bare inf complements

[g-green at uiuc.edu]

Tibor writes:

> [n]ow that I am getting replies where 'form follows function', I dare ask
> another question:

With no disrespect intended, Tibor's query actually illustrates the variable behavior of _dare_;
American English doesn't seem to allow _dare_ to take a bare infinitive in affirmative, declarative clauses; we wouldn't (dare!) say, "I dare ask". But it does in negative declarative clauses, and in positive(?) conditional clauses:

    I don't dare ask
    I dare not ask
    if I dare ask

This is all from memory of thinking about this stuff 30 years ago. Lord only knows what a corpus search would turn up!
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