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Nbhr Posted 12 years ago
Grammar

Subject + verb + infinitive and the object.

Hello everyone,

I am having difficulty with subject + verb + infinitive set-ups, as I discovered with who/whom sentences.
I understand who and whom as the subject and object forms.
For sentences that I find a little more difficult I find it challenging to identify the form.
For example:
"This is the man who/whom Sara asked to wait for her."
I figured this would be whom. Since the man is the object of asked; as a variation: "Sara asked him to wait for her." (Subject + verb + object + infinitive + prepositional phrase.)
"This is the man who/whom the authorities refused to permit entry to the building."
I think whom is correct; as a variation: "The authorities refused to permit him entry to the building." (Subject + object + infinitive + object + adverbial phrase?).
I ask because of the following I found online:
"[This is the] man who the authorities refused to admit existed."
I applied the variation: "The authorities refused to admit he existed."
Existed applies to the man and so he is the subject of the verb exist. I'm confused because “he existed” seems to me to be the object in the sentence. Take for example: “They refused to permit him entry”. The objective pronoun is being used. Both 'to permit' and 'to admit' are transitive here (I think); therefore, isn't “he existed” the object?
I am confused by the use of the infinitive and what qualifies as the object in the subject + verb + infinitive set-up. Any assistance with how to understand this subject + verb + infinitive set-up and the object would be much appreciated.
  

Top answer

Welcome to EF, nbhr. The content clause he existed is a complement of admit , but not an object. Content clauses generally don’t behave like objects.

  • Welcome to EF, nbhr.
  • The content clause he existed is a complement of admit , but not an object.
  • Content clauses generally don’t behave like objects.
  • See this related discussion for more explanation.
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1 Answers
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Welcome to EF, nbhr.

The content clause he existed is a complement of admit, but not an object. Content clauses generally don’t behave like objects. See this related discussion for more explanation.

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