7. The Complex Object, the For-Complex and the Complex Subject

7.0. Complex Object (Objective Infinitive Construction) and the For-Complex share their functions in the sentence: the Objective Construction with the INF is an Obj. to the Pred. or another verb form, while the For-Complex can be found in all other syntactic positions – in the functions of Subj., Predicative, Attr., AM, and in some cases it is used as Obj. The Complex Subject (Subjective Infinitive Construction) is used as the Subj. of the sentence.

The Complex Object

7.1. Complex Object is a predicative construction (complex) composed of a nominal element (expressed by a N or noun-pronoun in the Common Case, a Pers. Pron. in the Objective Case) and its predicative complement expressed by the INF phrase. As a predicative construction the Complex Object is used as one part of the sentence. But its nominal part shows relations to both the verb-predicate (as its Obj.) and to INF (as the Subj. of its action):

I heard the bell ring à I heard the bell + The bell rang.

The Complex Object is used as an Object to verbs of several groups:

7.1.1. Verbs of physical perception (feel, hear, listen to, notice, observe, see, sense, watch) take a complex with a bare Non-Perfect Active INF:

We lay there all day and watched the rafts and steamboats spin down the Missouri shore. As we passed along, the gravel hurt my feet, and Lucy noticed me wince. At sight of them Ben-Hur felt the blood redden his forehead. I would listen to him go on praising Mina for a day. It was the first time he had ever seen her weep. He heard the town clock strike twelve.

Note: Complex Object is not used after the verbs of sense perception (see, hear and feel) when they denote cognitive, mental activity but not perception. That-clause is used instead:

When I heard that you had come back to our city I was very happy. I felt (that) he did not know the truth. “I see (that) you've done your usual marvelous job of calming him down.”

7.1.2. Verbs of mental activity (cognition verbs): acknowledge, assume, believe, consider, expect, sense (=consider), suppose, take (=understand), think, trust, understand, etc. require a to-INF object in any form, for example:

Take me fully into your confidence, as a son should take a father, and trust me to deal with this matter. He believed Jennie to be playing in the garden. I supposed him to have been married to her years ago. At any moment he was expecting Eric to pull a gun and rob him.

The verbs discover, estimate, fancy, feel (=consider), find (=consider), guess, hold (=think, regard), imagine, infer, judge, know, perceive, presume, remember are used with INF of the verb be (Non-Perfect and Perfect):

We found the argument to be powerful. Everybody in the town knew him to have been an athlete at school. In principle, this is the kind of change we might imagine human genetic engineers to be capable of directing one day. We have discovered the dream material to be a collection of psychic remnants and memory-traces.

7.1.3. The verb find in the meaning ‘discover’ can be occasionally used with Continuous or Passive INF:

When we entered we found the boys to be discussing the new CD game. He walked to the riverbank one day and found a crocodile to be trapped in a net.

However, the structure is often reduced to Complex Object with Participle as the auxiliary be in the INF form is easily dropped:

We found the boys discussing … (PI); He found a crocodile trapped … (PII).

7.1.4. Verbs of emotion and attitude – dislike, dread, care, hate, like, love, cannot/could not bear, cannot/could not stand – are followed by Non-Perfect INF:

I hate you to go away. Why he disliked it to be hinted that he and my father were twins? I can’t bear any one to be near me but you. I dreaded Jonathan to leave me.

7.1.5. Verbs of wish, intention and desire (desire, intend, mean, should/would like, want, wish) and verbs of decision (choose, prefer) due to their meaning take only the Non-Perfect INF as it denotes an unfulfilled action:

And if one loves anyone, one loves the whole person, just as that person is, and not as one would like her or him to be. I should like you to have a dark blue velvet coat, a white pique waistcoat, and a soft grey felt hat. You must rest a night in London - and I don't choose you to go by yourself to a hotel. He didn’t mean this to be a long meeting. She desired me to follow her upstairs.

