Passive or active forms of the infinitive

Passive forms of the infinitive refer to a subject presented as receiving the action expressed by the infinitive:

• I studied the clouds in all directions, determined not to be blindsided again.

• Inspector Pascoe asked for the prisoners to be held in the cells overnight.

• His fingernails were buffed and shined and appeared to have been coated with polish.

• “How much were you to have been paid, Mr. Truesdale?”

Active and passive infinitives are sometimes interchangeable, particularly

used as attributes:

• There’s a lot of work to do/to be done.

• Give me the names of the people to contact/to be contacted.

The active infinitive is used to focus on the person who has to do the action:

• Once I got around the cafeteria, building three was easy to spot.

The passive infinitive is used to focus on the action itself:

• I decided that the letter was ready to be mailed, then started worrying about how I might accomplish mailing it.

Only the Passive Infinitive of the verbs ‘see, find, congratulate’ is used after ‘be nowhere’:

• The papers were nowhere to be found.

• Cowboy was nowhere to be seen.

Sometimes the active and passive infinitives used as attributes have some difference in meaning:

• The kids complain that there’s nothing to do there/They have nothing to do there.

• There is nothing to be done – we’ll have to buy another one/We can do nothing but buy another one.

The active form of an infinitive has a passive meaning in a few phrases:

• There are three flats to let in the building.

• A spokesman said that bad weather was to blame for the delay.

Functions of the infinitive in the sentence

The Infinitive can be used irrespectively of the words surrounding it in some syntactic functions in a sentence, for example, as subject or predicative:

• The purpose of this dictionary is to help students of English.

However, in most cases it is lexically dependent, i.e. its use depends on the head-word which it follows. This mainly happens when it is used as object, part of verbal predicate, attribute, etc.

The infinitive as a dependent component can follow:

- verbs in the finite form: We used to earn much;

- adjectives: It’s too cold to sit outside;

- nouns: This is a horrible thing to say;

- pronouns: There’s always something to do at the farm;

- modals and modal phrases: I would have helped you if I could have;

- numerals: Sheila and Jim were the first to arrive;

- adverbs: They had been walking too silently to be heard; etc.

1. The Subject (the infinitive begins a sentence or is used in the construction with the introductory ‘it’):

• It would be a huge risk to go back.

• To be called a baby is an insult to a ten-year-old boy.

• He would miss the country practice. It was sad to be leaving it.

The simple infinitive is common in this function:

• It annoys me to hear people blaming everything on the government.

The perfect forms of the infinitive in this function which denote prior actions are possible but rare:

• Not to have acted sooner is his greatest regret.

• Of course, Clement of afraid that Lucas might have killed himself. It must be a terrible thing to have killed a man; and Lucas’s reaction would have to be something extreme.

The Simple Infinitive which begins a sentence often serves to denote an action that is simultaneous or follows that of the predicate verb:

• To understand the system is very easy.

The Perfect Infinitive used in combination with the conditional mood may show

that the past action was not carried out:

• It would have been rude to have left the party any earlier.

2. Part of a compound verbal predicate (the infinitive is used after modal

verbs, aspective verbs such as ‘begin, start, continue, etc.’ and a few expressions such as ‘had better, would/had rather, used to, etc.’):

• The traffic had started to move more freely now.

• We used to swim in the river.

• She didn’t want trouble right now. She wanted this quiet, just the two of them. But now it was going to be ruined.

The Perfect forms of the Infinitive in this function are possible only after

modals and some modal expressions:

• I would rather have stayed at home.

• Clair must have really wanted a change.

There is no unanimous approach to the function of the infinitive after aspective verbs (begin, cease, etc.). Some argue that the Infinitive after aspective verbs may be treated as the object.

2. The Predicative (the infinitive is used after linking verbs):

• Her plan is to move to France after she graduates.

The Simple Infinitive tends to express an action which follows that of a link verb. Occasionally, the Simple Infinitive may serve to express a simultaneous action:

• His aim is to become the next president.

The Perfect Infinitive is not often used in this function:

• Her greatest claim to fame is to have been chosen for the last Olympic squad.

2. Part of the predicative (the infinitive is used after a linking verb + an

adjective):

• If you don’t know the answer, don’t be afraid to say so.

• I’m lucky to be working at all, to have survived the war, to have friends like you.

The simple infinitive in this function is often used to express an action following the state expressed by a link verb together with an adjective:

• We are anxious to hear from anyone who can help.

The perfect infinitive is mostly used after ‘be’ in the present simple tense:

• I’m lucky to have fallen upon you, Kemp. You must help me.

• I’m overjoyed to have been invited into his house.

Compare:

• He wasn’t easy to track down.

• She had been easy to deceive.

However, sometimes it is used after ‘be’ in other tenses:

• She wondered how wise she had been to have embarked on this. On a return to the dangerous, potentially deadly world of medicine.

After some of the adjectives the infinitive has a passive meaning and acquires the additional meaning of possibility:

• The windows will be almost impossible to open.

