***** NOT A TEACHER *****
Hello, 1. I have found some more information (about infinitives) that may interest you.
2. In American high schools (secondary schools), most teachers would be thrilled, I believe, if their students were able to
understand the explanation that I gave in my first post.
3. In college (university), however, linguists (grammar experts who study the subject very deeply) are not satisified with
high school grammar.
4. One linguist gives this sentence: I want to leave at once.
a. In high school, we would just say that "to leave at once" is an infinitive phrase used as the object of the verb "want."
b. This scholar, however, asked: Exactly what is an infinitive?
c. Here is her answer:
i. The "to" means nothing.
ii. The "to" only tells you that the subject of "leave" is not present in the sentence.
iii. In other words, she says that the sentence that you see comes from another sentence that you do not see.
That sentence that you do not see is "I want I leave at once."
(a) As you know, English speakers will not accept that sentence. So we (i) delete (drop) the second "I" and insert a "to" in its place.
5. If we accept that scholar's theory, then maybe "I wanted to claim more money" comes from this "unseen" sentence:
I wanted I claim more money."
6. My reference was A Primer of Transformational Grammar for Rank Beginners (1975) by Suzette Haden Elgin.
a. "Rank beginner" means absolute beginner (like me).
b. Since 1975, linguists have developed many theories about language. As far as I know, they still believe in Ms. Elgin's theory about infinitives. Maybe a linguist will join this thread and let us know.
c. Transformational grammar is too difficult for me, so I just concentrate on high school-level English. I assume that you are a young person. So -- when you have time -- you may wish to check out articles on the Web that deal with transformational grammar.
I want I thank you for your question. In doing this research, I learned a lot.
James