7.1.6. Verbs of declaring (declare, deny, pronounce, report) take any form of INF:

I deny the portrait to have been given as a present – it was stolen from the house. The emergency team reported the plane to be in search. I declare him to be the winner. The surgeon pronounced the wound to be a slight one.

7.1.7. Causative verbs (verbs of inducement) let, make, and have are followed by a bare INF and the verb get – by a to-INF. As the action of the INF is referred to future, the INF is usually Non-Perfect:

Mr. Dixon, will you have the student who broke the window repair it by tomorrow, please? Let him see the reason himself. Tom has easily got his brother to admit his small crime of eating the Christmas cake. You make me think of spring flowers.

Other verbs of inducement (see 4.2.) with the meaning of order, permission or encouragement can be used in Complex Object phrase with Passive INF:

She then ordered her horse to be put into the gig. She would not allow the life of the child to be risked. The colonel ordered the trucks to be moved and stationed at a safer distance.

Such Complex Object phrases cannot be paraphrased like patterns with two objects: it is possible to paraphrase He ordered him to come à He ordered him + He ordered to come. But the sentences He ordered the trucks and He ordered to be moved do not appear semantically equivalent to He ordered the trucks to be moved.

7.1.8. Some verbs requiring a prepositional object (count on/upon, rely on/upon, look for, send for) and some phrasal verbs (bring in, bring up, etc.) take Non-Perfect Active INF in Complex Object phrase:

I’m counting on you to come. In the school they brought up children to be helpful to each other. Please, send for my brother to come at once.

The For-Complex

7.2. The For-Complex (For-to-Infinitive Construction) is built of a phrase N/Pron.+INF following the preposition for. For marks the ‘subject’ of the INF – the person or thing with which the action of the infinitive is associated. In the sentence the complex is used in a number of functions.

7.2.1. As Subject the For-Complex is used mostly in postposition to the Pred.:

But when the man perceived that it would be more agreeable for me to converse than to eat any more, he began to inquire of me who I was. It's never been easy for me to say things out of my heart, but at times like this it's easier.

However, occasionally you can find it before the predicate:

For me to ask would be treason. For a man of his age to be so live and energetic is so unexpected.

7.2.2. As Predicative the Complex follows a linking verb be or other links after the Subj.:

So the best way would be for us to pick out two or three things from the list and say we wouldn't borrow them any more. To be happy was for her to be loved.

7.2.3. As an Object the Complex is used after

• some action verbs that denote actions directed at something. In the sentence such verbs can be used with direct or prepositional object (arrange, ask, call, long, plead, phone, ring, send, vote):

He asked for the papers to be brought. The society called for consumers to take conservation measures to save water.

• nominal predicates containing adjectives that denote willingness or determination (anxious, glad, willing, etc.):

He was very anxious for the clerk to tell him how people went on in the capital. We shall be glad for you to stay as long as you can. The girls were complacent, willing for anything to happen.

Note similar cases in which there is no complex as there are no predicative relations between the N/Pron and INF, thus INF is used attributively: I have lost much flesh since I lived there, and now I am anxious for a chance to show the other beasts how courageous I have grown (=I’m anxious for a chance and I will show how courageous I have grown, not *The chance will show …);

7.2.4. In the function of an Attribute the complex is often used to modify common concrete or abstract nouns or pronouns that can substitute for them:

Then the thing for us to do was to go for the magicians. There was no need for her to speak, nor for me either. There was nothing for us to do but amuse ourselves.

7.2.5. As AM of purpose, the For-Complex is most often used with process verbs such as hold, wait, watch, pray:

If the men went to the island, I just expect they found the campfire I built, and watched it all night for Jim to come. They are only waiting for her to come to her senses to arrest her.

7.2.6. As an AM of consequence the Complex is used after the nominal predicates expressing quantity or the degree of some quality (See also 6.1. INF as AM):

The probability, therefore, is, that each of these fixed stars is also a Sun, round which another system of worlds or planets, though too remote for us to discover, performs its revolutions, as our system of worlds does round our central Sun. She died of fever when I was just three months old; I do wish she'd lived long enough for me to remember calling her mother.