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 >>> >> To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web > interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select > "Join or leave the list" > > Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ > To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web > interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select > "Join or leave the list" > > Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ > To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/