"The Impossible Dream"

To dream the impossible dream

To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not goTo right the
unrightable wrong
To love pure and chaste from afar
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star
This is my quest
To follow that star
No matter how hopeless
No matter how far
Infinitives
 Infinitives
 are verbals which means they are verbs that
act as other parts of speech.

 Remember the other verbals?

– Participles act as ADJECTIVES.
– Gerunds act as NOUNS, which in turn act as
subjects, direct objects, indirect objects,
predicate nominatives, objects of prepositions,
and appositives.
 Infinitives
 act as nouns, adjectives,
and adverbs
 An infinitive is the TO
form of a verb

 The infinitive of run… is TO

RUN
 The infinitive of scream… is
TO SCREAM
 The infinitive of eat… is TO
EAT
 WARNING
 Please note the difference between the following!

 To THE MALL And To swiM

 One is an infinitive, and the other is a prepositional

phrase. Do NOT get these confused.

 If “to” is followed by a noun or pronoun, then it is a

prepositional phrase. VERBALS ARE ABOUT
VERBS! 
 Infinitives as Nouns
 Just like gerunds, they act as subjects,
direct objects, and predicate nominatives.
NOTE: They do not act as objects of the
preposition or indirect objects…. This IS
different!
 Look at the following! First, find the infinitive
that is being used as a noun, and then
determine which role it is playing!
 To err is human.
 To err is human. Subject

 Riff always wanted to act.

 Riff always wanted to act. Direct object

 Maria’s dream is to marry Tony.

 Infinitives as Adjectives
Like all adjectives, infinitives acting
as adjectives modify NOUNS or
PRONOUNS!

 The candidate to trust is Tony.

 Note that the infinitive is to trust and

that it is modifying or describing
candidate.
 More adjective examples….
 Those are the easiest dogs to train.
 Those are the easiest dogs to train. (note
that to train modifies DOGS.

 He has a great ability to paint.

 He has a great ability to paint. (To paint
modifies ability, which is a noun.)
 Infinitives as Adverbs
 Infinitives also act as adverbs; they must
modify VERBS, ADJECTIVES, or other
ADVERBS.

 They act like adverb prepositional phrases.

 Infinitives as Adverbs
 Consider these examples….

 The team was slow to score.

 To score modifies the word “slow.” Slow is
an adjective.

 My grandmother has come to stay.

 To stay modifies the verb, come.
 Verbs that take infinitives
Verb + infinitives – agree, appear, decide
hope, intend, learn, offer, plan, seem, tend,
wait, can afford
Verb + Noun phrase + infinitive – cause,
convince, force, invite, order, persuade,
remind, tell, trust, warn, advise, encourage
Verbs that come directly after the infinitive or
have a noun phrase – ask, beg, choose,
expect, need, want, would like, promise
 Adjectives followed by
infinitives
Afraid, amazed, anxious, ashamed,
careful, delighted, eager, fortunate,
glad, happy, lucky, pleased, ready, sad,
sorry,
Infinitive of purpose

In order to
I came here in order to learn.
 Infinitive with too and enough

too + adjective or adverb + infinitive

She is too young to vote.

Adjective or adverb + enough +

infinitive
They are old enough to vote.
 Infinitives often follow verbs that
indicate that an action will or could
happen.

The action expressed by the verb

comes before the action expressed
by the infinitive.

We hope to go to the concert.

(You can hope for things that could happen
not things that have already happened)
Infinitive forms are not used after the
following verbs of perception:
feel
see
hear
smell
 When an infinitive functions as a
subject or a subject complement,
any stated subject of the infinitive
should be preceded by for. If a
pronoun follows for, it must be in
object form.

When the subject of a gerund is

stated, it takes the possessive form.
For people to see is a wonderful gift.

Her desire was for them to take a

trip around the world

They hoped for her to be able to

attend the concert.
 Infinitives can occur in the
progressive.
To be doing

It is used to indicate an activity in

progress or ongoing
She had hoped to be working
 Infinitives can occur in the perfect
form
to have done
It is used to indicate that the activity
is in the past

We’re fortunate to have heard her

sing
 Have
make
let
are causative verbs. They cause
someone to do something.
They are always followed by a noun
phrase + base form of verb.
Do not use an infinitive after these
verbs.
She made me fall.
She made her daughter go to the
party.
She let him take the camera.

She had me prepare breakfast

yesterday.
 After causative verbs:
get
convince
persuade
use the infinitive

She got me to work.

She convinced me to work.
 Help

can take an infinitive or base form.

It can occur with or without a noun
phrase.
I helped them carry the boxes.
I helped them to clean up after the
party.
perfect infinitive: to have moved
progressive infinitive: to be working

perfect progressive infinitive:

to have been playing

passive: to be seen
perfect passive: to have been
chosen
 Now…. YOU TRY!!!
First, find the infinitive and then
determine how it is functioning in the
sentence!
 Our assignment was to read that book.
 Our assignment was to read that book. PN

 We were asked to memorize this poem.

 We were asked to memorize this poem.
DO
 He was eager to experience college.
 He was eager to experience college. Adv.

 The person to help you is Doc!

 The person to help you is Doc! Adj.

 To leave town is relaxing!

 To leave town is relaxing! Subj.
 A final point….
 Sometimes, an infinitive has an
elliptical “to.”
 Elliptical means silent or
understood. This word is used
throughout English grammar!
 The “to” may be left out
completely.

 He will help us paddle to shore.

 He will help us TO paddle to
shore.
Watch out for these!