Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

1974

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Faraci, Mary

Abstract

This thesis is a comparison of Old English infinitives with present day English infinitive forms. The comparisons in this thesis provide insight into historical differences and developments involving the infinitive. One of the most obvious differences between Old English and present day English is the variety of Old English word orders; the evidence shows different patterns of interrogative and declarative subject-verb inversions, as well as adverb, adjective and object placement when the infinitive without to was used. With the exception of the interrogatives, the tendency in present day English is to have the modal or verb follow the subject and precede the infinitive. In comparing the uses of Old English verbs that cannot take the to + infinitive with those of present day English that must, it is evident that the to + infinitive structure is now much more common in sentences. One can assume that the present day preference for the to + infinitive after main verbs, with the exception of modal auxiliaries, has grown out of the Old English use of the inflected infinitive with to.

Extent

53 p.

Comments

Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1974.|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters

Identifier

FADT13685

Format

pdf

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