LXXXVII. ANALYSIS OF SENTENCES CONTAINING INFINITIVE PHRASES
345. The infinitive phrase is analyzed very much like a predicate. First, the infinitive should be given as the base word; then its complement and modifiers should be given.
Model.—By the law of the jungle the tiger has no right to change his quarters without fair warning.
This is a simple, declarative sentence.
The subject is the tiger. The predicate is has by the law of the jungle no right to change his quarters without fair warning.
The predicate verb is has; it is completed by the direct object no right to change his quarters without fair warning, and then modified by the prepositional phrase by the law of the jungle.
The base word of the object is the noun right; it is modified by the infinitive phrase to change his quarters without fair warning, and then denied by the adjective no.
The base word of the infinitive phrase is the infinitive to change; it is completed by the direct object his quarters and modified by the prepositional phrase without fair warning. The base word of the object is the noun quarters, modified by the possessive pronoun his. The base word of the object of the preposition without is the infinitive warning, which is modified by the adjective fair.
The base word of the object of the preposition by is the noun law, which is modified by the prepositional phrase of the jungle and the article the.
Exercise.—Analyze the following sentences:—
1. Turning grindstones to grind scythes is one of those heroic but unobtrusive occupations for which one gets no credit.
2. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.
3. When Kotick felt his skin tingle all over, his mother told him he was learning the feel of the water.
4. Mother made and embroidered a white linen pocket for me to wear at my belt.
5. The neighbors and friends did not wait for an invitation to go to the house of the young wife, so impatient were they to see her treasures.
6. The Boy had no desire to investigate further, with the risk of finding the lynx at home.
7. It seems hard any day to think what to have for dinner.
8. The next thing was to cord up the trunk, and Mr. Peterkin tried to move it.
9. I have seen wild bees and butterflies feeding at a height of 13,000 feet above the sea.
10. If you wear an automobile veil to pick cherries in, I must get an automobile to take you to the cherry trees.
11. No person but yourself is permitted to lift this stone or enter the cave.
12. Very sweet were the child’s ways of loving her father,—putting flowers on his study table, learning to read so that she could read his books, reaching up to rub her cheek against his, praying for him, and letting him put her to bed.
13. The Oldest Inhabitant refused to go to bed on any terms, but persisted in sitting up in a rocking-chair until daybreak.
14. The Eskimo never knows when his own time may come to beg.
15. Fate tried to conceal him by naming him Smith.
16. The only department of life in which Mr. Randall failed to shine was the making of sufficient money to live upon.
17. He saw an eagle swoop across the gigantic hollow, but the great bird dwindled to a dot ere it was halfway over.
18. After she began wearing the bracelet, she was unwilling to go without it even for a day.
19. Hewing wood and sawing plank leave me no time to take part in disputes.
20. The one object of Polly’s life was to get out of her cage.
21. The skipper had taken his little daughter to bear him company.
22. Every boy is anxious to be a man.
23. A man has no more right to say a rude thing to another than to knock him down.
24. To travel in Switzerland it is generally necessary to cross the mountains, to go around the sides, or to go through them.
25. Even the blind men’s dogs appeared to know Scrooge.
26. Let dogs delight to bark and bite.
27. When a bear kills a sheep, he skins it deftly and has the politeness to leave the pelt in a neat bundle, just to indicate to the farmer that he has been robbed by a gentleman.
28. The first tracks to meet their eyes were the delicate footprints of the red squirrel.
29. It is not good to make a jest of thy teacher.
30. Angels seemed to have sat with Ernest by the fireside.
31. My joy was greater than I can express when I saw the tiger rise and slink into the jungle.