The substitution of the prepositional infinitive phrase and the ellipsis of ‘for’ with the noun phrase in the for-to-infinitive construction based on the material of the English-language economic discourse

Abstract

The aim of the study is to determine how substitution and ellipsis are used within the syntax of the English-language economic discourse as exemplified by the English-language magazine ‘The Economist’. The scientific novelty of the study lies in identifying the substitution of the prepositional infinitive phrase in the active voice by the passive attributive infinitive and in detecting the ellipsis of the preposition ‘for’ with the noun phrase in the for-to-infinitive construction with the active infinitive expressing passive relations. As a result, the researcher identified possible words in the prepositional infinitive phrase in the active voice replaced by the passive attributive infinitive: ‘for everybody’ / ‘for no matter who’ / ‘for all persons in general’ / ‘for anybody who is going to (wants)’ / ‘for anybody’ + to + the active infinitive. In addition, the explicates for the ellipted ‘for’ with the noun phrase in the for-to-infinitive construction were also identified: ‘for the one/ones in question’, ‘for the one/ones concerned’, ‘for the one/ones involved’. The use of the attributive infinitive expressing passive relations was systematised. The rule for choosing the voice for the post-attributive infinitive expressing passive relations was formulated: the retroactive infinitive is used if the subject performing the action expressed by the infinitive is known; if there is no information about the doer, the passive infinitive is used.