"Nor War nor Wisdom yield our Jews delight, They will not study, and they dare not fight." —Crabbe's Borough, p. 50.

"Nor time nor chance breed such confusions yet, Nor are the mean so rais'd, nor sunk the great." —Rowe's Lucan, B. iii, l. 213.

UNDER NOTE I.—NOMINATIVES THAT DISAGREE.

"The definite article the, designates what particular thing or things is meant."—Merchant's School Gram., p. 23 and p. 33. "Sometimes a word or words necessary to complete the grammatical construction of a sentence, is not expressed, but omitted by ellipsis."—Burr's Gram., p. 26. "Ellipsis, or abbreviations, is the wheels of language."—Maunder's Gram., p. 12. "The conditions or tenor of none of them appear at this day."—Hutchinson's Hist. of Mass., Vol. i, p. 16. "Neither men nor money were wanting for the service."—Ib., Vol. i, p. 279. "Either our own feelings, or the representation of those of others, require frequent emphatic distinction."—Barber's Exercises, p. 13. "Either Atoms and Chance, or Nature are uppermost: now I am for the latter part of the disjunction,"—Collier's Antoninus, p. 181. "Their riches or poverty are generally proportioned to their activity or indolence."—Ross Cox's Narrative. "Concerning the other part of him, neither you nor he seem to have entertained an idea."—Bp. Horne. "Whose earnings or income are so small."—N. E. Discipline, p. 130. "Neither riches nor fame render a man happy."—Day's Gram., p. 71. "The references to the pages, always point to the first volume, unless the Exercises or Key are mentioned."—Murray's Gram., Vol. ii, p. 283.

UNDER NOTE II.—COMPLETE THE CONCORD.

"My lord, you wrong my father; nor he nor I are capable of harbouring a thought against your peace."—Walpole. "There was no division of acts; no pauses or interval between them; but the stage was continually full; occupied either by the actors, or the chorus."—Blair's Rhet., p. 463. "Every word ending in B, P, F, as also many in V, are of this order."—Dr. Murray's Hist. of Lang., i, 73. "As proud as we are of human reason, nothing can be more absurd than the general system of human life and human knowledge."—Bolingbroke, on Hist., p. 347. "By which the body of sin and death is done away, and we cleansed."—Barclay's Works, i, 165. "And those were already converted, and regeneration begun in them."—Ib., iii, 433. "For I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years."—Luke, i, 18. "Who is my mother, or my brethren?"—Mark, iii, 33. "Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt-offering."—Isaiah, xl, 16. "Information has been obtained, and some trials made."—Society in America, i, 308. "It is as obvious, and its causes more easily understood."—Webster's Essays, p. 84. "All languages furnish examples of this kind, and the English as many as any other."—Priestley's Gram., p. 157. "The winters are long, and the cold intense."—Morse's Geog., p. 39. "How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof!"—Prov., v, 12. "The vestals were abolished by Theodosius the Great, and the fire of Vesta extinguished."—Lempriere, w. Vestales. "Riches beget pride; pride, impatience."—Bullions's Practical Lessons, p. 89. "Grammar is not reasoning, any more than organization is thought, or letters sounds."—Enclytica, p. 90. "Words are implements, and grammar a machine."—Ib., p. 91.

UNDER NOTE III.—PLACE OF THE FIRST PERSON.

"I or thou art the person who must undertake the business proposed."—Murray's Key, 8vo, p. 184. "I and he were there."—Dr. Ash's Gram., p. 51. "And we dreamed a dream in one night, I and he."—Gen., xli, 11. "If my views remain the same as mine and his were in 1833."—GOODELL: Liberator, ix, 148. "I and my father were riding out."—Inst., p. 158. "The premiums were given to me and George."—Ib. "I and Jane are invited."—Ib. "They ought to invite me and my sister."—Ib. "I and you intend going."—Guy's Gram., p. 55. "I and John are going to Town."—British Gram., p. 193. "I, and he are sick. I, and thou are well."—James Brown's American Gram., Boston Edition of 1841, p. 123. "I, and he is. I, and thou art. I, and he writes."—Ib., p. 126. "I, and they are well. I, thou, and she were walking."—Ib., p. 127.

