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The language of scientific english.doc
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Infinitive in parenthetical phrases

Infinitive forms parenthetical phrases, such as: to tell the truth, to be sure, to be quite plain, to be more precise, to cut a long story short.

They are inserted into a sentence to express modality, to show the attitude of the speaker towards the idea expressed in the sentence.

To tell the truth, I do not like them.

Here are some examples of parenthetical phrases with the Infinitive used in scientific prose. to tell the truth - по правде говоря to say the least - мягко выражаясь to make a long story short - короче говоря to put it mildly - мягко выражаясь to put it briefly - короче говоря to put it simply - попросту говоря to put it another way - иначе говоря

to begin with to start with - прежде всего to judge from (by) - судя по, если судить по

to use (an unsatisfactory tern)- если употребить (неудачное выражение) to return - если возвратиться to sum up - если подвести итог to take (an example) - если привести (пример) suffice it to say - достаточно сказать needless to say - нет надобности говорить to say nothing of - не говоря уже о ... so to speak - так сказать

to mention (only some) - если упомянуть (лишь некоторые) to quote (a single example) - если привести (один пример)

Exercises

Study the use of parenthetical infinitive in fiction.

To cut a long story short, the infant that's just gone out of the room is not your son. (Maugham)

The prospective buyer is someone who is not, to put it mildly, a supporter of female emancipation. To consent to this sale would be to consent to change the character of the newspaper altogether. (Mucdoch).

To begin with, he did not like the way his editor had spoken to him that

norning. (Priestly)

To speak frankly, I am not in favour of long engagements. (Wilde)

Truth to tell, he wanted to say a great deal. (Dreiser)

To begin with, Mrs. Anderson is a pleasanter person to live with

Mrs. Dudgeon. (Shaw)

But the heat of the afternoon was, to say the least, oppresive. (Salinger)

The gerund

  1. The morphological characteristics. As a verb the gerund has the grammatical categories of voice and tense correlation.

    1. The category of voice

Active

asking

reading

Passive

being asked

being read

She is fond of reading.

She is fond of being read to.

    1. The category of tense correlation

Non-Perfect Perfect

asking having asked

being asked having been asked

The perfect form of the gerund expresses priority.

He told me of her having gone to the South for her holiday

Note: The non-perfect form of the gerund expresses priority:

a) after the prepositions on, after:

After reading the book he returned it to the library.

b) after verbs of recollection, gratitude, blame, reproach, punishment and reward:

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