1266 The noun phrase

S: Thc man to hcplp yolr is Mr Johnson. ['who can help you'] [I]
0 : 'l'hc Inan (/i~ryo~r)to .vc,rJis Mr .lohns~)n. ('wl~o(nl)you
shoultl sec'] I21 Shc is not a pcrson
C:: -1.11~thing ui,ryorc) 10h,, thcsc tl;iys is a systcms analyst. ['the (for one) 10 n.1~'
011.
thing that pcoplc will try to bc thcsc days is a systclrls
analyst'; </,pseudo-cleft scntcnccs 18.29lfI L31
A: The time v, '/( J,OU)togo is July. ['at which you should go'] 141
This is :I good instrument
A : Tlic placc (/i~rj,oii)to strry is thc university guest house.
['wllcrc you sl10ultl st;1y'] 151 (for thc~ii)10 r ~ r i ~ r . v r r ,vi
r ~ br:ition 11.ir11.

Unlike [l], [2] can have an optional subjcct of the infinitive clausc introduced
by,for (cj'14.6f). Without such a subject, the infinitive clause in [2] could be
understood, according to context, as '(The man) that yorr/lte/et~c~ryor~r, etc
should see'.
Similarly, in [3-S] the subject of the infinitive may also be omitted. A less
common and more formal alternative is then to introduce the relative
pronoun and retain the infinitive clause:
The time at 11~11ichto go is. . . [4al
The place at ivhicll to stay is . . . [5al
[61
A good place at i11hicl1to eat is the pub round the corner.
Compare also the formal [7] beside the informal [7b] (note that the preposition
cannot be deferred in [7a]; nor can irt be kept in [7c]):
17.31 Under certain conditions, functional ambiguity may arisc, as when the
subject is not expressed by .fix . . . to and the verb con be used both
intransitively and transitively. In the latter case thcre are no semantic
restrictions to exclude the antecedent from being intcrprcted as either subjcct
or object. Consider sentence [I]:
He is the best man to choose. [l]
It can then mean either [la], iesubject interpretation and no equivalent finite
relative clause possible, or [Ib], ic object interpretation and with a
corresponding finite relative clause alternative:

the way
i *which to do it in
to do it
*to do it irt
Alternatively, we might have fully explicit relative clause constructions with
preposition + relative pronoun, or adverbial relative (without preposition;
[W
17bI
[7cl
I
to c10 the choosirg.
to make the choice.
He is the best man that we (etc) cart choose.
for rcs (etc) to ci~oose.
to be chosert (by us, etc).

As the examples have now shown, it is by no means only tense that has to
be inferred in the infinitive clause. Mood is a far more variable factor, and
the range accounted for in the adverbial infinitive clause is available also for
cf17.1af): noun-phrase postmodification (cfalso 12-41 below and 17.32), 'g:
The time to arrice is . . . ['at which you sho~tldarrive']
With infinitive clauses, aspect is also less restrained than with other nonfinite
clauses:
The place {~:~~!~h} you should stay is thc university guest house [5b]

anyone can eat is the pub round the corner. [6a] to have met
A good place
T h e postmodifying infinitive clause can be active or passive:
As stated above, there is no -ing or -ed clause as postmodifier which allows
correspondences with relative clauses where the pronoun is adverbial.
Compare the syntactic flexibility and the possibility of different degrees of
reduction in infinitive clauses compared with -ingclauses: Beside the active examples already given, we may consider the following
passives, which also further illustrate the variety of implicit tense and
*staying
modality:
the place, you should stay The case to be irmestigated ~otnorrolc. . .['that will, or is to, be
(for you) to stay (at) investigated'] 121
The animals to befound in Kenya . . . ['that can be, or arc, found'] [3]
1268 The noun phrase Postmodification by nonfiniteclauses 1269

