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An infinitive clause modifies actions according to the context?

English Language Learners Asked on December 4, 2021

My question:

Sometimes, an infinitive clause can modify all the actions preceding it. Sometimes, an infinitive clause only modifies some actions preceding it.

This is all determined by the context. Am I right?

Examples:

The bold text in the examples is the actions I think are modified by infinitive clauses.

(1) She jumped ropes, lifted weights, and consumed a lot of protein to bulk up her muscles.

(2) My friend and I woke up early and showed up at her home and gave the gift to her to surprise her.

(3) The murderer entered the house and put a pillow on the old man’s face to stifle him.

One Answer

The first example is a list of three actions. The order of the items in the list doesn't matter. The list could be "lifted weights, jumped rope" and it would still mean the same thing. The other two examples are narratives describing a sequence of events. Order does matter. The final event (gave the gift, put a pillow) may be more directly related to the purpose (to surprise, to stifle), but, like Jason says, the final event can't occur without the preceding events, so the infinitive indirectly applies to those events as well.

Answered by Margolis on December 4, 2021

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