What an interesting question.  I agree with what Richard says--that it's all a matter of intonation or punctuation.  

But I'm wondering why pausing is such a tip off?  That is, why does this mechanism of pausing make us think if a noun rather than an adjective. Maybe the pause sends a signal of nounishness because the pause semantically creates a stronger separation between the phrase and the preceding noun.  Logically, I think this stronger separation would not be affiliated with an adjective because an adjective is very closely connected to the word it modifies.  

An appositive is also linked closely, however, to the preceding noun, so I'm not sure.  But I am interested in why the pause works the way Richard suggests.  Maybe there is no logical connection between the pause and the function of the phrase.  Maybe it's just a learned, more-or-less arbitrary convention.

larry



>>> Richard Veit <[log in to unmask]> - 6/4/01 1:00 PM >>>
In a sense you're both right, since the sentence is ambiguous. If you speak
it with pauses before and after the infinitive (denoted in writing by
commas, dashes, or parentheses), you've got an appositive:

       My decision, to leave my job, was wise.

More often the sentence would be spoken without pauses (or punctuation) and
it is then "adjectival":

       My decision to leave my job was wise.

I'd actually label the latter as a "complement infinitive," since it
corresponds with the nominal complement "My decision that I leave my job
was wise."

Dick Veit
UNCW

>Date: Mon, 04 Jun 2001 10:34:31 -0700
>From: "Kischner, Michael" <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Infinitive phrase as adjective and as appositive
>
>Does someone know a convincing way of distinguishing between the infinitive
>phrase as adjectival ("The attempt to robe the bank failed") and as
>appositive ("His goal, to win the Presidency, was never realized").  The
>example  that my class got hung up on was "My decision to leave my job was
>wise."  I called the infinitive phrase there an adjectival.  The students
>seemed unsatisfied by my explanation that in their hearts they know I'm
>right.

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