This book describes the historical emergence and spread of the to-infinitive in English. The exposition is clear and does not assume an up-to-date knowledge of generative theory. The book will appeal to the wide spectrum of scholars interested in the transformation of Old to Middle English as well as to those studying the processes and causes of syntactic change more generally.

• Part I: Introduction


• 1: Introduction


• Part II: The to-infinitive as GOAL


• 2: The Expression of Purpose in Old English


• 3: The to-infinitive as GOAL-argument


• Part III: The to-infinitive as THEME


• 4: Intention


• 5: Commanding and Permitting


• 6: Commissives


• Part IV: Syntactic Status


• 7: Introduction


• 8: The Changing Status of Infinitival to


• Part V: Changes in Middle English


• 9: The Rise of to-infinitival ECM


• 10: Innocent Bystander: The Loss of the Indefinite Pronoun man


• Part VI: Summary and Conclusions


• 11: Summary and Conclusions


• Appendix


• References


• Index

Bettelou Los is a Lecturer in Linguistics at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam. She graduated from the University of Amsterdam in 1986 and has since held teaching and research positions at the University of Amsterdam, the Vrije Universiteit, the University of Nijmegen and other colleges of higher education. She participates in the research program The Diachrony of Complex Predicates in West Germanic, and has published several papers on diachronic syntax. She contributes with Wim van der Wurff to the morphology and syntax section of The Year's Work in English Studies and with Ans van Kemenade is co-editing The Blackwell Handbook of the History of English.