The Infinitive as Parenthesis

To begin with, I was doing my second year then.

Ex. 1. Think or situations "in which the following proverbs with infinitives are _

used parenthetically.

It is never too late to learn.

- Eat to live, live not to eat.

It is better to do well than to say well.

Food for thought

The grammar of some adverbials with the infinitive (adverbial modifiers of
providential, reverse, unexpected, non-planned result) is inconsistent, the shade
of meaning being subtle.

Compare:

1. He went to Africa to work as a teacher. = so that he could work as a teacher (an adverbial modifier of purpose)

2. He went to Africa never to come back, (a subsequent action)

3. He went to Africa to die of malaria. = but, as bad luck (life, circumstances) would have it, he died of malaria there, (an adverbial modifier of a providential result)

4. He went to Africa only to be disappointed, (an adverbial modifier of a reverse result)

4!

5. The boy stood in the doorway to watch the mountain ridge, (an adverbial

modifier of attendant circumstances)

Ex.2. Analyse the sentences carefully to define the function of the infinitive and give adequate translation into Russian.

1. I ran my eyes over the table to see Strickland in the corner.

2. Dick Stroeve spent an hour at Strickland's bedside to see him running a temperature.

3. All his life he was working hard to see his work not acknowledged.

4. I glanced at Strickland to see the most surprising change in him: his extreme thinness.

5. Mrs. Strickland returned home to learn that her husband had left her forever.

6. The author went to Paris to find Strickland alone.

7. He had left his comfortable home to live a hard life.

8. He had returned to find his father in danger.

9. The author spent hours speaking with Strickland only to learn that all his attempts were failure.

10.She devoted her life to Charlie only to find out that he didn't care about her.

11.Mr. Vidler went to hospital to die during the operation.

12.He swung around to walk down the road.

13.1 am sorry to have raised your expectations, only to disappoint them. 14.The experiment had been worked at for years to be a failure.