The procedure to befollowed . . . ['that must, or should, or will, be 17.32 Postmodifying to-infinitive clauses can have cithcr a rnotlal or a nonmodal
SI)II~WC~I'I 141 sense, hut the motl:~lintcrprcl:~tionscctns to hc norm;~l.:ISintlic;~lctlhy most
(11' lllc cx;tn~plcsgive11 s11 I;lr. If tl~c;111tucc(Ic111
C I I I I C S I I ~ I I ~ I \ 10 lllc L I ~ ? ~ C C01'I
In sorne cases, only ;~ctiveinlinitivcs postmotlifyi~~g
cl;~uscsarc n;ttur;ll. I% the inlinitive, the liiodal interpretation is t l ~ conly possible one:
[S]; in some, only passive [61:
The thing to (10 is . . . ['The thing we should do is. . .': rot = 'The thing
~ ' v cgot Icttcrs to 111ritc'tonight. 1 we c l 0 is . . .'or '.l'Iic I l ~ i ~ i jwc
! ;trc f!,oinl! lot10 i' , . .'l
,!~'veg111I C ~ I C I S 10 / W II,~;IIC,I I O I I ~ ~1~ , ~ ~ .
Ifthcantccedcr~tcorrcspi)~iiIstotl~e sul~jcctol'llicinlinitivc, the intcrl,rctatio~~
The animals to be,fi,~otr/in Kenya . . .
?The animals toji~rdin Kenya . . . 1
In other cases, either active or passive infinitives seem equally possible with
may be nonrnodal, particul:~rlyif thc anlcccdcnt has a 'rcstriclivc' marker
such as lrst and the infinitive is equivalent to a rclativc cl;~usc:
They were the 1~1.vtguests to arrive. ['They were the last guests who
no or little change of meaning: arrived.']
to i11r1ite.
Give mc a list of the pcoplc Sucli'rcstrictivc'mnrkers includc;~tljcctivcs~ I thc I supcrl;~livcdcgrcc, gcrlcral
ordinals (next, last, ot~ly),Jir.st,or other ordinal numer;~l(~1'5.22).

The best thing (:~~dol,e) isas follows: Blurred relationships in postmodification

17.33 The sharply reduced explicitness in the -in~g,-H/,and infinitive clauses allows
This is true also for the existential sentence pattern there + be + noun us to blur or neutralize the distinction between noun-phrasc postmodification
phrase + to-infinitive clause which is allied to relative clauses (cf 18.448'): and certain other types of construction. It is interesting. for example, that
to write. native English spe;~kersconfronted by sentencc [I] arc likely to agrcc that
they see little or no difference in meaning between [l] and either of [Ia-b]:
a niatr hidderr behind the bushcs. [I]
a n ~ a ivho
r ~ was hirklerr behind the bushes. []a]
that a mnrz lvas /ridden behind the bushes. [Ibl
There is no passive equivalent if for is used to introduce a subject:

I
So also with two other sentences of obviously different structure:

The man
consu't
to be cotrsulted l
is Mr Johnson.
He was warned by
11zrfact that a IightJoshed repeatedly
a light thatJloshed repeatedijl.
foryou cOtrsulr
*for you to be consulted l
is M r Johnson,

Nor does a passive always sound plausible when the head is a quantifier:
Grammatical rules for nominalization (c/'17.51.f) can readily provide for
the relation of [2] to [4] and for the relation of both [2] and [3] to [5]:
'Ire repeated/fas/ri~rgof a light.
a lot to do. a lightflnshbzg repeatedly.
?a lot to be done. Sentence [5] can be a variant of the rarer form with genitive noun (a IiglrtS)
corresponding to the subject of [2] (cf15.12). The fact that [4] and [S] are
virtually indistinguishable semantically means that, despite,our ability to
relate [4] grammatically to [2] rather than to [3], it is pointless to speculate on

I a 1 ~ r gnumber
e ofpages

With a there-construction there is no voice restriction:

to write.
l
be iYritIe~l,
whether [5] is to be grammatically related primarily to (21or to [3].
The infinitive clause occurs in similar merged constructions, but with
additional possibilities. Example [6] is broadly unambiguous:

(for everybo(1y) to do. She expects somebody to repair /Ire TVset. 161
ro be done (by everybody). However, it can be related to more than merely noun-phrase postmodification
There is [71:
will repair the TV .vet.
She expects son~ebodyII~IIO 171
 1270 The noun phrase Postrnodificatior~by nonfiniteclauses 1271

l! rill1 :IISO\>C I.C\;IIC(\

10 il C I ) I ~ I I ~ ~ C I I I C ' I I It: yI ~p~ ~~tlcsrrihcd
~~I in 16.30tj; Ihc
nonlinilc clausc corrcsl)oritli~~g lo it linilc clituse:
She cxpccts thnt .\~<~rrrchrrtly i ~ ~ i l l r c y!h(,
~ ~ Tl/.vt,t.
ir 1x1 I?y(rc.citlntl, tlic suhsl:~nvch:~srcvoluli~,ni;.ctl
Disc~~rrrrc~tlc~lriro.vt
mcdicinc. [2;1]
There are relations also with two possible adverbial purpose clauscs [g]
and [IO]: But this mobility in fircl implies thiit nonfinitc nonrcslrictivc clauses ;ire
equivocal between adnominal and adverbial role. Thus, thc nonfinitc clause
She expects somebody itt orrlrr !ha! he 11~il1 repair the TVset. ~91 in sentencc [41 could bc ;r red~rctionof a rcl;rlivc cl:~llsc[4;1]. hut cc]u:~llyof a
Slic expects somchody irt ortlvr tlrcrt .vl~(~
corr rcprir rho TV set (11.it11 c;tus:~lclausc [4h], or a tc1npor:tl onc [4c]:
hi.7 help). [ 101
The man, wearirtgsucll clarkgla.s.scs, obviously could not sce clearly. [4]
However, both [9] and [l01 should be seen as rather cu~iibersome ...
wlro uas ~~'ecrrirrg
circumlocutions of thc natul.al cxprcssion in [61. Another i ~ n dmore t~;ttclr;ll [4;1]
allcrn:ltivc to [l01 would be [I I]:
She expects somebody to hrlp her repair tlte TVset. [l 11
{
Thc man, hecou.\c,It(, IIYI.Y
~vhertcaerhe n.ore. . .
...
~lr~crrirrg

