[Sigia-l] Re: Infinitives versus Imperatives

[joe]

Just a small quibble:
Actually, the mode of the verb in the example "Adjust your personal data" is the imperative mode, not infinitive: in a task-based list, "Adjust your personal data" means "Alright, you, go over there and adjust your personal data (and be quick about it!)" as opposed to the infinitive mode, "To adjust your personal data, follow this link." Semantically, perhaps, the imperative is implied...but grammatically, in English, a construct is infinitive ONLY if it contains the word "to" -- unlike inflected languages, where perhaps "adjustar" means "to adjust" while "adjuste" means "(you) adjust."*

joe
Joe Sokohl
Federal Reserve Information Technology
joseph.sokohl at frit.frb.org
804.697.2829

* Not a real language...I've simulated words...