What is an infinitive clause?
infinitive clause in American English noun. Grammar. a clause containing an infinitive as its main or only verb form, as to speak clearly in Try to speak clearly. Also called: infinitive phrase.
What is the infinitive form in Latin?
The infinitive is used in Latin, as in English, as a noun: Errare humanum est = To err is human. When so used, the Latin infinitive is an indeclinable neuter noun. The infinitive is also used in Latin, as in English, to complete the meaning of another verb (complementary infinitive): Possum videre = I am able to see.
What is an infinitive clause example?
Infinitive phrases include infinitives. Examples include, “to walk,” “to read,” or “to eat.” Infinitives can act as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs. As a noun, they might act as the subject of the sentence. For example, “To travel is the only thing on her mind.” As an adjective, they’ll modify a noun.
How do you identify an infinitive clause?
Recognize an infinitive phrase when you find one. An infinitive phrase will begin with an infinitive (To + Simple Form of the Verb). It will include one or more objects and/or modifiers. Infinitive phrases can function as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs.
Why is it called infinitive?
English infinitives are preceded by the word ‘to’. These verbs are called infinitives because, like the concept of infinity, they are not bound by time. From the infinitive, we derive the conjugated forms of the verb, also known as the finite forms of the verb.
What is an objective infinitive in Latin?
The objective infinitive clarifies, completes, or is the object. It can often be removed without making the sentence nonsensical, as in agricola servos docuit. So, in simple cases, the objective infinitive may be omitted (with data loss), but the complementary infinitive cannot.
What is an example of an infinitive phrase in a sentence?
For example: Dawn helped her friend bake his mother a cake. (The “special” verb is “helped.” The direct object is “her friend.” In the infinitive phrase, the bare infinitive is “bake.” Its direct object is “a cake.” This time there is an indirect object (“his mother”) in the infinitive phrase too.)
How do you form a perfect active infinitive in Latin?
Perfect active To form the perfect active infinitive of a verb, add ‘-sse’ to the third principal part of the verb.
What is infinitive and infinitive phrase?
An infinitive is a verbal consisting of the word to plus a verb; it may be used as a noun, adjective, or adverb. An infinitive phrase consists of an infinitive plus modifier(s), object(s), complement(s), and/or actor(s).