The objective with the infinitive construction

§ 125. This construction is the most recurrent as it may be used after a wider range of verbs, both taking a direct (I didn’t want him to see me here) and an indirect non-recipient object (We were relying on him to put things right); in the latter case the objective construction is introduced by the preposition generally used with this particular verb.

The objective predicative construction of this type is used after the following verbs:

1. Verbs of wish and intention (to wish, to want, to desire, to choose, to prefer, should/would like, to intend, to mean). Owing to the meaning of these verbs, the infinitive in the construction can be only non-perfect, as it denotes an unfulfilled action.

He would like you to see him in his office.

I did not mean it to be told to her.

2. Verbs of emotion and attitude (to like, to dislike, to love, to hate, cannot/could not bear). Those too can be followed only by non-perfect forms of the infinitive.

I can’t bear people to be unhappy or upset.

I hate you to go away.

3. Verbs of mental activity (to think, to suppose, to consider, to believe, to know, to find, to expect, to imagine, to understand, to assume, to acknowledge, to feel, to trust, etc.). After these verbs the infinitive may be used in any form, depending on the time relation between the two actions:

He believed Jennie to be playing in the garden.

I supposed him to have been married to her years ago.

If the action of the infinitive refers to the person denoted by the subject, the corresponding reflexive pronoun is used.

I know myself to be rather slow.

4. Verbs of declaring (to declare, to report, to pronounce). With these all forms of the infinitive are possible.

They reported the plane to have been lost.

5. Causative verbs (to make, to have) take a complex object with a bare infinitive, usually it is a non-perfect infinitive, as the action is the result of inducement. The verb to gel takes a complex object with a to-infinitive.

With other verbs of inducement (to order, to command, to ask, to allow, etc.) the objective with the infinitive construction can have only the passive infinitive.

She would not allow the life of thechild to be risked.

Note:

If the infinitive attached to such verbs is active, it does not form a complex with the preceding nominal part; both the elements should be treated as different parts of the sentence, the first as an indirect recipient object, the second as a direct object:

He ordered him to come. (Whom did he order come? What did he order him?)

6. Verbs of perception (to see, to watch, to hear, to feel, to observe, to notice). After these verbs a bare non-perfect active infinitive is used.

We saw planes zoom into the air.

They felt the earth shake under their feet.

After these verbs structures with the link verb to be are not used. Where the need arises, a subordinate clause is used.

I saw that she was pretty. (---/--- > I saw her to be pretty.)

§ 126. As was mentioned in § 125 the objective with the infinitive construction may be used with a few verbs as their indirect non-recipient object. These verbs are to wait (for), to rely (on), to listen (to), to look (for), to count (upon). All of them except the verb to listen take the infinitive with the particle to. With the verb to listen a bare infinitive is used.

Can I really count upon him to undertake the job?

I was relying on him to put things right.

I listened to them talk about me.