2406: "For To" Infinitives Jul 21, 2021

There is a non-standard infinitive construction—"for to" as opposed to merely "to"—originating in Northern Ireland, which is used interchangeably with a standard infinitive marker but is particularly used to indicate a purpose clause. This made its way over to North America and in particular the American South which was dominantly settled by Irishmen, Scottsmen, and Welshmen. For instance, in the song Oh! Susanna:

"I'm going to Louisiana / My true love for to see."

This is actually even less standard than its normal use which might look more like, "I want for to meet them" since in that way this can be seen as a variant of other purpose clauses in Standard English which might appear like "I want for Bob to meet them". The difference is that the subject of the main clause (preceded by a small clause) takes the preposition 'for' to mark purpose, whereas in the "for to" example, the subject of the main clause and the small clause are the same.