The document is a poem that describes an impossible dream of striving for noble goals that seem unachievable and facing difficulties with perseverance and courage, all in service of an ideal represented by a distant star that calls the dreamer to continue pursuing it no matter the challenges.
The document is a poem that describes an impossible dream of striving for noble goals that seem unachievable and facing difficulties with perseverance and courage, all in service of an ideal represented by a distant star that calls the dreamer to continue pursuing it no matter the challenges.
The document is a poem that describes an impossible dream of striving for noble goals that seem unachievable and facing difficulties with perseverance and courage, all in service of an ideal represented by a distant star that calls the dreamer to continue pursuing it no matter the challenges.
The document is a poem that describes an impossible dream of striving for noble goals that seem unachievable and facing difficulties with perseverance and courage, all in service of an ideal represented by a distant star that calls the dreamer to continue pursuing it no matter the challenges.
To fight the unbeatable foe To bear with unbearable sorrow To run where the brave dare not goTo right the unrightable wrong To love pure and chaste from afar To try when your arms are too weary To reach the unreachable star This is my quest To follow that star No matter how hopeless No matter how far Infinitives Infinitives are verbals which means they are verbs that act as other parts of speech.
Remember the other verbals?
– Participles act as ADJECTIVES. – Gerunds act as NOUNS, which in turn act as subjects, direct objects, indirect objects, predicate nominatives, objects of prepositions, and appositives. Infinitives act as nouns, adjectives, and adverbs An infinitive is the TO form of a verb
The infinitive of run… is TO
RUN The infinitive of scream… is TO SCREAM The infinitive of eat… is TO EAT WARNING Please note the difference between the following!
To THE MALL And To swiM
One is an infinitive, and the other is a prepositional
phrase. Do NOT get these confused.
If “to” is followed by a noun or pronoun, then it is a
prepositional phrase. VERBALS ARE ABOUT VERBS! Infinitives as Nouns Just like gerunds, they act as subjects, direct objects, and predicate nominatives. NOTE: They do not act as objects of the preposition or indirect objects…. This IS different! Look at the following! First, find the infinitive that is being used as a noun, and then determine which role it is playing! To err is human. To err is human. Subject
Riff always wanted to act.
Riff always wanted to act. Direct object
Maria’s dream is to marry Tony.
Infinitives as Adjectives Like all adjectives, infinitives acting as adjectives modify NOUNS or PRONOUNS!
The candidate to trust is Tony.
Note that the infinitive is to trust and
that it is modifying or describing candidate. More adjective examples…. Those are the easiest dogs to train. Those are the easiest dogs to train. (note that to train modifies DOGS.
He has a great ability to paint.
He has a great ability to paint. (To paint modifies ability, which is a noun.) Infinitives as Adverbs Infinitives also act as adverbs; they must modify VERBS, ADJECTIVES, or other ADVERBS.
They act like adverb prepositional phrases.
Infinitives as Adverbs Consider these examples….
The team was slow to score.
To score modifies the word “slow.” Slow is an adjective.
My grandmother has come to stay.
To stay modifies the verb, come. Verbs that take infinitives Verb + infinitives – agree, appear, decide hope, intend, learn, offer, plan, seem, tend, wait, can afford Verb + Noun phrase + infinitive – cause, convince, force, invite, order, persuade, remind, tell, trust, warn, advise, encourage Verbs that come directly after the infinitive or have a noun phrase – ask, beg, choose, expect, need, want, would like, promise Adjectives followed by infinitives Afraid, amazed, anxious, ashamed, careful, delighted, eager, fortunate, glad, happy, lucky, pleased, ready, sad, sorry, Infinitive of purpose
In order to I came here in order to learn. Infinitive with too and enough
too + adjective or adverb + infinitive
She is too young to vote.
Adjective or adverb + enough +
infinitive They are old enough to vote. Infinitives often follow verbs that indicate that an action will or could happen.
The action expressed by the verb
comes before the action expressed by the infinitive.
We hope to go to the concert.
(You can hope for things that could happen not things that have already happened) Infinitive forms are not used after the following verbs of perception: feel see hear smell When an infinitive functions as a subject or a subject complement, any stated subject of the infinitive should be preceded by for. If a pronoun follows for, it must be in object form.
When the subject of a gerund is
stated, it takes the possessive form. For people to see is a wonderful gift.
Her desire was for them to take a
trip around the world
They hoped for her to be able to
attend the concert. Infinitives can occur in the progressive. To be doing
It is used to indicate an activity in
progress or ongoing She had hoped to be working Infinitives can occur in the perfect form to have done It is used to indicate that the activity is in the past
We’re fortunate to have heard her
sing Have make let are causative verbs. They cause someone to do something. They are always followed by a noun phrase + base form of verb. Do not use an infinitive after these verbs. She made me fall. She made her daughter go to the party. She let him take the camera.
She had me prepare breakfast
yesterday. After causative verbs: get convince persuade use the infinitive
She got me to work.
She convinced me to work. Help
can take an infinitive or base form.
It can occur with or without a noun phrase. I helped them carry the boxes. I helped them to clean up after the party. perfect infinitive: to have moved progressive infinitive: to be working
perfect progressive infinitive:
to have been playing
passive: to be seen perfect passive: to have been chosen Now…. YOU TRY!!! First, find the infinitive and then determine how it is functioning in the sentence! Our assignment was to read that book. Our assignment was to read that book. PN
We were asked to memorize this poem.
We were asked to memorize this poem. DO He was eager to experience college. He was eager to experience college. Adv.
The person to help you is Doc!
The person to help you is Doc! Adj.
To leave town is relaxing!
To leave town is relaxing! Subj. A final point…. Sometimes, an infinitive has an elliptical “to.” Elliptical means silent or understood. This word is used throughout English grammar! The “to” may be left out completely.
He will help us paddle to shore.
He will help us TO paddle to shore. Watch out for these!
