Infinitive

TL;DR: The articular infinitive was extensively used in the NT and Hellenistic world, mainly for literary purposes. It is characterized by its association with the article and its grammatical function as a noun substitute.

Abstract: A. Historical Significance of the Articular Infinitive. 1. Nothing distinguishes the noun force of the infinitive more than its use with the article. 2. The article substantivizes the infinitive. 3. The articular infinitive was a distinctly Attic idiom, though not exclusively so, for it occurs a few times in other Greek dialects. 4. It appears with relative frequency in the NT, and is there true to Attic usage. 5. The articular infinitive was used quite extensively by Thucydides, Demosthenes and Polybius. 6. The articular infinitive was mainly a literary use, starting in Pindar, Herodotus and the tragedians, and matured by Attic rhetoric and passing from the literary Attic into the daily speech of the least cultured people in the later Hellenistic world. 7. The presence of the article with the infinitive has no fixed effect upon its varieties in use meaning a particular use may occur with or without the article, at the option of the writer, in accordance with his desire to make the expression specific or general. 8. The article did serve to restore the balance between the substantive and verbal aspects of the infinitive. 9. The increase in the use of the article with the infinitive kept pace with the growth of the article. 10. The association of the infinitive with the article helped to sustain the substantive force of the infinitive. B. Grammatical Significance of the Articular Infinitive. 1. Essentially the function of an article with an infinitive is the same as with a noun since the infinitive is in origin a noun except that with the infinitive the article often appears for no reason except to supply the case-ending which is lacking. 2. The case of the infinitive is often determined by the case of the definite article. 3. The article when employed with the infinitive makes the infinitive more adaptable to use with prepositions. 4. Without the preposition we commonly find the articular infinitive in the appropriate case. 5. The infinitive with to is generally in harmony with the case significance of the article, occuring in nominative and accusative constructions. 6. The infinitive with tou is frequently found modifying a noun in the normal way, or as object of a verb which regularly takes the genitive, or ablative. 7. It is also employed widely in expressions of purpose, occasionally result, and for various other constructions and is quite a frequent construction. 8. We find to used with the infinitive without the preposition but once in the entire NT, and there it is the instrumental of cause (2 Co. 2:13). 9. The infinitive with tw~ is almost invariably accompanied by the preposition en. 10. The conformity of the case of the article with the case relation of the infinitive is not a fixed rule. 11. We may find, for instance, a subject infinitive accompanied by tou (Ac. 27:1). C. Uses of the Infinitive. 1. There is no other part of speech more widely used in the NT than the infinitive. 2. Its dual nature enables it to perform a large number and variety of functions. 3. Many grammarians categorize these various functions in a number of ways. D. We will classify the variety of uses under 2 general categories: 1. Verbal 2. Substantive E. Verbal Uses of the Infinitive 1. Purpose: Expressing the aim of the action of the main verb. 2. Result: Signifying result (actual, conceived and intended). 3. Time: Equivalent to a temporal clause expressing either antecedent, contemporaneous or subsequent time. 4. Cause: The accusative infinitive with the preposition dia. 5. Command: Imperative infinitive (Frequently found in Homer). F. Substantival Uses of the Infinitive 1. Subject: The infinitive may function in exactly the same way that a noun would as the subject of a finite verb. 2. Object: Serving as object of a finite verb. 3. Indirect Object: Functioning as the secondary object of a verb as would a noun in the dative case and expressing that for which or with reference to which the action or state of the governing verb is performed or exists.