Example sentences of "[prep] the to [noun] " in BNC.
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| 1 | Even Mair , who proposes no basic meaning for the to infinitive , is led by his careful examination of the data to observe that with practically no exceptions all the matrix verbs followed by to + infinitive in the direct object , ditransitive , monotransitive raising , complex transitive , and SVOA constructions can be characterized as " forward-looking predicates " ( 1990 : 102 , 104-5 ) . |
| 2 | As for the to infinitive , we have already alluded to the impressions associated with its use after have + direct object with regard to ( 1a ) — ( 1b ) above . |
| 3 | The problem of defining the potential meaning of the to infinitive has already been posed , in a summary way , in the comment from Jespersen ( 1940 : 157 ) cited in Chapter 1 . |
| 4 | This view is similar to Hirtle 's description ( 1975 : 20 ) of the to infinitive as referring an event " to any point in time prior to its realization " , since to can be seen to evoke that which comes before the realization of the event . |
| 5 | The meaning of the to infinitive is thus in fact a combination of two potentials : the potential meaning of the bare infinitive , which gives the speaker the possibility of representing the realization of any action as unfolding from its beginning through to its end and any state as having a fully actualized lexical content ; and the potential significate of to , which affords the speaker the possibility of representing any movement in time from a before-position to an after-position ( corresponding here to the beginning of the infinitive event ) . |
| 6 | On the basis of the meanings expressed , all the uses of the to infinitive can be divided into two general types which at first sight might seem to be in direct contradiction with one another . |
| 7 | All of the uses of the to infinitive with full verbs in the corpus fall into one or the other of these two categories . |
| 8 | The relation between an obligation concretized in the form of presence on a list and the realization of the action called for by this presence is obviously one of subsequence , whence the use of the to infinitive . |
| 9 | Bolinger points out furthermore that the use of the to infinitive after verbs of perception when they shift to the inferential sense fits into an overall pattern with the object + infinitive construction . |
| 10 | Its exclusively perceptual meaning also bars it from being construed with a that-clause , whereas this construction is a close equivalent of the to infinitive with verbs of perception in their conceptual use : ( 46 ) * I watched that they were obnoxious . |
| 11 | The use of the to infinitive in the second example is more difficult to account for . |
| 12 | The substitution of the to infinitive , possible only in ( 88 ) , would create a very different effect : ( 90 ) The smallest pin could be heard to drop . |
| 13 | In each case , whether represented as a guess or as a known fact , the notion is seen as conditioned by a mental process or state which allows one to predicate it and so is represented as a consequence thereof by means of the to infinitive . |
| 14 | The operative sense expressed by know and the reason for the occurrence of the bare infinitive having been defined above , our job here will be to delimit the use of the to infinitive construction . |
| 15 | The defining features of the use of the to infinitive , then , are the evoking of the infinitive 's event as characteristic behaviour of the direct object of know and the incapacity of evoking the perceiving of a particular happening . |
| 16 | All this helps explain the obligatory use of the to infinitive after know in the passive : ( 121 ) Mrs MacAnder was known to contribute articles to " The Ladies ' Kingdom Come " . |
| 17 | This explains the exclusive use of the to infinitive after this verb . |
| 18 | This we have called antecedent , a way of seeing causation which calls for the use of the to infinitive to signify the before/after relation between the cause and the effect . |
| 19 | The expressive effect created by the use of the to infinitive in this type of context thus provides further support for our explanatory hypothesis . |
| 20 | In the following sentence , the effect introduced by the use of the to infinitive is even more striking : ( 190 ) … what he saw there made him falter and repeat himself and then suddenly to explode into a cry . |
| 21 | Substitution of the to infinitive gives a somewhat different impression : the events seem to be evoked in a much more resultative fashion — as the fact of having been made to scream , the state of Byron 's feelings — that is , as an object of reflection rather than a recall of actual experience . |
| 22 | The use of the to infinitive as subject poses the same problem : What can the infinitive event be situated after in To visit the sick is a Christian obligation ( B. Conrad 1982 : 119 ) ? |
| 23 | So far we have not examined the use of the to infinitive as subject . |
| 24 | As in the case of the infinitive of reaction , this use seems apparently to contradict the hypothesis that the support of the to infinitive is always situated before the place in time ( to be ) occupied by its event ; however , when compared with the use of the -ing form here , the contrasting expressive effects suggest another interpretation : ( 21a ) Reading Gideon on Beet was a new literary experience . |
| 25 | In both projective and reactive uses , however , the infinitive expresses an actualized contingent event and the impression of contingency implies a reference to a position in time when the infinitive 's event was not a reality ( i.e. before its actualization ) , so that the term " reactive " is no more appropriate here than in the canonical uses of the " infinitive of reaction " as a description of the meaning of the to infinitive . |
| 26 | The bare infinitive is used to produce a very different effect from that of the to infinitive in exclamations , as can be seen in ( 3 ) above and in : ( 30 ) I say anything disrespectful of Dr Keen ? |
| 27 | From the point of view of its spatial support , we can understand as well the use of the to infinitive as what Jespersen calls the " infinitive of specification " ( 1940 : 262ff ) . |
| 28 | The " subsequent actualization " sense of the to infinitive also involves this double position of the support : person as support of the event of the finite verb is represented as prior in time to person as support of the infinitive 's event . |
| 29 | Much the same thing can be said of the to infinitive denoting something which is actualized as a consequence of causation ( cause , force , occasion , get , order , tell ) , assistance ( help ) , discovery ( find ) , daring , etc . |
| 30 | In all cases , then , whether the infinitive evokes the possible or the real actualization of its event , the person of the to infinitive is referred to two positions in time , one before , one coinciding with this event 's place in time . |