INFINITIVES.
266. Infinitives,
like participles, have no tense. When active, they have an indefinite, an
imperfect, a perfect, and a perfect
definite form; and when passive, an indefinite and a perfect form, to express
action unconnected with a subject.
267. INFINITIVES OF THE
VERB CHOOSE.
| ACTIVE VOICE. |
| Indefinite. |
[To] choose. |
| Imperfect. |
[To] be choosing. |
| Perfect. |
[To] have chosen. |
| Perfect definite. |
[To] have been choosing. |
| PASSIVE VOICE. |
| Indefinite. |
[To] be chosen. |
| Perfect. |
[To] have been chosen. |
To with the infinitive.
268. In Sec. 267 the word
to is printed in brackets because it is not a necessary part of the
infinitive.
It originally belonged only to an inflected form of the
infinitive, expressing purpose; as in the Old English, "Ūt ēode se
sǣdere his sæd tō sāwenne" (Out went the sower his seed
to sow).
Cases when to is
omitted.
But later, when inflections became fewer, to was
used before the infinitive generally, except in the following cases:—
(1) After the auxiliaries shall, will (with
should and would).
(2) After the verbs may (might), can (could), must;
also let, make, do (as, "I do go" etc.),
see, bid (command), feel, hear, watch,
please; sometimes need (as, "He need not go") and
dare (to venture).
(3) After had in the idiomatic use; as, "You
had better go" "He had rather walk than
ride."
(4) In exclamations; as in the following
examples:—
"He find pleasure in doing good!" cried Sir
William.—Goldsmith.
I urge an address to his kinswoman! I
approach her when in a base disguise! I do this!—Scott.
"She ask my pardon, poor woman!" cried
Charles.—Macaulay.
269. Shall and
will are not to be taken as separate verbs, but with the infinitive as
one tense of a verb; as, "He will choose," "I shall have chosen,"
etc.
Also do may be considered an auxiliary in the
interrogative, negative, and emphatic forms of the present and past, also in
the imperative; as,—
What! doth she, too, as the credulous imagine,
learn [doth learn is one verb, present tense] the love of the
great stars? —Bulwer.
Do not entertain so weak an
imagination—Burke.
She did not weep—she did not
break forth into reproaches.—Irving.
270. The infinitive is
sometimes active in form while it is passive in meaning, as in the expression,
"a house to let." Examples are,—
She was a kind, liberal woman; rich rather more than
needed where there were no opera boxes to rent.—De Quincey.
Tho' it seems my spurs are yet to win.—Tennyson.
But there was nothing to do.—Howells.
They shall have venison to eat, and corn to
hoe.—Cooper.
Nolan himself saw that something was to
pay.—E. E. Hale.
271. The various offices
which the infinitive and the participle have in the sentence will be treated in
Part II., under "Analysis," as we are now learning merely to recognize the
forms. |
