The Syntax of Early English - Cryptm.org

230 The syntax of early English(22a)and he ne mot na eft gefullian‘and he may never again baptize’The reason is that what should serve as the object of gefullian (i.e. he both in(22a) and (22a)), can only be interpreted as subject in (22a) because of itssentence-initial position before the finite verb.Let us now consider the various cases where present-day English regularlyuses or has to use a passive construction, but where Old English has an activeone. They are given in (23).(23) i. after semi-modal beas ing sint to donnethese things are to do‘these things can/must/ought to be done’(Lch II(2)22.1.8)ii. as adjunct to an adjectiveNe bregden ge not a stengas of æm hringum, ylæs sionot remove you not the poles from the rings, lest theearc si ungearo to beranneark be unready to carry‘Do not remove the poles from the rings in case the ark may not beready yet to be carried’ (CP 22.173.9)iii. as adjunct to a nounnæs ær . . . wæteres drync to bruconnenot-was there of-water drink to use‘there was no drink of water that could be used’ (And 21)iv. in combination with a main verba. as an adverbial adjunct ofpurpose7 rice men sendon heora dohtor ider to læranneand rich men sent their daughters there to teach‘and rich men sent their daughters there to be taught’(Bede 3.6.172.16)b. in an AcI construction after perception verbs and causativeshe het hine mid strælum ofscotianhe ordered him with arrows off-shoot‘he ordered him to be shot to death with arrows’(Mart 5(Kotzor) 211[JA20])Note, too, that present-day English does not use a passive infinitive all the timein all these positions. There is quite a bit of variation here. Compare the examplesof (23) to those in (24) (a–d refer to the same functions),(24) a. What is to be done next?They are to blame/to be blamed for this mishapb. John is easy to pleaseThe castle is beautiful to look atIt seemed to them too funny to be endured(Visser 1963–73: § 1921) / ? to endure