Good point, Craig. I did an advanced search for "this excites me to"
excluding "to no end." Here are some examples of the infinitive as a
complement:
- this excites me to go to office everyday
- All of this excites me to paint, print, and draw.
- I am nearing 51 years of age and this excites me to want to learn more.
- This excites me to see what the obedience and passion of one person
can do.
and many, many more.
Dick
On Tue, Feb 26, 2013 at 12:13 PM, Hancock, Craig G <[log in to unmask]>wrote:
> Dick,
> I think in all three of your examples, the infinitive is an
> extraposed subject.
> "To work with clients on a one on one basis really excites me."
> I wonder if we can find an example where the infinitive is a verb
> complement and not a subject. i couldn't find one.
> The passive version would be "I am really excited to work with
> clients...." The fact that we can put "very" in front of excited would make
> an argument that it is shading into adjective or is at least acting
> ambiguously. And in this case it feels to me like an adjective complement.
> "I am happy to work with clients" feels very similar to me.
>
> Craig
>
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [
> [log in to unmask]] on behalf of Dick Veit [[log in to unmask]]
> *Sent:* Tuesday, February 26, 2013 12:03 PM
> *To:* [log in to unmask]
> *Subject:* Re: Excited to
>
> I'd say "be excited (to)" is a passive verb, since there are plenty of
> equivalent actives. Here are some taken from Google (I searched "excites me
> to"):
>
> - It really excites me to work with clients on a one on one basis...
> - It excites me to announce that I am officially teaming up with Chad
> to kickoff our first, fully collaborative music project!
> - It excites me to be close to him, to think over and over, I can kill
> him and I will kill him but not now. (Anne Rice, *Interview with the
> Vampire*)
>
> and many others, an impressively large number of which are explicitly
> sexual.
>
> Dick
>
> On Tue, Feb 26, 2013 at 11:20 AM, Lynn Searfoss <[log in to unmask]>wrote:
>
>> It seems like an adjectival participial phrase, doesn't it?
>>
>> Lynn
>>
>>
>> Hancock, Craig G wrote:
>>
>>> Martha,
>>> Can you give us an example?
>>> A quick google search of "excite to" brought no examples, but I found
>>> a huge number for "excited to..." with most of those using "excited" as
>>> past participle adjective. John Lackey is"very excited" to be back on the
>>> baseball field, for example.
>>> /I am pleased to meet you/. /I am excited to be here/. These seem
>>> common to me and perhaps equally ambiguous as to whether "pleased" and
>>> "excited" are verbs (passive verb phrase) or adjectives. the infinitive
>>> would work as adjective complement, as in "I am happy to be here."
>>>
>>> Craig
>>> ------------------------------**------------------------------**
>>> ------------
>>> *From:* Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [
>>> [log in to unmask]] on behalf of Martha Galphin [
>>> [log in to unmask]]
>>> *Sent:* Tuesday, February 26, 2013 10:03 AM
>>> *To:* [log in to unmask]
>>> *Subject:* Excited to
>>>
>>>
>>> /What are your thoughts about the usage of the transitive verb _excite_
>>> followed by an infinitive? I come upon it somewhere almost every day now
>>> and am discomfited by it.
>>> Thank you,/
>>>
>>> /Martha Galphin
>>>
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