So too, we can make the relative clause in [5] nonfinite:

[4bl
[4cI

It is doubtless convenient to have a structural type like [6] that has such
flexibility. For example, the possibility of postmodifying the head (sontrbo(1y) The cost, whicll irlcludes nreals, is 290 francs. [51
is crucially important if we wish to expand such a sentence into the more However, we must then recognize that the result, irrclttdittg rneals, m a y be
explicit form [7] rather than [9]. Example [6a], with a proper noun as head, regarded by a reader or hearer as a reduction of a conditional clause, 'if we
rules out a nonrestrictive clause [7a] as an analogue to [7]: include meals', or ittcluding may be regarded as a preposition (cf 9.8).
She expects Jotlathan to repair rhe TVset.
Note [a] The range of sem;inlic possibilities and the mohility to initial position (hcforc the noun
*She expects Jottatlratl n~ho~villrepair tile TVset. phrase)of nonrestrictive nonfinitc clauses make such cl;luses cquivoci~lhetrvec~~noun motliliers
and advcrbials (cj'8.150fl).
So also, we can reduce [l21 to the nonfinite form [12a] without perceptible
[blComparethe discussion in this section wit11 that offinitcr~onreslrictiveclattses
in 17.2?/1'and
change or loss of meanin'g: supplementiveclauses in 15.60fl:
~vhocliecks the TVset regularly.
She has {(to) c/~eckt/he TVset regtiiarl]~. A p p o s i t i v e p o s t m o d i f i c a t i o n by infinitive a n d -ing c l a u s e s
17.35 Appositive postmodification by nonfinite clause occurs with infinitive and
However, we must not assume that any sentence of the form [13], and still -ins clauses; -ed clauses cannot enter into appositive postmodification.
less of the form [14], can have the nonfinite clause expanded as a relative: Appositive postmodification is fairly common by means of infinitive clauscs.
She has X to c10 Y A restrictive example like [I] would correspond to the finite rltcrt people
She has X do Y. (~IrouId)givebloo(1, though such a use of the subjunctive or of putative should
(cJ4.64, 16.70fl') is uncommon:
N o n r e s t r i c t i v e p o s t m o d i f i c a t i o n by n o n f i n i t e c l a u s e s
The appeal to give blood received strong support. [l1
17.34 Nonrestr~ct~ve postmod~ficdt~on can also be achieved wtth nonfinlte clauses
There are also nonrestrictive examples, eg [2]:
The apple tree, swaymggerltly tn the breeze, was d rem~nderof old
tlmes ['whtch wasswaylng gently ~n the breeze '1 [l] This last appeal, to conteartd visit Itirtr, was never sent. [21
The substance, discovered almost by acc~~lent, has revolutlon~zed A common feature of infinitive clauses, applying to restrictive and
med~clne['whlch was discovered almost by acc~dent '1 L21 nonrestrictive alike, is that they leave the subject of the infinitive clause to
T h ~ scholar,
s to be founddatly m the Brrttslt Museum, hds devoted be inferred from the context (as in [l] and [2]), unless there is a prepositionally
h ~ life
s to the h~storyof sc~ence['who can be found dally In the introduced subject, as in [la] and [2a]:
Brtt~shMuseum 'I [31
As w ~ t hrestr~cttvenonfin~teclduses (cJ17 28J), nonrestrtctlve -11tg and -ed The appeal to give blood received strong support.
clauses only correspond to relatlve clauses where the relative pronoun IS
subject But also ~ n f i n t t ~ vclauses
e have t h ~ sconstraint when they are This last appeal to come and visit him, was never sent. [2a]
nonrestrlctlve
* T h ~ scholar,
s tofind The -ing clause functions a s appositive postmodific:~tion in examples like
*Thts place, to stay [3-51: