 Re: infinitives
I've been thinking about no. 2 again, and of course it's not just "have" which can be followed by object + infinitive in this way - though I think it's very common with "have", which is probably why those examples came to mind first. but here are some other examples with different verbs. And it's the same thing happening - the infinitive could be glossed with a relative clause :
I couldn't think of anything to say (= which I could say)
He isn't the right person to ask (= who you should ask)
I need/want/would like something to help me sleep (= which will help me sleep)
Notice that the need/want/would like examples are not the "ordinary" use of the infinitive after these verbs - eg I need/want/would like David to be at the meeting. In this case, the to+infinitive clause couldn't be replaced by a relative clause - it's the equivalent of a that + SVC clause. And so the underlying structure is quite different. |