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19. The infinitive

The infinitive is the base form of the verb plus the particle "to": to play, to see, to walk. Bare infinitive (i.e., infinitive without the particle "to") is used after modal verbs and after several other verbs(make, let). The infinitive has several forms: simple / active (to read), passive (to be read), continuous (to be reading), perfect (to have read), perfect continuous (to have been reading). Simple / active and passive infinitive forms are the most common. An infinitive can function as the subject, part of the predicate, object, attribute, adverbial modifier.

In languages that have infinitives, they generally have most of the following properties:

  • In most uses, infinitives are non-finite verbs.

  • They function as other lexical categories — usually nouns — within the clauses that contain them, for example by serving as the subject of another verb.

  • They do not represent any of the verb's arguments.

  • They are not inflected to agree with any subject.

  • They cannot serve as the only verb of a declarative sentence.

  • They do not have tense, aspect, moods, and/or voice, or they are limited in the range of tenses, aspects, moods, and/or voices that they can use. (In languages where infinitives do not have moods at all, they are usually treated as being their own non-finite mood.)

In Modern English we distinguish the following predicative constructions with the infinitive:

  1. The Objective-with-the-Infinitive Construction

  2. The Subjective-with-the-Infinitive Construction

  3. The For-to-Infinitive Construction

  4. The Absolute Infinitive.

I. The Objective-with-the-Infinitive Construction

The Objective-with-the-Infinitive Construction is a construction in which the Infinitive is in predicate relation to a noun in the common case or a pronoun in the objective case. In the sentence this construction has the function of a Complex Object. In translating the Objective-with-the-Infinitive Construction into Russian there is always used a subordinate clause.

Eg. She is a wonderful teacher and I’ve never seen her lose her temper or get angry about anything. – Она замечательная учительница, и я никогда не видела, чтобы она вышла из себя или рассердилась из-за чего-нибудь.

II. The Subjective-with-the-Infinitive Construction (The Nominative-with-the-Infinitive Construction)

The Subjective-with-the-Infinitive Construction traditionally called the Nominative-with-the-Infinitive Construction is a construction in which the Infinitive is in predicate relation to a noun in the common case or pronoun in the nominative case.

The peculiarity of this construction is that it does not serve as one part of the sentence. One of its component parts has the function of the subject, the other forms part of a compound verbal predicate.

Eg. Jane is said to resemble me. – Говорят, что Джейн похожа на меня.

III. The For-to-Infinitive Construction

The For-to-Infinitive Construction is a construction in which the Infinitive is in predicate relation to a noun or pronoun preceded by the preposition “for”.

In translating this construction into Russian a subordinate clause or an infinitive is used. The construction can have different functions in the sentence. It can be:

  1. Subject, often with the introductory “it

  2. Predicative

  3. Attribute

  4. Complex Object

  5. Adverbial Modifier: