The Infinitive
Recognize an infinitive when you see one.
Ø To sneeze, to smash, to cry, to shriek, to jump, to dunk, to read, to eat, to slurp—all of these are infinitives. An infinitive will almost always begin with to followed by the simple form of the verb, like this: to + verb = infinitive
Ø Important Note: Because an infinitive is not a verb, you cannot add s, es, ed, or ing to the end. Ever!
Ø Infinitives can be used as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs. Look at these examples:
o To sleep is the only thing Eli wants after his double shift waiting tables at the neighborhood café.
§ To sleep functions as a noun because it is the subject of the sentence.
o No matter how fascinating the biology dissection is, Emanuel turns his head and refuses to look.
§ To look functions as a noun because it is the direct object for the verb refuses.
o Wherever Melissa goes, she always brings a book to read in case conversation lags or she has a long wait.
§ To read functions as an adjective because it modifies book.
o Richard braved the icy rain to throw the smelly squid eyeball stew into the apartment dumpster.
§ To throw functions as an adverb because it explains why Richard braved the inclement weather.
Subject of an Infinitive
Ø While the word subject in grammar normally applies to a sentence, it is possible for an infinitive to have a subject.
Ø When an infinitive or an infinitive phrase follows certain verbs, the action of the infinitive may be done by a different person or thing than the subject of the sentence.
Ø This doer of the infinitive's action follows the verb and comes before the infinitive.
Ø This is known as the subject of the infinitive.
Ø Keep in mind that when an infinitive follows a verb, sometimes the word to is dropped from the infinitive.
A personal pronoun is in the objective case when it is a subject of the infinitive.
Examples:
o We wanted Bill to go to the airport.
o Simon helped me to record the data.
o Dan asked Joy to take the package to the airport.
o No one saw the prisoner escape.
o Simon helped me record the data.
(In the last two examples, the word to has been dropped.)
Punctuation
If the infinitive is used as an adverb and is the beginning phrase in a sentence, it should be set off with a comma; otherwise, no punctuation is needed for an infinitive phrase.
To buy a basket of flowers, John had to spend his last dollar.
To improve your writing, you must consider your purpose and audience.
To split or not to split?
The general rule is that no word should separate the to of an infinitive from the simple form of the verb that follows. If a word does come between these two components, a split infinitive results.
Examples:
I like to on a nice day walk in the woods. (unacceptable)
On a nice day, I like to walk in the woods. (revised)
Sara hopes to quickly finish her chemistry homework so that she can return to the more interesting Stephen King novel she had to abandon. (unacceptable)
Sara hopes to finish her chemistry homework quickly so that she can return to the more interesting Stephen King novel she had to abandon. (revised)
I needed to quickly gather my personal possessions. (acceptable in informal contexts)
I needed to gather my personal possessions quickly. (revised for formal contexts)
When you are making the decision to split or not to split, consider your audience. If the piece of writing is very formal and you can maneuver the words to avoid splitting the infinitive, then do so. If you like the infinitive split and know that its presence will not hurt the effectiveness of your writing, leave it alone.