Re: Adjectives, Particles, and This ( etc ), and Conjunctions...

> Date:         Wed, 17 Jan 2001 16:46:12 -0800
> From:         Marcus Smith <smithma@...>
>
> Lars Mathiesen wrote:
> >However, historically the infinitive marker and the preposition are
> >the same. Back when the current infinitive was more a sort of verbal
> >noun, it got construed with different prepositions in various contexts
> >--- but very commonly with to after verbs like want or intend, and
> >from there it got extended to all contexts except after modal verbs.
>
> Absolutely. But the origins of a word often has nothing to do with
> contemporary usage. The English infinitive marker is not a preposition
> anymore, nor does it behave like one.
True. I just thought it worthwhile to mention the origin, in case it
could inspire someone's conlanging.

> >And not only in English. The North Germanic infinitive marker (Danish
> >at, Norwegian