To speak- to be speaking

to have spoken- to have been speaking

The passive voice has practically no aspect oppositions(See the table)

The semantics of the category of aspect in the infinitive is the same as in the finite verb: the continuous aspect form denotes an action in progress at some moment of time in the present, past or future; the meaning of the common aspect forms is flexible and is easily modified by the context.

The two aspects differ in their frequency and functioning; the continuous aspect forms are very seldom used and cannot perform all the functions in which the common aspect forms are used. They can function only as:

1. subject (To be staying with them was a real pleasure.);

2. object (I was glad to be walking.);

3. a part of a compound verbal predicate(Now they must be getting back; The leaves begin to be growing yellowish.).

The continuous aspect forms do not occur in the function of adverbial modifiers and attributes. The category of voice

The infinitive of transitive verbs has the category of voice, similar to all other verb forms:

The active infinitive points out that the action is directed from the subject (either expressed or implied), the passive infinitive indicates that the action is directed to the subject:

Active Passive

He expected to find them very soon. They expected to be found by night fall

However, there are cases where the active form of the non-perfect infinitive denotes an action directed towards the subject, that is although active in form it is passive in meaning:

He is to blame

The house is to let

The question is difficult to answer.

There was only one thing to do.

The active infinitive thus is called retroactive. The retroactive infinitive in nearly all cases can be replaced by the corresponding passive form:

He is to blame He is to be blamed.

There was only one thing to do There was only one thing to be done.

Syntactical functions of the infinitive

The infinitive performs almost all syntactical functions characteristics of the noun, although in each of them it has certain peculiarities of its own. In all syntactical functions of the infinitive may be used:

1. alone, that is, without any words depending on it:

She would like to dance.

2. as the headword of an infinitive phrase, that is, with one or more words depending on it:

She would like to dance with him tonight.

3. as part of an infinitive predicative construction, that is, as a logical predicate to some nominal element denoting the logical subject of the infinitive:

She would like him to dance with her.

She waited for him to dance first.

As to the functioning of single infinitives and infinitive phrases, they are identical in this respect and therefore will be used without distinction in illustrations. However it should be noted that in fact the infinitive phrase is much more common than the single infinitive.

The Infinitive As A Part Of The Predicate

Type Of The Predicate	Examples
The simple verbal predicate	I don’t live in Paris. I didn’t see her. I shall meet you.
The simple nominal predicate	He to live in Los-Angeles! She to be a teacher!
The compound nominal predicate (a link verb +the predicate)	My plan is to learn Spanish. This man is difficult to convince.
The compound verbal phasal predicate: (any phasal verb+ the infinitive) a)the beginning of the action: b) the continuation of the action: c)the end of the action: d) The repetition of the action:	I began to learn English. I continue to talk to him. I ceased to do it. I used to get up at 6. I would to get up at 6.
The compound verbal modal predicate: a)any modal verb+ the infinitive:   b) modal expression+ the infinitive:     c)modal set expression:	I must go… I would rather… You had better… to be going to do smth. to be able to do smth… He is going to be a teacher. He is able to swim. I can’t but listen.
Mixed predicates:	I must be careful.

The infinitive as subject

The infinitive functioning as subject may either precede the predicate or follow it.In the latter case it is introduced by the so-called introductory it, which is placed at the beginning of the sentence

To be good is to be in harmony with oneself.

It’s so silly to be fussy and jealous.

The second of these structural patterns is more common than the first, and the subject in this pattern is more accentuated. Compare for example It is impossible to do it and To do it is impossible.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-16