Irreplaceable: Infinitives and Gerunds

Bolinger Principle

Infinitives expresses something “hypothetical, future, unfulfilled”.

*want and hope

Ex. I want to go there.

Gerunds expresses something “real, vivid, fulfilled”.

*enjoy and avoid

Ex. Max enjoys swimming.

Bolinger’s principle also explains the frequent difference in meaning.

Ex. I remember locking the door.

I remembered to lock the door.

Infinitive of purpose- is a reduced adverbial clause added to structurally complete clause. It provides additional information that answers the questions “Why?” or “For what purpose?”

Ex. Jane has gone on a diet in order to lose weight.

Factive Verbs and Adjectives

Paul and Carol Kiparsky (1970) use categories factive and nonfactive.

	Take subject complements	Take object complements
Factive predicates	Be significant Be odd Make sense	Regret Appreciate Avoid
Nonfactive	Be sure Be likely Turn out	Suppose Claim believe

Semantically, factive and nonfactive predicates can be distinguish by examining the presupposition associated with the complement.

Predicate of the main clause is factive if the presupposition remains constant regardless of whether the predicate of the main clause affirms, negates, or questions the complement clause.

e.g.:

John regrets .

John doesn’t regret that he told you a lie ?

Does John regret

Complements of nonfactive predicates undergo predictable changes in the presupposition depending on whether the predicate of the main clause affirms, negates, or questions the complement.

e.g.:

John claims .

John doesn’t claim that he told you a lie ?

Does john claim

Kiparsky’s semantic distinction ties in nicely with the use of infinitives and gerunds: in most cases, the complements of factive predicates must be reduced to gerunds or to possessive inflections plus gerunds (e.g., John’s doing that annoyed me), while the complements of nonfactive predicates must be reduced to infinitives, e.g.:

Factive: