chikaine  +  82544 Sun, 20 Mar 05 02:29 PM What is the tense of the verb in "it could be eaten easily"? The auxilary "be" is an infinitive", "eaten" is a past an "could" is a past, in that case, which one dominates and gives it's tense to the whole? Do infinitive passives exist?? chikaine Joined on Sat, Mar 19 2005 New Member 10 Verbs, Tenses

	maverick88  +  82547 Sun, 20 Mar 05 02:45 PM The whole sentence is in the past because of 'could' = 'was able to' (past) Do infinitive passives exist?? -------- I am not sure I understood you but: 'He was asked to bring it to the class' asked - V3: 'to' never comes before it, as far as I know. to bring - to + bare infinitive Do I understand you? maverick88 Joined on Mon, Nov 22 2004 Israel Regular Member 695 An English learner

	pieanne  +  82558 Sun, 20 Mar 05 04:17 PM Hello! There is a passive infinitive: (to) be+ past participle = passive infinitive. just like you can have a past infinitive: (to) have + past participle EG: to give : (active) infinitive to be given : passive infinitive to have given : past infinitive pieanne Joined on Thu, Jan 20 2005 South of France ...But I'm Belgian! Veteran Member 7,517 I'm glad to help, but I'm not a native! And please excuse my typos...

	chikaine  +  82584 Sun, 20 Mar 05 07:40 PM thnaks for answering me. the sentence you used is different from mine cause it shows a complex transitive structure in which "to bring" modifies "he" and does not follow the verb directly when you turn the sentence to the active voice( that's what I've read but maybe misunderstood cause i'm not a native speaker)... You are saying that the auxilary (could) gives the tense of the whole sentence, am I wrong?Thanks for your help! chikaine Verbs, Tenses

	paco2004  +  82595 Sun, 20 Mar 05 08:54 PM Hello Chikaine The auxilary (could) gives the tense of the whole sentence, am I wrong? Yes you are right. In English the tense of a sentence is borne by the verb or modal which is positioned first in the sentence. They are called "finite verb" and "could" is the finite verb in your case. The 'be eaten' is a bare infinitive of passive form and it isn't a tense barer [it is an infinite verbial]. paco paco2004 Joined on Wed, Nov 17 2004 Senior Member 4,095 In Japan today even dogs are learning how to bow-wow in English. Verbs, Tenses, Modals

	CalifJim  +  82617 Sun, 20 Mar 05 10:57 PM "could" as the past of "can" is only one possible interpretation, the one in which the sentence means, "At that time it was possible to eat it easily" or "At that time one had the ability/opportunity to eat it easily". But there is also a reading of this sentence in which the eating is possible, but tentatively, in the present. Here "could" means something like "would be possible (now)", and is nearly synonymous with "may" or "might". "It [(is)* / would be / may be / might be] possible (now) to eat it easily." "Maybe one [can / would be able to] eat it easily (now)." (*"is" is not tentative enough to capture the meaning of "could" accurately, except insofar as it is quite clearly a present tense form.) ______ Active infinitive: to eat Passive infinitive: to be eaten Yes, they exist. CJ CalifJim Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004 California Veteran Member 22,393 "There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche Tenses, Present Tenses

	CalifJim  +  955504 Wed, 28 Oct 09 05:48 PM Anonymous “I just want to point out the word "could" is indicative of the subjunctive mood” Modal verbs don't have tenses and moods in the way that other verbs do.  could certainly acts like a past subjunctive in If I could help you, I would. but could, like several other modals, can act in other ways as well, including as a conditional or a simple past. CJ CalifJim Verbs, Tenses, Modals, Simple Past, Subjunctives, Past Tenses, Conditionals, Modal Verbs, Simple Tenses