The Infinitive is a non-finite form of the verb.

The Infinitive in English has 6 forms if the verb is used in the Continuous form and in the Passive Voice. The Infinitive Active Simple Perfect Continuous Perfect Continuous to take to have taken to be taking to have been taking The Use of the Infinitive The Infinitive as Subject In this function the infinitive is always used with the particle to and usually expresses an action following the action denoted by the predicative verb. e.g. To help him that day was completely out of my power. To see him was all that she desired. The infinitive as subject may also express actions which are simultaneous with the action of the predicate verb. e.g. To listen to her singing is always a pleasure. The infinitive often acquires the additional modal meaning of condition in this function. This meaning is generally supported by the use of the Conditional Mood in the sentence. e.g. To take money from him would be like robbing a child (= if you took money from him). To take him seriously would be absurd (= if you took him seriously). Sentences with the infinitive as subject have certain structural peculiarities: a) The infinitive as subject may be used only in declarative sentences; it is never used in interrogative sentences. b) The infinitive is always placed at the head of the sentence; it is never preceded by any secondary parts. c) We generally find the nominal predicate in sentences of this kind. The predicative is usually expressed by a noun or an adjective, qualifying the action denoted by the infinitive. e.g. To walk with Emily was a rare treat. Passive to be taken to have been taken

To make it seemed a difficult thing. Not to finish the task was terrible. Sometimes another infinitive is used as predicative. e.g. To influence a person is to give him ones thoughts. The Infinitive as Predicative The infinitive is generally preceded by the particle to in this function and in most cases expresses an action which follows that of the link-verb. The link-verb in sentences with the infinitive as predicative is always to be. e.g. Her greatest desire was to make a present to her granny. The task of the doctor is to cure people. The only sensible thing now is to keep silent. The infinitive in this function always has appositive meaning, i.e. it explains the meaning of the subject of the sentence. Hence, sentences of this kind have the following structural peculiarity the subject of the sentence can be expressed only by a limited number of nouns. They are nouns denoting abstract notions which admit of and sometimes even require an explanation of their meaning. The most commonly occurring of these nouns are: act, action, advice, aim, ambition, answer, business, consequence, custom, desire, difficulty, duty, function, habit, hope, idea, instruction, intention, job, method, need, object (= aim), order, plan, policy, problem, purpose, reason, requirement, role, rule, task, thing (usually with an attribute), thought, way, wish, work and some others. The subject of the sentence may also be expressed by all (and occasionally by the least and the most) modified by an attributive clause which usually contains the verb to do. e.g. All I want to do is to sleep. The least we can do is to forget about it for a while. The most they could do was to leave her alone. After this type of subject the infinitive may be used without to. e.g. All I wanted to do was run away. All we can do is stick to our decision.

Sentences with the subject expressed by all, the least and the most cannot be used in the interrogative form. The infinitive as predicative, unlike the infinitive as subject, is found not only in literary style but also in spoken English. The Infinitive as Predicate The use of the infinitive as predicate is restricted to the following sentence patterns: 1) Interrogative (affirmative and negative) sentences beginning with why and implying a suggestion. We always find an infinitive without to here. In interrogative-affirmative sentences the implication is that there is no need to perform the action. e.g. Why cry without any reason? Why waste your time on him? In interrogative-negative sentences the implication is that there is nothing to prevent one from performing the action. e.g. Why not call him right away? Why not leave the luggage in the room if you dont need it? The subject of the infinitive in this kind of sentences is always the person (or the persons) engaged in the conversation. 2) Exclamatory sentences showing that the person denoted by the subject is unlikely to perform the action of the infinitive the speaker rejects the idea as impossible. The infinitive may be used with or without to. e.g. You a man-of-the-world to suggest this! You know its impossible. Try to write, she said. Me write! No, I said with a laugh. Such sentences are emotionally coloured and found only in spoken English, but they are infrequent. The Infinitive as Part of a Compound Verbal Predicate The infinitive is lexically dependent in this function it is used only after certain verbs: a) after modal verbs and b) after the following intransitive verbs: to seem, to appear, to turn out, to prove, to happen, to chance.

e.g. He seemed to follow all the instructions. It is really strange but it happens to be the truth. These verbs may be followed by different analytical forms of the infinitive with to. e.g. For a moment she appeared to be listening. He seemed to have finished his work. The letter seems to have been mislaid. In the same week I happened to have been enquiring whether all the invitations had been sent out. As is seen from the above examples, the Perfect infinitive expresses an action which precedes the action indicated by the finite verb, while the Continuous infinitive expresses an action simultaneous with it. The subject of the infinitive in this function is the same as the subject of the sentence. The Infinitive as a Second Action Accompanying the Action of the Predicate Verb The infinitive may express a second action in the sentence, accompanying the action of the predicate verb. The subject of the infinitive is the same as that of the predicate verb. This second action follows the action expressed by the predicate verb and may be called a subsequent action. Hence the term the infinitive of subsequent action. The infinitive of subsequent action always follows the predicate and is used with the particle to. The most commonly occurring verbs followed by this kind of infinitive are those of motion such as to come, to hurry, to reach, to return, to run, to rush, to turn, to walk and their synonyms as well as the verbs to look or to glance (followed by up, down, across, about, round, toward, etc.), to wake up, to awake, to be awakened. The infinitive of subsequent action itself may also be expressed by a wide range of verbs of different lexical character, but by far the most frequently occurring verbs are to discover, to find, to hear, to see and their synonyms. e.g. He returned to find her sad, calm eyes upon him. (= and found)

I looked across to see Mr. Jesmond smiling at me. (= and saw) As a rule, the action of the infinitive instantly follows that of the predicate verb, as in the examples above. Sometimes, however, this immediate succession of actions is expressed in the sentence by means of special indications, such as in time, or just in time, the next moment and the like. e.g. Alice arrived in time to hear Toms remark. Emily ran out of the room just in time to notice Mark hiding the present. If the action of the infinitive does not follow that of the predicate verb directly, there are usually special indications of time in the sentence. e.g. I know of quite a few people who always start a new life on the 1st of January only to slip back to the old one on the 15th. He walked out one morning without a word to anyone, to be heard of some time afterwards in Australia. The infinitive of subsequent action is sometimes preceded by only. In this case the combination of the predicate verb and the infinitive usually acquires the following meaning: the action of the predicate verb becomes pointless and its effect is, as it were, brought to naught by the action expressed by the infinitive. e.g. The motor started again only to stop again in a moment. He took off the receiver only to replace it. The infinitive of subsequent action may be preceded by never to show that the action of the infinitive is not destined to take place. e.g. Thomas understood that she had gone never to come back. Lin threw his photo away never to remember him. The infinitive of subsequent action is not in common use in English; it is mainly restricted to literary style.