Abstract
This paper explores the possibility of accounting for the historical development of English to-infinitives within the framework of the Minimalist Program, especially in terms of Checking Theory. It is argued that the category and formal features of the infinitive marker to changed in the course of Middle English, which in turn led to the appearance of some constructions involving to-infinitives, including exceptional case marking infinitives, split infinitives, subject-relation infinitival relatives, and proinfinitives, among others.
