Chapter LXXXII: Infinitives as Subjects or Complements

=324.= If we wish to make an assertion about a person, a place, or an object, we use a noun for the base word of our subject; but if we wish to make an assertion about an action, we use an infinitive or an infinitive phrase for subject; as, “Just to breathe the air and feel one’s self alive was enough,” “Going after the cows was a serious thing in my day.”

=325.= We have seen that a noun clause used as subject may be thrown to the end of the sentence by means of the anticipative subject _it_; as, “It is a good thing _that somebody likes to cook_.” In the same way an infinitive phrase used as subject may come after the predicate; as, “It pleased the jackal to see Mother and Father Wolf look uncomfortable.” Recast this sentence, omitting _it_.

=326.= The infinitive phrase is often used as the object of a verb. Not all transitive verbs, however, can be completed by infinitives—only those which can take for an object the name of an action or a condition; as, “The cloud began to sink softly down to the earth,” “After a struggle Bess gave up using two lumps of sugar in her coffee.”

Why cannot the verbs _break_, _bring_, _buy_, _cut_, _eat_, and _plow_ take infinitives for objects?

=327.= The infinitive is used as a subjective complement of an intransitive verb in two ways that differ slightly; as, “The hunter’s first impulse was to laugh at his own folly,” “No trees of any magnitude were to be seen.”

In the first sentence the infinitive phrase, _to laugh at his own folly_, completes the verb _was_ and explains just what the impulse was, hence it denotes identity with the subject. Its use is precisely like that of the word _dime_ in the sentence, “My ‘lucky penny’ is a silver _dime_,” hence we say that it is used like a noun.

In the second sentence it is clear that the infinitive _to be seen_ completes the verb _were_ and tells something about the subject, hence it must be a subjective complement. But instead of being used like a noun to denote identity with the subject, it is equivalent to the adjective _visible_, hence may be said to be used like an adjective.

=Summary.=—The infinitive phrase may be the subject of a verb, the object of a verb, or a subjective complement.

By means of the anticipative subject _it_, the real subject, an infinitive phrase, may be placed at the end of the sentence.

As subjective complement the infinitive phrase may have the use of a noun or of an adjective.

=Exercise.=—Tell the grammatical use of all infinitive phrases in these sentences, and classify all infinitives:—

1. Mowgli said that he never wished to see, or hear, or smell
man again.

2. That which most resembles living one’s life over again is
recalling all the circumstances of it and recording them in
writing.

3. To fit out a fleet, and to levy and equip an army, and to
continue the forces thus raised in action during a long and
uncertain campaign would cost a large sum of money.

4.

When the days begin to lengthen,
Then the cold begins to strengthen.

5. It is delightful to look upon the charming country which
springs up under a watering-pot sky.

6. One of the best things in farm life is gathering the
chestnuts, hickory nuts, butternuts, and beechnuts.

7. Speaking of Latin reminds me that I once taught my cows
Latin.

8. The quaint, picturesque old town seems to bristle with forts.

9. When I wanted to hit a mark, my usual way was to aim at
something else.

10. The one idea in Mowgli’s head was to get Messua and her
husband out of the trap.

11. This boy was so forward in domestic arts that he undertook
sewing on the machine when he was only five years old.

12. It is bad manners to find fault with your food at the table.

13. To climb a tree and shake it, to club it, to strip it of
its fruit, and pass to the next, is the sport of a brief time.

14. One of Jakie’s amusements was dancing across the back of
a tall chair, taking funny little steps, coming down hard,
jouncing his body, and whistling as loud as he could.

15. The Englishman learned to fight from behind a tree, to
follow a trail, and to cover his body with hemlock boughs for
disguise.

16. It exactly suits the temperament of a real boy to be very
busy about nothing.

17. Trotting on city pavements is very hard on the dray horses.

18. The reward of a good sentence is to have written it.

Tell the part of speech and use of _that_ and _which_ in sentence 2, _sum_ 3, _then_ 4, _years_ 11. What is the object of _from_ in sentence 15? Think of similar expressions.