Cho, Nahmho. 2017. A Syntactic Analysis of Quasi-auxiliary ‘BE TO’ Construction: In Terms of its Meanings and Grammatical Functions. English Language and Linguistics 23.1, 19-41. The English infinitive can be used as a noun, adjective, or adverb equivalent. There are three types of ‘be+to-infinitive’ in English. The first type ‘be to-infinitive’ is one in which the infinitive is a noun equivalent. In the second ‘BE TO-infinitive’, the infinitive is considered to be an adjective equivalent acting as a subject complement. In the third ‘is to-infinitive,’ the infinitive is called a retroactive. This study has fully discussed the differences of these three types. They have an apparently identical construction in which the verb ‘be’ is followed by an infinitive, but in fact they have different syntactic and semantic characteristics. Jespersen(1940) classified English infinitives into three ranks: primary, secondary and tertiary. The verb ‘be’ of the first type ‘be to’ is a copula and the infinitive is Jespersen’s primary and so a nominal infinitive acting as a complement of ‘be.’ There are two kinds of infinitives as Jespersen’s secondary: retroactive and non-retroactive. Korean school grammar has argued that Jespersen’s secondary non-retroactive infinitive of ‘BE TO’ is a subject complement, and so an adjective equivalent. However, this argument has proved to be untenable. Unlike ‘be to,’ ‘BE TO’ cannot be divided into two units, i.e. the verb ‘be’ and ‘to-infinitive.’ The whole ‘BE TO’ as a unit is a modal idiom or quasi-auxiliary referring to several future meanings: arrangement, order, destiny, possibility, purpose, etc. The infinitive of ‘is to’ is a retroactive. It is an active infinitive which is said to have a passive meaning, but Jespersen(1940) looks upon the infinitive as active and as governing a preceding item as its (implicit) object.
Key Words: be to-infinitive, nominal infinitive, subject complement, adjective equivalent, quasi-auxiliary, future meanings