Day 25 Honors Understanding Nonfiction Infinitives Discuss “By Any Other Name” Author’s Intent “Typhoid Fever” pg. 227 Ethiopia and Eritrea Homework: Finish Beetles for Wednesday

To succeed takes courage, foresight and luck. An infinitive is a verb form that comes after the word “to” and functions as a noun, adjective, or adverb. To succeed takes courage, foresight and luck. Alone in her cubicle, all she wanted was to survive. Afraid to move, she froze in terror. His goal, to break into Fort Knox, was never achieved. The student’s hope was to finish the paper before school started. Rozakis, Laurie. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Grammar and Style. New York: Alpha Books, 1997 (138-39).

Don’t confuse infinitives with prepositional phrases that begin with “to.” Remember that a preposition always ends with a noun or pronoun; an infinitive always ends with a verb.

Even in New York, fans did not manage to buy the hype. The infinitive phrase includes the infinitive and the object of the infinitive or any modifiers related to the infinitive. [In the following examples, the infinitive is bold and the infinitive phrase is underlined.] Even in New York, fans did not manage to buy the hype. TO BUY is the direct object of the verb DID MANAGE. THE HYPE is the object of the infinitive. The seemingly simple decision to appoint a Democrat caused controversy. TO APPOINT is an adjective modifying DECISION. A DEMOCRAT is the object of the infinitive. The gap provides a way to give Democratic candidates an edge in close elections TO GIVE is an adjective modifying WAY. The object of the infinitive is CANDIDATES. http://grammar.uoregon.edu/phrases/infinitiveP.html

The respondents believe their neighbors are willing to vote for a woman. TO VOTE is an adverb modifying the predicate adjective WILLING. In other words, it tells us the degree to which they are willing. Two nonprofit organizations from opposite sides of the political spectrum plan to release a report blasting 25 Army Corps of Engineers water projects TO RELEASE is the direct object of the verb PLAN. REPORT is the object of the infinitive. FYI: BLASTING is a participle modifying REPORT. The corps has been trying to recast itself in a more ecosensitive light. TO RECAST is the direct object of the verb HAS BEEN TRYING. ITSELF ( a reflexive pronoun) is the object of the infinitive. Now Congress has to decide whether it wants to continue to be part of the problem, or if it wants to be part of the solution. TO CONTINUE is the direct object of the verb WANTS. TO BE the object of the infinitive TO CONTINUE. PART is the object of the infinitive TO BE.