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I was too tired to notice it.
She is old enough to understand it.
Other infinitive constructions
The infinitive without the particle "to" may be used as the predicate in
interrogative sentences beginning with "Why" and expressing suggestion, usually in
everyday speech.
Why waste time on such trifles?
Why pay more than necessary?
The infinitive with the particle "to" may be used as the predicate in the
meaning close to the meaning of the phrase BE TO expressing strong expectation that
some action is going to happen according to rules, agreements, plans, and the like.
Such use of the infinitive is mostly found in legal, commercial, or technical texts, in
newspaper articles and advertising materials.
Three new schools to open next year. (= Three new schools are to open next
year.)
The same construction may be used as an infinitive phrase at the end of the
sentence.
Set expressions with infinitives
Set expressions containing infinitives, such as "needless to say; so to speak; to
be quite frank; to make matters worse; to put it mildly; to say the least; to tell the
truth", are used as parenthetical words. For example:
To be quite frank, I didn't want to lend him my books.
Needless to say, he lost my books.
Split infinitive
A split infinitive is a construction in which the adverb that modifies the
infinitive is placed between the particle "to" and the infinitive. Split infinitives are
quite common in informal English speech.
For example, splitting the infinitive in the following sentences is considered
unnecessary: They want to quickly sell the house. He seems to often complain about
it. In such cases, it is better to use more typical constructions: They want to sell the
house quickly. He seems to complain about it often.
A hundred years ago, the split infinitive was considered to be bad writing style.
Nowadays split infinitives are becoming more acceptable in speech and writing. It is
advisable for language learners to use split infinitives sparingly and only when such
use is necessary for clear and correct expression of the meaning.
14 Find the infinitives in the following text.
Often, the drilling crew tries to drill the hole as straight as possible.
Sometimes, however, the operator wants the hole to be drilled at a slant. From a
permanent platform that the operator installs over the drilling site, the crew must drill
several wells to exploit the reservoir properly. To do so, crew members drill several
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