Infinitives

Section 11.3.6.1

Infinitives

The infinitive is a nonfinite verb that consists of the infinitive marker to followed by the base form of the verb.

When NASA first organized the Viking Lander missions to Mars, one of the
most vexing problems its scientists faced was devising and agreeing upon tests
to detect life.

--Kai Wu, "Artificial Life," SciTech Magazine

The infinitive functions in the following ways:

To express the purpose of an action

In less than 50 years, early solar power pioneers developed an impressive
array of innovative techniques for capturing solar radiation and using it
to produce the steam that powered the machines of that
era.

--Charles Smith, "Revisiting Solar Power's Past," Technology Review (modified)

As the complement of certain verbs, including many verbs describing speech, thought, preferences, or beginnings as well as verbs of obligation (e.g., have to), ability (e.g., be able to), or causation (e.g., get to)

In 1968 John Conway, an Oxford professor, decided to
test if cellular automata could form the basis of computers.

--Kai Wu, "Artificial Life," SciTech Magazine (modified)

As the complement of the verbs seem and appear

Along the fringes of the Everglades, fresh and salt water mix to produce a kind of primordial soup that at times seems to boil with spawning fish.

--Norman Boucher, "Back To the Everglades," Technology Review (modified)

As the complement of certain adjectives including many adjectives formed from past participles of verbs

Flowways and canals will prove just as effective in sustaining dynamic hydrology as the untouched plains of sawgrass and pond apple they are designed to replace.

--Norman Boucher, "Back To the Everglades," Technology Review (modified)

As the complement of adjectives or nouns modified by the adverbs too and enough

A 30-mile-by-100 mile area called the Blake Ridge off the North Carolina coast holds enough gas to supply all the needs of the United States for 100 years.

--David Graham, "Harvesting Natural Gas from the Ocean Floor," Technology Review
As the complement of the interrogative words how and whether

The difficulty lies in determining how to engineer those characteristics back into the system.

--Norman Boucher, "Back to the Everglades," Technology Review

As the subject of a sentence whose main verb is a form of be, especially if the infinitive expresses an intention or a purpose.

To predict waterflow reliably is necessary for large-scale agriculture and suburbs.

--Norman Boucher, "Back to the Everglades," Technology Review (modified)

Avoid splitting an infinitive by placing an intervening word between the infinitive marker to and the verb unless any other placement of the intervening word would sound awkward.

Weak

In the late 1940's von Neumann foreshadowed the discovery of DNA in stating that any organism had to most definitely have the instructions dictating its behavior and reproduction, along with a copy in some form of those same instructions passed on to descendants.

Improved

In the late 1940's von Neumann foreshadowed the discovery of DNA in stating that any organism most definitely had to have the instructions dictating its behavior and reproduction, along with a copy in some form of those same instructions passed on to descendants.

--Kai Wu, "Artificial Life," SciTech Magazine (modified)

Weak

One of the people willing rigorously to study cellular
automata phenomena was Stephen Wolfram, creator of the now famous Mathematica
program.

Improved

One of the people willing to rigorously study cellular automata phenomena was Stephen Wolfram, creator of the now famous Mathematica program.

--Kai Wu, "Artificial Life," SciTech Magazine

You can emphasize that the action described by the infinitive occurred in the past or was completed by adding the auxiliary have after the infinitive marker to.

The reaction appears to have finished
already.

## Infinitives ##