Exercise 40 (§§ 309–323, Pp. 132–137)
1. Point out each infinitive and explain its construction as noun, as complementary infinitive, as infinitive of purpose, as modifier of a noun or an adjective, or as part of a verb-phrase (with an auxiliary).
2. Point out any modifiers or objects of infinitives.
1. To advance toward London would have been madness. 2. To trace the exact boundary between rightful and wrongful resistance is impossible.—Macaulay. 3. I was too young to keep any journal of this voyage. 4. The baron hastened to receive his future son-in-law. 5. It was her habit to go over to the deanery (§ 318). 6. He could not consent to turn his back upon a party of helpless travellers. 7. The fixed purpose of these men was to break the foreign yoke. 8. Here rise no cliffs the vale to shade. 9. They saw the gleaming river seaward flow (§ 322). 10. She perceived one of the eyes of the portrait move. 11. His first scheme was to seize Bristol. 12. The first business of the Commons was to elect a Speaker. 13. The old man frequently stretched his eyes ahead to gaze over the tract that he had yet to traverse. 14. When other things sank brooding to sleep, the heath appeared slowly to awake and listen.—Hardy. 15. All were anxious to hear the story of the mysterious picture. 16. I see the lights of the village gleam through the rain and the mist. 17. Then the bishop rose from his chair to speak.
18. To dismiss him from his high post was to emancipate him from all restraint. 19. This is not a time to hesitate. 20. Burghers hastened to man the wall. 21. I felt Leslie’s hand tremble on my arm. 22. He heard a mighty bowstring twang.—Morris. 23. Mr. Ralph Nickleby sat in his private office one morning, ready dressed to walk abroad. 24. I put down the letters, and began to muse over their contents. 25. Waves of clear sea are, indeed, lovely to watch. 26. Halifax had now nothing to give. 27. The neighborhood seemed to breathe a tranquil prosperity. 28. It is always perilous to adopt expediency as a guide. 29. Soldiers were drawn up to keep the passage clear.
3. Write sentences containing an infinitive used as subject, as predicate nominative, as appositive, as the object of a preposition, as an adjective; a complementary infinitive; an infinitive of purpose; an infinitive used with shall, with will, with must.
4. Note any modifiers or objects that you have used with the infinitives.