3. The Infinitive in the function of Part of the Predicate

3.0. As the Part of the Predicate INF can be used in two ways:

1. as the part of the nominal predicate (INF is Predicative);

2. as the part of the verbal predicate (when INF is a part of certain combinations with other verb forms or phrases).

3.1. As Predicative INF follows linking verbs to be/feel/mean, etc., most often it follows be: My task was to find him. Your job in this company means to agree with your boss first. The Subj. of such infinitives is mostly expressed by a number of abstract nouns, such as plan, idea, habit, desire, intention, purpose, mistake, wish, etc. – His decision was to set up a data base on the students’ grades. The Subj. can also be expressed by another infinitive – To be walking alone through this park at that hour was to risk one’s life. (If the Subj. is INF, it names the major event of the two, expressed by infinitives, or the first to happen).

The INF also functions as part of the Predicative in the structures with Adj. when it names the action directed to the Subj., thus the Subj. is the semantic object of the action named by the INF. Such sentences can be easily paraphrased with the introductory Subj. ‘it’: He is easy to please. à It’s easy to please him. Polyester is easy to iron à It’s easy to iron polyester. She is amusing to be with à It’s amusing to be with her.

Adjectives fitting into this pattern include such as agreeable, amusing, boring, difficult, easy, hard, impossible, nice, etc.

3.2. As Part of the verbal Predicate INF is used as the second verbal element in the following types of the Pred.:

• compound verbal modal predicate (CV Mod. Pred.);

• compound verbal phasal (aspective) predicate (CV Phas. Pred.).

3.2.1. In the CV Mod. Pred. INF follows such verbs and phrases:

• a modal verb (can/could, dare, need, may/might, must, have to, be to, shall/should, will/would, ought): She ought to have been told about the accident;

• a modalized verb in the active voice similar to the verb ‘be’ (seem, appear, prove, turn out, happen, chance often rendered into Russian with the help of the verbs казаться, оказаться, случаться): Standing out in the open air was a large grindstone which appeared to have hurriedly been brought there from some workshop. The girl seemed to be taking my words seriously. I chanced to have met him before. My new neighbours turned out to come from old Irish clan. Even the blind men's dogs appeared to know him;

• a modal phrase containing modals (had better, would rather, may/might just as well, cannot but, cannot do anything but…): We would rather stay at home than go out in rain; I can’t but agree with you; You might just as well call me by phone, I think. He could do nothing but imagine himself with Betty.

• a modalized phrase denoting possibility or probability (to be certain, to be likely, to be sure, to be bound, to be unlikely, be able): It is sure to rain today. They are unlikely to win the match; Are you able to walk another ten minutes?

3.2.2. As part of CV Phas. Pred. INF follows the verbs denoting stages of the event/action such as beginning, duration/continuation, or end (thus called phasal verbs). The list of phasal verbs used with infinitives is limited: begin, continue, go on, cease, start, come, commence, get, grow:

The rain continued to shower for an hour longer. At last he began to think about his grades! When the motor ceased to work, no other sound disturbed us. She came to realize what my words meant. I grew to dislike working for the cinema. She felt sometimes that she had ceased to think of anything but money. As there was music all around the park they didn’t get to sleep until small hours.

Note that the verb stop also belongs to phasal verbs, but only when it is used with GER it names the end of the action. With INF stop has the meaning of ending smb.’s movement/activity so that to begin another action, with the purpose of doing something else:

He stopped to have dinner. – Он остановился, чтобы пообедать. We stopped to refuel our car. – Мы остановились для того, чтобы заправить машину.

In its phasal meaning stop is used with the Gerund:

He stopped drinking. He stopped calling me by my first name.

The predicates that denote repeated actions in the past are also treated as phasal: used to+INF and would+INF:

We used to live in this street ten years ago. They used to share the same office. We would always go to have lunch together. Often, he would come to my garden and sit under a big apple tree, thinking.

Would+INF differs from Used to+INF. The predicate with used to names an action/event as an occurrence, as something that happened on its own, state of things in the past. Would in such structure names actions that somebody does deliberately; such actions usually take a shorter period of time than the ones named by used to+INF (compare: We used to live… He would come to my garden…).

Used to-INF is reserved to speak about states, characteristic qualities and the like, whereas Would+INF is likely to name actions. Compare: We used to have a dog, but not *We would have a dog.

There is a combined type of the compound verbal predicate in which the components of several predicate types mix: Now you can begin to make your experiments – Comp. V. Mod. Phas. Pred.