A verbal--usually preceded by the particle to--that can function as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb. Adjective: infinitival. See also: split infinitive.
Etymology:
From the Latin, "infinite"Examples and Observations:
- "It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt."
(Mark Twain) - "Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save."
(Will Rogers) - "A celebrity is a person who works hard all his life to become well known, then wears dark glasses to avoid being recognized."
(Fred Allen) - "To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society."
(President Theodore Roosevelt) - "One of the troubles with infinitives is the 7-10 split. It drives perfectionists mad. Most often, however, a split infinitive results in a slightly awkward sentence . . .. The advice most of the time is to avoid the split, but don't stay up nights worrying about it."
(Val Dummond, Grammar for Grownups, HarperCollins, 1993) - "So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself--nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance."
(President Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1932) - "It's not that I'm afraid to die, I just don't want to be there when it happens."
(Woody Allen) - "It's always easier to learn something than to use what you've learned."
(Chaim Potok, The Promise) - "I intend to live forever. So far, so good."
(Steven Wright) - "We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."
(Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "Ulysses")

