Note. Ordinarily the infinitive cannot assert and hence has no subject ([§ 309]). The infinitive clause is, therefore, a peculiar exception, for him to go makes an assertion as clearly as that he should go does. That him is really the subject of to go and not the object of wished is manifest, for I wished him makes no sense. The object of wished is the whole clause (him to go).
Originally, to be sure, the noun or pronoun in the objective was felt to be the object of the main verb, and this relation may still be felt in “I ordered him to go”; but even here the real object of ordered is the clause (as may be seen in “I ordered the castle to be blown up”). The substantive has come to be the real subject of the infinitive, and should be so treated in parsing.
326. A predicate pronoun after to be in an infinitive clause is in the objective case, agreeing with the subject of the infinitive.
Care should be taken not to confuse this construction with the predicate nominative ([§ 88, 2]).
| Predicate Pronoun after to be | Predicate Nominative |
|---|---|
| I believed it to be her. | I believed that it was she. |
| We know the author to be him. | We know that the author is he. |
| The author is known to be he. | |
| He thought Richard to be me. | He thought that Richard was I. |
| Richard was thought to be I. | |
| We suspected the intruders to be them. | We suspected that the intruders were they. |
Note the case of the relatives and of the predicate pronouns in the following sentences:—
- A boy whom I thought to be honest deceived me. [Whom is the subject of the infinitive to be and is therefore in the objective case.]
- A boy who, I thought, was honest deceived me. [Who is the subject of was and is therefore nominative. I thought is parenthetical ([§ 502]).]
- A boy whom I believe to be him just passed me.
- A boy who, I believe, was he, just passed me.
327. An infinitive clause may be the object of the preposition for. Thus,—
- I wrote for him to come. [The clause him to come is the object of for; him is the subject of to come.]
- They are waiting on the shore
For the bark to take them home.—Noel. - I long for him to come back.
328. An infinitive clause with for may be used as a subject, as a predicate nominative, or as the object of a preposition.