] names the act and is completed by _you_,
and so does duty as a noun and as a verb. In office it is like the second
kind of participles, described in Lesson 37, and from many grammarians has
received the same name--some calling both _gerunds_, and others calling
both _infinitives_. It differs from this participle in form, and in
following only the preposition _to_. Came _to see_=came _for seeing_.
This form of the verb is frequently the principal word of a phrase used as
a subject or as an object, complement; as, _To read good books_ is
profitable; I like _to read good books_. Here also the form with _to_ is
equivalent to the participle form _reading_. _Reading good books_ is
profitable.
As this form of the verb names the action in an indefinite way, without
limiting it to a subject, we call it the +Infinitive+ (Lat. _infinitus_,
without limit). For definition, see Lesson 131. The infinitive, like the
participle, may have what is called an _assumed subject_. The _assumed
subject_ denotes that to which the action or being expressed by the
participle or the infinitive belongs.
Frequently the infinitive phrase expresses purpose, as in the first example
given above, and in such cases _to_ expresses relation, and performs its
full function as a preposition; but, when the infinitive phrase is used as
subject or as object complement, the _to_ expresses no relation.
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