TO-INFINITIVE COMPLEMENT CLAUSES
Head nouns which take to-infinitive complement clauses are likewise often related to a verb or an adjective and include the following:
de-verbal: attempt, decision, desire, failure, plan, tendency, permission
de-adjectival: ability, inability, right, capacity
simple: chance, effort, opportunity
The function of to-infinitive complements is to point to human acts or goals, as in:
attempts to trump up facts and
evidence failure to warn the students in advance
The following quotation illustrates the difference between a PP complement and a to –infinitive complement:
The global threat to our security was clear. (PP complement = x threatened our security)
So was our duty to act to eliminate it. (to-infinitive complement)
(Prime Minister Tony Blair’s speech on the threat of international terrorism, 5 March 2004)
