IV. Brush up your grammar

A. Grammar Folio:

The Infinitive

INFINITIVE
	Active	Passive
Indefinite Continuous Perfect Perfect Continuous	to take to be taking to have taken to have been taking	to be taken --------------- to have been taken ---------------

1. Инфинитив группы Indefinite (Active, Passive) выражает действие, являющееся одновременным по отношению к действию сказуемого:

He wants to warn us. – Он хочет предупредить нас.

He wants to be warned. – Он хочет, чтобы его предупредили.

2. Инфинитив группы Continuous выражает длительное действие, одновременное действию сказуемого:

I am sorry to be bothering you. – Сожалею, что беспокою вас сейчас.

3. Инфинитив группы Perfect (Active, Passive) выражает понятие о действии, совершившемся ранее действия, выраженного сказуемым:

I am sorry to have interrupted you. – Я сожалею о том, что прервал вас.

He is sorry to have been interrupted. – Он сожалеет о том, что его прервали.

4. Инфинитив группы Perfect Continuous выражает длительное дейст­вие, предшествующее действию сказуемого:

He seems to have been reading for two hours. – Кажется, что он читал в течение двух часов.

Функции инфинитива

1) подлежащее

To speak English well is not difficult – Говорить по-английски хорошо нетрудно.

2) именная часть сказуемого

Our goal is to make a profit. Наша цель - получить прибыль.

3) дополнение

They want to expand the accounting department. – Они хотят расширить бухгалтерский отдел.

4) определение

She is looking for a firm to work in. – Она подыскивает фирму, в которой сможет работать.

5) обстоятельство цели

We must learn all the words to speak English well. – Мы должны учить все слова для того, чтобы хорошо говорить по-английски.

To achieve these results we had to work hard. – Для того чтобы добиться этих результатов, нам пришлось много поработать.

Если определение выражено инфинитивом в пассивной форме, то на русский язык оно переводится придаточным определительным предло­жением с оттенком долженствования.

The accounts to be posted into the ledger are on your table. – Счета, которые следует перенести в главную книгу, на вашем столе.

The financial data to be analyzed by the controller are of great importance. – Финансовые данные, которые должен проанализировать главный бухгалтер, очень важны.

Употребление инфинитива после прилагательных:

This book is easy to read. – Эту книгу легко читать.

He is hard to understand. -- Его трудно понять.

Tom was happy to have started that business. – Том был счастлив, что

занялся тем бизнесом.

B. Exercises

1. Translate the sentences into Russian, paying attention to the infinitive:

1. Accounting is the system a business uses to measure its financial performance.

2. Various interested parties depend on a company’s accounting system to help them make informed financial decisions.

3. To prepare a trial balance without mistakes is not always easy for an inexperienced bookkeeper.

4. The information from the trial balance is used to prepare the company’s financial statements.

5. The accountant is to determine the ways in which the business may grow in future.

6. To develop new accounting software programs is of prime importance for those companies that wish to lead in the competitive market.

7. Creditors want to know whether a business is creditworthy.

8. The accounting profession isn’t easy to learn.

9. Private accountants work for private companies or corporations that hire them to maintain financial records.

10. The controller monitors and cross-checks all financial data in order to evaluate the company’s financial health.

11. The financial information to be posted into the ledger is of great importance.

12. Now you are going to ask me to tell you how you can pay less tax.

13. These figures are difficult to believe.

14. To agree to this offer is to lose self-respect.

15. One way to assure the integrity and reliability of a company’s financial statements is to conduct an audit.

2. Read and translate the sentences into Russian. Comment on the function

of the infinitive.

1. To compute production costs is a usual thing for her.

2. To earn the title of Certified Public Accountant isn’t easy.

3. This financial plan was impracticable to implement.

4. The urgent topic for today is to reorganize and computerize the accounting department.

5. Nick decided to specialize in tax accounting.

6. Auditors review clients’ financial statements to determine whether the statements have been prepared in accordance with the generally accepted accounting principles.

7. Here are some instructions for you to follow.

8. The work to be done by accountants is rather sophisticated.

9. We had to work hard in order to prepare financial information for our investors in time.

10. He chose the sphere of financial analysis to make a brilliant career in business.

11. Office affairs are easy to begin and difficult to finish.

12. Speak louder if you want to be heard.

13. Accounting software makers have designed programs to be used on personal computers.

14. Accounting is called “the language of business” because of its ability to communicate financial information about an organization.

15. Such a good accountant as you are is difficult to find.

3. Define the form of the infinitive.

to prepare, to be reading, to be recorded, to have been written, to be analyzing, to have evaluated, to have been discussing, to be done, to post, to

have made, to have been invented, to be used, to be waiting, to have been spending.

4. Choose the right form of the infinitive:

1. It takes a long time (become) an accounting professional.

1. to become

2. to have become

3. to be becoming

2. The role of managerial accounting is (provide) figures and statements that

will aid decision-making.

1. to provide

2. to be providing

3. to have been providing

3. I’m sorry (make) a foolish mistake in the trial balance. It happened

accidentally.

1. to make

2. to have made

3. to be made

4. I’m sorry (bother) you now.

1. to bother

2. to have bothered

3. to be bothering

5. Bookkeepers are not (confuse) with librarians, who also keep books, or with bookmakers, who “make books” in the sense that they accept bets [принимают ставки] (on horse races, etc.) and traditionally wrote them down in a book like a bookkeeper’s journal.

1. to confuse

2. to have confused

3. to be confused

6. The controller seems (analyze) the financial documents for two hours.

1. to analyze

2. to have been analyzing

3. to be analyzing

7. I’m glad (do) all my work for today. I can go home.

1. to do

2. to be doing

3. to have done

8. A new accounting software program (use) in our company will optimize the

work of the financial department.

1. to use

2. to be used

3. to be using

9. (Read) books means to enlarge one’s horizons.

1. to read

2. to be read

3. to have read

10. The idea was too complicated (express) in just one sentence.

1. to express

2. to be expressed

3. to have expressed

11. This news is difficult (believe)

1. to believe

2. to be believed

3. to have believed

12. Tom is proud (earn) the title of a certified public accountant.

1. to earn

2. to have earned

3. to be earning

13. – I’m afraid you can’t see Mr. Brown now. I suppose Mr. Brown (inspect) a

new research laboratory at the moment.

1. to inspect

2. to be inspected

3. to be inspecting

14. Computers are used widely in both large and small businesses today

(simplify) the accounting process.

1. to simplify

2. to have simplified

3. to be simplified

15. Accounting is recognized as a “profession” since accountants have enough specialized technical knowledge and skills (affect) the public’s wellbeing in many ways.

1. to affect

2. to be affecting

3. to have been affecting