Read the sentence. according to the latest reports sent to us, orangutans prefer to remain safely in their original habitats. why can the infinitive phrase be classified as a noun? it functions as the subject. it functions as the direct object. it functions as the subject complement. it functions as the object of the preposition.

The correct answer is
B) It functions as the direct subject.
The deponent phrase in this sentence is "to remain safely". The quickest and the easiest way to determine whether a word is a direct object would be to ask  "What would orangutans prefer?" And it would be to remain safely. Thats how we know that this phrase would be the direct object of the verb to prefer.