English Language & Usage Asked by rustybucket5000 on February 27, 2021
So far I have “to make my plan come to fruition” as a subordinate clause, but I’m having trouble defining its components. Is “come to fruition” modifying “plan”? How is the infinitive functioning here?
If anyone can break down the whole sentence that would be super helpful too. Thanks!
"to make my plan come to fruition"
Consider "I make my plan come to fruition"
I = subject
make = verb
[my plan] – NP = object
come = verb complement (as part of a causative verb structure)
to fruition [preposition + noun = adverbial modifier]
Now with “I make” replaced by “to make”:
To make = in order (subordinating conjunction) to make = infinitive, and the rest remains the same.
Answered by Greybeard on February 27, 2021
I took action [to make my plan come to fruition]
[To make my plan come to fruition] is a non-finite to-infinitival clause. To be exact 'to make my plan come to fruition' is a non-finite complement of the noun action.
CGEL discusses this on page 1259
Many nouns license non-finite complements, all to-infinitivals:
It is syntactically similar to:
[11ib] Kim’s decision [to go to Bonn]
[11iib] Pat’s eagerness [to help us]
[11iii] the opportunity [to make a quick profit]
CGEL, p. 1259
On a deeper level, it can be analysed as a catenative construction.
Non-finite clauses occur in a wide range of functions, as complements, modifiers, and supplements. One function that is worth drawing attention to here is that of catenative complement in clause structure:
[2iia] Max seemed [to like them]
[2iia] Everyone believed Kim [to be guilty][2ib] Jill intended [to join the army]
[2iib] She asked me [to second her motion]The term ‘catenative’ reflects the fact that this construction is recursive (repeatable), so that we can have a chain, or concatenation, of verbs followed by non-finite complements, as in:
She intends to try to persuade him to help her decorate her flat
(CGEL; p. 65)
In the OP’s example, the catenative construction looks like this:
I took action [to make my plan] | come [to fruition]
Answered by Jay on February 27, 2021
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