FUNCTIONAL,SEMANTIC AND SYNTACTIC FEATURES OF THE INFINITIVE IN ENGLISH

Abstract

In English the infinitive, the gerund and the participle are regarded as non-finite forms of the verb (verbals) due to their semantic, morphological and syntactic features. The historical development of   verbals, including  the process of   formation and evolution of their tense, aspect and voice systems are closely related to the verb. Unlike finite forms of the verb, verbals   express actions without indicating the person and number, therefore  they may be used as any member of the sentence (subject, object, adverbial modifier, attribute) but the predicate. In English  historical development of the Infinitive is connected to its inclusion in the verbal system alongside with losing some nominative features. So, the Infinitive with the acquisition of  aspect, tense and voice categories lost a form of conjugation at the beginning of the Middle English period.