julia to come and bring me

with her. They drove up to the verandah steps and shouted to me to

come down.

The subject of the infinitive is always the person or thing de- noted by the prepositional object (see the examples above). (For comparison with the ing-form see §§ 222 and 241.)

The Infinitive as Adverbial Modifier § 195. The infinitive may serve as an adverbial modifier of a

verb. In this function it is used to express purpose, consequence,

comparison, condition and exception.

For the means of expressing the subject of the action denoted

by the infinitive see "Verbs", § 166.