Definition:
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")
Pronunciation: in-FIN-i-tiv
Also Known As: to-infinitival and bare infinitival
