Página 1 de 4 ABOUT.COM FOOD HEALTH HOME MONEY TECHNOLOGY TRAVEL MORE VIDEOS Share this Arts & Literature About.com About Education Grammar & Composition ... History Sciences School & Student Resources More Icon - Lower Case infinitive clause By Richard Nordquist Grammar & Composition Expert GRAMMAR & COMPOSITION CATEGORIES Share this Definition: A clause whose verb is in the infinitive form. Writing Tips: Advice from One Writer to Another The infinitive clause is called a clause because it may contain such clause elements as a subject, object, complement, or modifier. Composition: Developing Effective Essays Verbs that can be followed by infinitive clauses (as objects) include agree, begin, decide, hope, intend, like, plan, and propose. English Grammar - Sentence Structures See also: Glossary of Grammatical & Rhetorical Terms Using Words Correctly, Effectively, and Imaginatively • Infinitive Phrase • Passive Infinitive Composing Sentences • Verbal 3 • To-Infinitive • What Is a "Split Infinitive" and What's Wrong With It? • Zero Infinitive Let About.com send you the latest from our Grammar & Composition Expert. 4 • Catenative Verb • Split Infinitive FREE EMAIL NEWSLETTER 5 • Infinitive Readings and Resources for Writers VIEW MORE TODAY'S T EDUC 2 Examples and Observations: • "I'm sorry but there's a handsome man in my spoon. You'll have to come back later." (Tom Tucker, Family Guy) 1 VIEW MORE SIGN UP You can opt-out at any time. Please refer to our privacy policy for contact information. • Jane was firm in her desire to live life on her own terms. • Desperate to prove his innocence, Jamal tells the story of his life in the slums of Mumbai. • "If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans." (Yiddish proverb) • "We merely want to live in peace with all the world, to trade with them, to commune with them, to learn from their culture as they may learn from ours, so that the products of our toil may be used for our schools and our roads and our churches and not for guns and planes and tanks and ships of war." (President Dwight Eisenhower, quoted in Time magazine, 1955) http://grammar.about.com/od/il/g/Infinitive-Clause.htm EDUC 06/09/2014 Página 2 de 4 Share this • Infinitive Clauses as Subjects and Objects "A subordinate clause with an infinitive often acts as the subject or object of the main clause. In the following examples, the whole infinitive clause [in bold] is understood as the subject of is human, is decadent or was unnecessary. - To err is human. - To drink Martinis before noon is decadent. - For Mervyn to redirect Maggie's mail was unnecessary. And in the following examples, the whole infinitive clause [again in bold] is understood as the direct object of hates, loves and expected. VIEW - Jim hates to wash his car. - Rosie loves to plan parties. - Phil expected Martha to stay at home all day. In case this is not obvious at first, you can test this by answering questions such as What does Jim hate? (answer: to wash his car), or What did Phil expect? (answer: Martha to stay at home all day)." (James R. Hurford, Grammar: A Student's Guide. Cambridge Univ. Press, 1994) • Perfect Infinitives "To express time preceding that of the main verb, the infinitive takes a perfect form: 'to' + have + past participle. (58) The parents were lucky to have found this specialist for their sick child. The perfect infinitive can be used with progressive aspect to emphasize duration. This construction consists of 'to' + have + been + V-ing. (59) He was too scared of the police to have been telling lies all the time. (Andrea DeCapua, Grammar for Teachers: A Guide to American English for Native and Non-Native Speakers. Springer, 2008) • Passive Infinitives "An infinitive that is derived from a passive finite verb clause will itself be passive: (20) a. I expect that all the calamari will be eaten before 7:00. (passive verb) (20) b. I expect all the calamari to be eaten before 7:00. (passive infinitive) You can verify that to be eaten is a passive infinitive in (20b) because it contains the passive marker [BE + (-en)]: be eaten. Remember that eaten is a transitive verb; in its active form, it will have a subject (an indefinite pronoun like someone or they) and a direct object (all the calamari)." (Thomas Klammer et al., Analyzing English Grammar, 5th ed. Pearson, 2007) Also Known As: infinitival clause, to-infinitive clause Related Articles Our Expert Recommends • free (nominal) relative clause • Infinitives • relativization • Participles • What Are Restrictive Clauses in English? • Gerunds http://grammar.about.com/od/il/g/Infinitive-Clause.htm • Identifying Verbals 06/09/2014 Página 3 de 4 • Subordinate Clause - Proposition subordonnée - French Grammar Glossary • Creating and Arranging Participial Phrases Share this • Basic Sentence Structures • Main Clause - Proposition principale French Grammar + Pronunciation Glossary • Auxiliary Verbs • Causative Verbs • Performative Verbs Grammar & Composition Essentials Education Slideshows Why the Great Wall of China Is So Important What Are the Top 20 Figures of Speech? Asian History Glossary of Grammatical & Rhetorical Terms What Is a Metaphor? Top Colleges for Harry Potter Fans College Admissions Questions & Answers About Rhetoric and Style What Is Grammar? 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