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Originally Posted by whl626 Hmm, for the first infinitive that's the ' to ' infinitive. Can I say the ' to ' is the preposition since it is already a preposition by itself ? But if we do label ' to ' as preposition then the ' verb ' must be in ing form that is equivalent to ' gerund '.
In the infinitive we don't do that, so the infinitive is supposed to involve ' to ' that is to say ' I am going to write some more posts. '
... to write .... is the infinitive. Am I right to reason it this way ???
Eagerly waiting for your feedback :P:P:P |
There are two "to"s in English. One is a preposition; it comes before a noun (e.g. Give the book
to Sam), and it means, 'to(wards) the direction of a thing or a person'. The other is an infinitive verb marker; it comes before a verb (e.g.
to go), never a noun, and it has no meaning at all. It's semantically empty.
to arose with infinitives in Middle English from Old English dative
to , "for the purpose of", though in Middle English
to is a mere sign, without meaning. In Old English no verb required
to before the infinitive. Old English infinitive verbs were marked by the suffix -an, and as that suffix was undergoing change in Middle English, the word
to was introduced:
To break
Old English: breok
en
Middle English: to breok
e
Modern English: to break
In short, in Modern English, an infinitive is formed with
to plus the verb base form, and
'to' has no meaning and is not a preposition, and sometimes it's used without 'to' (bare-infinitive = only verb base form).
Because it is formed with a verb (half verb), it may have an object and modifiers. The infinitive and its object and/or modifiers form an infinitive phrase.
Because the infinitive is formed from a verb, it may have tense - present ( to see ), or perfect ( to have seen).
The infinitive phrase or infinitive is used
[ 1 ] as an adjective phrase: half adjective, to modify a noun or pronoun, and half verb;
Example:
The sign says that this hotel has rooms to rent to transients as well as to permanent guests. ( modifying a noun 'rooms' )
[ 2 ] as an adverb phrase: half adverb, to modify a verb, adjective, or another adverb, and half verb;
Examples:
The children hurried to see the parade. (modifying verb 'hurried' )
The grass in the hayfield is ready to mow. (modifying adjective 'ready')
The room is not light enough to serve as a studio. (modifying adverb 'enough')
[ 3 ] as a noun phrase: half noun, in any of the ways that a noun may be used, and half verb.
Example:
subject : To spend money carelessly is foolish.
direct object : Children like to visit their grandparents.
predicate nominative : My hope is to see you in Germany.
object of preposition : We ask nothing except to be at peace.
appositive : The most difficult task, to spade the garden, we left to the hired hand.
SOURCE
http://www.kwonsreading.com/grammar/...infinitive.htm
:D
infinitive 
Linear Mode
