By Modals, Infinitive clauses

Alright, so modals are not inflected... That should mean they are non finite. How come they do not work in nonfinte contexts such as infinitive clauses then? If you argue that the form of the verb is what marks an inflection, how do you explain that put is the past form of put? No inflection...

deleted by an obligatory deletion transform. Will this work on the clutter in my living room? Don't we all wish!!! LOL Part of the problem, as Paco has aptly observed, is the problem of finding the missing (deleted) subject of a dependent clause, the infinitive clause "to be ... cleverer...

Thanks, Paco. Quirk, et al are no help with the reason; they just say that some do and some don't usually take transferred negation. Do: anticipate, be supposed to, believe, calculate, expect, figure, imagine, reckon, suppose, think, appear, seem, feel/look/sound as if, wish...