The infinitive form
This is from "A Student's Introduction to English Grammar" by Rodney Huddleston and Geoffrey K. Pullum:
"There is no form in the English verb paradigm called 'the infinitive'. Infinitival clauses are non-finite clauses with head verb in the plain form."
My question is:
Why do the authors of that handbook state that there's no infinitives in English grammar whereas they, at the same time, introduce the term infinitival clause in which the adjective infinitival has its root in the term "infinitive"?
Isn't it causing a confusion?
(In my opinion it does.)
Top answer
They seem to be trying to reinvent English grammar. There will be teething pains.
- They seem to be trying to reinvent English grammar.
- There will be teething pains.
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They seem to be trying to reinvent English grammar. There will be teething pains.
0anonymousWhy do the authors of that handbook state that there's no infinitives in English grammar whereas they, at the same time, introduce the term infinitival clause in which the adjective infinitival has its root in the term "infinitive"?
Why do they do anything they do, one sometimes wonders. They seem to have a perverse habit of changing terminology w
0But seriously, I think (just guessing) that they are distinguishing between a form (which can only be one word formed by contiguous letters) and a construction (which can have more than one word).
"plain form" take (one word — a form)
"infinitive" to take (two words — a construction)
It's just possible that making such a distinction could be useful a
0
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