The infinitive as part of compound verbal aspect predicate

notional aspect verb + infinitive

1. The notional verb in this type of predicate should denote various stages (aspects) of an action

a) beginning: to begin; to start; to come to (= to begin); to commence e.g.

· I began to realize what was happening. = Я начал осознавать, что происходит. / Я почав усвідомлювати, що відбувається.

· Now she came torealize what was happening. = Теперь она начала осознавать, что происходит. / Тепер вона почала усвідомлювати, що відбувається.

· Their work is beginning to have results. = Работа начинает приносить результаты. / Робота починає приносити результати.

· Jane put her fists on her hips and commenced to skip on bare feet. = Джейн уперла руки в боки и начала прыгать босиком. / Джейн уперла руки в боки й почала стрибати босоніж.

b) continuation: to go on; to continue; to proceed, e.g.

· Though the teacher was in the classroom, the children continued to whisper.

· Sammy took off his coat and proceeded to undo his boots.

· The cleaner vacuumed the carpet and went on to polish the tables. = Уборщица пропылесосила ковер и перешла к полировке столов. / Прибиральниця пропилососила килим і перейшла до полірування столів.

c) repetition: in this function infinitive is often used in the expressions used to + infinitive and would + bare infinitive e.g.

· Paris once used to be the bell-wether of the fashion industry — Париж некогда являлся законодателем мод. / Париж колись був законодавцем мод.

· Dick was so lazy that he would stay in bed till midday. = Дик был таким ленивым, что он бывало валялся в постели до полудня. / Дік був таким ледачим, що він бувало валявся в ліжку до обіду.

d) end: to cease; to finish e.g.

· Sally finished to read her thick book, closed it with a sigh and went to bed.

· The things people will do for charity never cease to amaze me.

Note: Only non-perfect active infinitive with particle ‘to’ is used in this kind of predicative, with the exception of the structure ‘ would + bare infinitive’, e.g.

· Bertha continued to mark her students’ papers.

· You never cease to amaze me.

· When we worked in the same office, we would often have coffee together.

Not all these verbs have the same combinability:

1. The verbs to begin, to start, to continue, to finish, to cease, to commence can be followed by either infinitive or gerund with no change in meaning, e.g.

• The team continuedto discuss/ discussing their plans for the next month.
• The team startedto discuss/ discussing their plans for the next month.

2. But it is not recommended to usetwo -ing forms together, e.g.

• It is starting getting cold – WRONG!
• It is starting to get cold – RIGHT!

3. The verbs used to and would are followed only by infinitive, e.g.

• When she was younger, Brenda used to bake her own bread.
• She would wake up as early as 4 o’clock in the morning and set up making batter.

4. The verb to go on in the function of part of a compound verbal aspect predicate can be followed either by infinitive or gerund with a significant change of meaning,

to go on

5. The verb to stop in the function of part of a compound verbal aspect predicate is followed only by gerund! e.g.

• Mr. Dursley stopped staring at the cat and started to think about his work.
• Aunt Petunia stopped gossiping about her neighbours as she saw that her husband was not listening to her.

6. The verb to stop when followed by an infinitive performs the function of adverbial modifier of purpose, e.g.

to stop