infinitive
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English 5++LDOCE 5++in·fin·i·tive /ɪnˈfɪnətɪv/ ●●○ noun [countable] technical SLGin grammar, the basic form of a verb, used with ‘to’ in English. In the sentence ‘I want to watch television’, ‘to watch’ is an infinitive. 〔动词的〕不定式〔英语语法中动词的基本形式，与to连用；I want to watch television一句中，to watch是不定式〕 → split infinitive
Examples from the Corpus
infinitive• Independently of any other verb, the bare infinitive here expresses an event as a possibility, a rejected possibility.• Given this shift, the appearance of to before the infinitive is not surprising.• The view of to proposed here allows one, furthermore, to account for the two major uses of the to infinitive.• The distinction between these two ways of conceiving permission accounts for the use of either the bare or the to infinitive here.• Bolinger does not mention it, but the opposite is also true: exclusively perceptual verbs refuse the to infinitive.• In some of its uses, the to infinitive evokes an event as non-realized or yet to be realized.Origin infinitive (1400-1500) Late Latin infinitivus, from Latin infinitus; because the verb is not limited by person or numberin·fin·i·tive nounChineseSyllable
in the basic a of verb, grammar, Corpus form
infinitive
in‧fin‧i‧tive /ɪnˈfɪnətɪv, ɪnˈfɪnɪtɪv/
noun [countable] technical
⇨ split infinitive
in‧fin‧i‧tive /ɪnˈfɪnətɪv, ɪnˈfɪnɪtɪv/
noun [countable] technical Date: 1400-1500
Language: Late Latin
Origin: infinitivus, from Latin infinitus; because the verb is not limited by person or number
in grammar, the basic form of a verb, used with ‘to’ in English. In the sentence ‘I want to watch television’, ‘to watch’ is an infinitive.Language: Late Latin
Origin: infinitivus, from Latin infinitus; because the verb is not limited by person or number
⇨ split infinitive