With the infinitive after a few adjectives such as ‘sure, bound, likely, liable’, a

sentence acquires the modal meaning of certainty, probability, or possibility:

• The study shows some people are more likely to suffer back problems.

• We’re all liable to make mistakes when we’re tired.

• The weather is bound to get better tomorrow.

The Infinitive in this function may refer not to the subject of the sentence but have a subject of its own such as ‘anyone’, ‘you’ or ‘people’ which is inherent in the sentence:

• The system is very easy to understand (Anyone understands the system easily).

There is no unanimous approach to the function of the infinitive as part of the predicative. Some argue that the infinitive after a linking verb followed by an adjective can be treated as object.

2. The Object (the infinitive is used after verbs of willingness or desire, verbs

of mental states, liking and disliking, saying):

• Peter wished he’d never promised to help them.

• He forgot to pay me.

As a general rule, the Simple Infinitive is common in this function and

serves to show a simultaneous or following action:

• Why do you want to speak to Heidi?

• What do you like to be called?

The use of the other forms of the infinitive is possible but not very common:

• I’m not sure I want to be doing this, myself, but I guess I feel obligated to help the police.

• Surely that’s exactly what Leonora would have wanted to have given you, the freedom to do what you always wanted.

• Imogene’s death was a great benefit to him because the divorce hearing would have revealed many things, financial and otherwise, that he couldn’t afford to have revealed.

The Perfect Infinitive after the past forms of the verbs ‘mean’, ‘intend’ and ‘hope’ shows that the action was not realized. However, this use is not common in present-day English:

• I meant to have telephoned, but I forgot.

The infinitive as object can be used right after a question word with a limited

number of verbs, such as ‘ask, decide, find out, know, learn, say, teach, tell’ and others of similar meaning. The Infinitive expresses a potential action, i.e. actions that may/will/should occur in the future:

• Do you know how to use a word processor?

• We watched the funnel in muted fascination. It skipped along in midair, dancing at times while it decided where and when to strike.

The Infinitive as object usually refers to the subject of a sentence as the doer of its action:

• Ellen promised faithfully not to open her present until her birthday.

However, in some structures (after some verbs or in the Complex Object) the infinitive can refer to the speaker or another object as the doer of its action:

• You said he screamed at them. He said to find out who was double-crossing them and take care of it, right? (He said to them to find out)

• He said to tell you, no, to warn you. (He said to me to tell you)

• The baby was still bawling. I had never heard anything cry so violently without end.

There is no unanimous approach to the function of the infinitive as object after ‘want, plan and try’. Some argue that the Infinitive after these verbs may be treated as part of a compound verbal predicate.

2. The Attribute (the infinitive is used after nouns, substantivised adjectives,

the indefinite pronouns and numerals):

• His decision to retire from politics was not completely unexpected.

• He ran into the hallway looking for something to smash.

• Hillary and Norgay were the first to climb Everest.

The action expressed by the infinitive as attribute refers to the subject of a sentence:

• “And of course you, Mr. Taft,” said Judge Shook, “retain the right to object wherever you see fit.”

• She has led far too blameless a life to have been blackmailed.

The simple active infinitive as attribute can be used to say what will be done with the noun before it:

• This case will preoccupy whoever takes it for several months. I don’t have those months to spare.

Both passive and active forms of the infinitive are possible in some

structures (especially after the introductory ‘there’):

• There was nothing more to be said. The silence that followed was a rather uncomfortable one.

• There wasn’t a cloud to be seen, and this meant no floods in the near future.

• ‘Please forgive me.’ ‘There is nothing to forgive.’

• She knew from his face that something was wrong. More trouble to manage. She didn’t want trouble right now.

The simple infinitive (active or passive) often has a modal meaning of

necessity, possibility or potentiality of action after nouns or indefinite pronouns:

• He was a valuable man to have in certain situations.

• I don’t see that I can do anything to help you.

• My mother was busy arranging the other necessities to be packed.

The simple infinitive in this function often points to a particular single action

which will follow that expressed by a finite form:

• He left his luggage to be called for later.

• There’s a charity ball to be held next week that I’m afraid I’m bound to attend.

The continuous and perfect infinitives are possible:

• You are naturally the only person to have had sight of it.

The continuous infinitive makes the statement more expressive, while the

perfect infinitive denotes either a preceding or unfulfilled action:

• This ascent is the first to have been achieved without the aid of oxygen.

• He had sent one of the new juniors to the courthouse to pull the records of any subpoenas to have served in the case against his wife.

Sometimes when there is no doer of an action in a sentence, the infinitive in this function can refer to the speaker themselves or anybody:

• This is a horrible thing to say.

The doer of an action in such sentences can be identified by a for-phrase before

the infinitive or implied by the context:

• Our wish for him to succeed is more important than any other consideration.

• Peter rose and said in a calm voice, ‘My dear friends, I am very sorry about this, but there is nothing to be alarmed about, please sit down.’