Lecture 6

Infinitive Complements (3)

• The Distribution of the Nominative +
Infinitive
• The Distribution of the Accusative +
Infinitive
• Adverbial Infinitives
The Distribution of the Nominative +
Infinitive Construction
It is lexically governed (it normally appears after certain
verbs with special semantic properties) - SSR triggers
a) A-verbs: appear, seem, happen, prove, etc.
(alternative THAT-complement - that-
paraphrase)
She appears [t she to like him.]
(It appears that she likes him.)
Her brother seems to me [t her brother to be a
crook.]
(It seems to me [that her brother is a crook.])
He is sure [t he to win the elections.]
(It is sure [that he will win the elections.])
The Distribution of the Nominative +
Infinitive Construction
b) Inchoative verbs (change of state verbs): get, grow,
come, remain
She grew to like him in the end.
There came to live too many people in this building.
It remains to be seen.
c) Aspectual verbs: dual (raising / control) triggers: begin,
continue, start
- they can be both transitive and intransitive
He continued to talk to Mary. = He continued + object
PRO-TO constr.
The lecture continued to be boring. = The lecture was
boring; *The lecture continued
Nom.+Inf. constr.
The Distribution of the Nominative +
Infinitive Construction
d) Lexical modal verbs: have to, ought to
Constructions including the verb be: be to, be
about to, be going to
He is to come any day now.
He has PRO to tell the truth.
They ought PRO to be there on time.

N.B. ‘be going to’ – 2 interpretations:

1. I am going to faint / be late. – Nom.+ Inf. (no control of the
subject); ‘no intention of the subject to be late or faint’
2. I am going PRO to meet her at 5. – control construction
(interpretation: intention); PRO is controlled by the subject of
the main clause
 The Distribution of the
Nominative + Infinitive Construction
e) Verbs of mental perception in the passive: say (be
said), think (be thought), rumour (be rumoured), claim
(be claimed), consider (be considered), certify (be
certified), allege (be alleged), report (be reported), wager
(fogad vmiben)
It was rumoured THAT he murdered his wife.
*They rumour him TO have murdered his wife.
He was rumoured TO have murdered his wife.
These constructions do not accept the Acc.+Inf. (only
Nom.+Inf. and a THAT clause):
It is said THAT he was a great leader.
* They say him to have been a great leader.
He is said to have been a great leader.
The Distribution of the Nominative +
Infinitive Construction
f) Had better, would rather + bare infinitive
(when it is the same subject)
I had better tI leave now.
We would rather twe stay.
- When there is an infinitive, we have a raising
construction (Nom.+ Inf.)
BUT! I would rather you left.
- different subjects
- left – subjunctive (not past tense!!!)
The Distribution of the Nominative +
Infinitive Construction
- The Nominative and the Infinitive make up one semantic unit,
one clause, which can be paraphrased using an Indicative
THAT-clause
Melvin appears to speak fluent Japanese.
It appears that Melvin speaks fluent Japanese.

- The nominative is semantically related only to the infinitive

verb, and in no way depends on the main clause verb;
It appears to be raining. – It is raining. *It appears.
- it is selected by the main verb rain
There seems to be a man under your bed. – There is a man
under your bed. *There seems.
- there is selected by the verb be
The cat seems to be out of the bag. – The cat is out of the
bag. *The cat seems.
- the cat is out of the bag – idiom (let the cat out of the bag
= to reveal a secret carelessly or by mistake; kibújt a szög a
zsákból)
The Distribution of the Nominative +
Infinitive Construction
• Superficially similar examples – where the nominative
subject is selected by the main verb (and also by the
infinitive):
I managed to get a good job.
PRO-TO construction:
‘I’ and ‘managed’ form one semantic unit:
I managed …
Melvin appears to speak fluent English.
Nom.+Inf. Construction
‘Melvin’ and ‘appears’ do not belong together;
‘Melvin’ and ‘to speak’ form one semantic unit:
Melvin speaks …
 The Distribution of the
Accusative + Infinitive Construction
It normally appears in combination with:
a) Verbs of physical perception:
a) Basic ones that require bare infinitive: see, hear,
feel, smell, watch, overhear, etc.
They heard him insult her.
I saw him jump into the lake.
I felt her tremble.
I watched her leave by the back door.
b) Neological verbs that require full infinitives: perceive,
notice, observe
I perceived him to be known in the neighbourhood.
I observed her to be known in this restaurant.
 The Distribution of the
Accusative + Infinitive Construction
- An interesting property of physical perception
verbs: they can make up both the Nom.+Inf.
structure and the Acc.+ Inf. structure. – with a
difference in meaning:
Compare:
They heard Freddie Mercury sing last night.
(Acc. + Inf.) – he sings as a rule
Freddie Mercury was heard to sing last night.
(Nom. + Inf.) – an exceptional occurrence, he
does not normally sing in public
 The Distribution of the
Accusative + Infinitive Construction
b) Causative verbs:
- with the bare infinitive: make, have, let
I’ll have you learn this in no time.
- with a full infinitive: get, cause, occasion,
necessitate
I couldn’t get them to pay me my money.
- In the passive, the Acc. + Inf. construction turns
into a Nom.+ Inf. – the verb make is followed by
a TO-infinitive:
The teacher made Bill repeat the exercise several
times.
Bill was made to repeat the exercise several times.
 The Distribution of the
Accusative + Infinitive Construction
- The verb have may be used in an Acc. +
Inf. structure with two different
interpretations:
- HAVE = CAUSE
I’ll have him learn these poems by heart. (Am
să-l pun să înveţe poeziile pe de rost.)
- HAVE = EXPERIENCE
I’ve never had anyone talk to me like that. (Nu
mi s-a întâmplat niciodată să-mi vorbească
cineva aşa.)
 The Distribution of the
Accusative + Infinitive Construction
• The verb let requires an Acc. + Infinitive without to
(short infinitive)
He won’t let me come in without a ticket. (Nu-mi dă
voie / nu vrea să-mi dea voie să intru fără bilet.)
Let there be light. (Să fie lumină.)

• The causative get may be used with both the Acc. +

Infinitive and the Accusative + Past Participle
constructions
I’ll get Tom to paint the door next week.
I must get it done tomorrow.
 The Distribution of the
Accusative + Infinitive Construction
c) Verbs of propositional attitude (mental
perception): acknowledge, assume, believe,
consider, understand, figure, picture, find,
imagine, remember, recollect, judge, deem,
presume, know, discover, prove, etc.
I believe him to be a genius.
I know him to be a good speaker of French.
I know there to have been riots in London.
I consider him to be my friend.
 The Distribution of the
Accusative + Infinitive Construction
d) Exercitive verbs of permission and
command: allow, permit, order, command, etc.
I allowed the trees in the yard to be cut down.

- The infinitive is often passive, the subject of the infinitive

cannot be interpreted as the receiver of the permission or
command:
He ordered his bed to be made at once. (El a ordonat ca
patul său să fie făcut / să i se facă patul.)
*He ordered his bed.
- These verbs can be combined with PRO-TO constructions as
well:
I allowed the gardener PRO to cut down the trees.
 The Distribution of the
Accusative + Infinitive Construction
e) Verbs of liking and disliking: love, like, dislike, hate, prefer,
want, wish, desire, intend, expect, mean, choose, etc.
I would like him to be there at 5.
- These verbs also allow PRO-TO constructions:
I would like PRO to go there.
Compare:
1. I want [for him to be happy.] FOR-TO
2. I want [PRO to be happy.] PRO-TO
3. I want [him to sweep the floor.] Acc.+ Inf.???
Paraphrase: I want that he should sweep the floor. –
subjunctive paraphrase;
- time sphere: future with respect to the main clause -
control construction
Accusative + Infinitive Construction

• The essence of this construction: the Accusative

and the Infinitive make up a semantic unit, a
clause whose subject is the Accusative and
whose predicate is the infinitive.
• It is paraphrased by a THAT-clause (indicative
paraphrase)
I believe him to be honest. / I believe [that he is honest.]
I consider this to be a mistake. / I consider [that this is a
mistake.]
I expect there to be trouble in Bucharest. / I expect [that
there will be trouble in Bucharest.]
Accusative + Infinitive Construction
• The Accusative is not semantically related to the main
verb, although the main verb assigns the Accusative
case. E.g.
I believe him to be honest. – does not imply ‘I believe him’
I hate animals to be tortured. – does not imply ‘I hate
animals’
• The Accusative + Infinitive differs from superficially
similar examples where a verb selects as arguments
both an Accusative (often personal) and an Infinitive
clause (this may be replaced by a THAT-clause):
I persuaded her to be more tolerant. / I persuaded her THAT
she should be more tolerant.
PRO-TO construction
I believed her to be more tolerant. / I believed THAT she was
more tolerant.
ACC.+ INF. construction
 Adverbial Infinitives
• The infinitive is frequently used in adverbial
clauses that express potential (rather than real)
action.
• It is used in
– adverbial clauses of purpose
– adverbial clauses of result
– unreal comparative clauses
– conditional clauses
– clauses of exception
 Adverbial Infinitives
• He toils [to earn his living.] (purpose)
• I came here for you to find out the truth. (purpose)
• He was not so stupid as to give you the money. (result)
• This box is too heavy [for me to lift.] (result)
• He is old enough to be her father. (result)
• She opened her lips as though to speak. (unreal
comparison)
• To look at Montmorency, you would imagine that he was
an angel. (condition) – If you looked…
• Tired of these, from these would I be gone./ Save that to
die, I leave my love alone. (Sonnet 66) (condition)
• He did nothing but laugh. (exception)
 Infinitive complements
- key concepts -
• The analysis of infinitive complements is built
upon a few criteria of classification:
– bare / full infinitives
– split / unsplit infinitives
– Infinitives with no expresses logical subject / with
expressed logical subject (the presence of the logical
subject inside the infinitive)
• Infinitive constructions can have no syntactic subject within
them because the infinitive mood exhibits no temporal
features (it is limited to aspectual features only)
 Infinitive complements
- key concepts -
• From this perspective:
– Free constructions (required by no special semantic
class of verbs)
• PRO-TO constructions
• FOR-TO constructions
– Lexically governed constructions (which appear after
special verbs with semantic particularities)
• Nominative + Infinitive
• Accusative + Infinitive
– Both of them resort to main clause verbs to assign case to
their logical subjects
– The logical test of inference offers the modality of checking
whether a structure belongs to this class or not