UNDER NOTE IV.—DISTINCT SUBJECT PHRASES.

"To practise tale-bearing, or even to countenance it, are great injustice."—Brown's Inst., p. 159. "To reveal secrets, or to betray one's friends, are contemptible perfidy."—Ib. "To write all substantives with capital letters, or to exclude them from adjectives derived from proper names, may perhaps be thought offences too small for animadversion; but the evil of innovation is always something."—Dr. Barrow's Essays, p. 88. "To live in such families, or to have such servants, are blessings from God."—Family Commentary, p. 64. "How they portioned out the country, what revolutions they experienced, or what wars they maintained, are utterly unknown."—Goldsmith's Greece, Vol. i, p. 4. "To speak or to write perspicuously and agreeably, are attainments of the utmost consequence to all who purpose, either by speech or writing, to address the public."—Blair's Rhet., p. 11.

UNDER NOTE V.—MAKE THE VERBS AGREE.

"Doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?"—Matt., xviii, 12. "Did he not fear the Lord, and besought the Lord, and the Lord repented him of the evil which he had pronounced?"—Jer., xxvi, 19. "And dost thou open thine eyes upon such an one, and bringest me into judgement with thee?"—Job, xiv, 3. "If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain."—James, i, 26. "If thou sell aught unto thy neighbour, or buyest aught of thy neighbour's hand, ye shall not oppress one an other."—Leviticus, xxv, 14. "And if thy brother that dwelleth by thee, shall have become poor, and be sold to thee, thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bond servant."—WEBSTER'S BIBLE: Lev., xxv, 39. "If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee," &c.—Matt., v, 23. "Anthea was content to call a coach, and crossed the brook."—Rambler, No. 34. "It is either totally suppressed, or appears in its lowest and most imperfect form."—Blair's Rhet., p. 23. "But if any man be a worshiper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth."—John, ix, 31. "Whereby his righteousness and obedience, death and sufferings without, become profitable unto us, and is made ours."—Barclay's Works, i, 164. "Who ought to have been here before thee, and object, if they had aught against me."—Acts, xxiv, 19.

"Yes! thy proud lords, unpitied land, shall see That man hath yet a soul, and dare be free."—Campbell.

UNDER NOTE VI.—USE SEPARATE NOMINATIVES.

"H is only an aspiration or breathing; and sometimes at the beginning of a word is not sounded at all."—Lowth's Gram., p. 4. "Man was made for society, and ought to extend his good will to all men."—Ib., p. 12; Murray's, i, 170. "There is, and must be, a supreme being, of infinite goodness, power, and wisdom, who created and supports them."—Beattie's Moral Science, p. 201. "Were you not affrighted, and mistook a spirit for a body?"—Watson's Apology, p. 122. "The latter noun or pronoun is not governed by the conjunction than or as, but agrees with the verb, or is governed by the verb or the preposition, expressed or understood."— Murray's Gram., p. 214; Russell's, 103; Bacon's, 51; Alger's, 71; R. C. Smith's, 179. "He had mistaken his true interests, and found himself forsaken."—Murray's Key, 8vo, p. 201. "The amputation was exceedingly well performed, and saved the patient's life."—Ib., p. 191. "The intentions of some of these philosophers, nay, of many [,] might have been, and probably were good."—Ib., p. 216. "This may be true, and yet will not justify the practice."—Webster's Essays, p. 33. "From the practice of those who have had a liberal education, and are therefore presumed to be best acquainted with men and things."—Campbell's Rhet., p. 161. "For those energies and bounties which created and preserve the universe."—J. Q. Adams's Rhet., i, 327. "I shall make it once for all and hope it will be afterwards remembered."—Blair's Lect., p. 45. "This consequence is drawn too abruptly, and needed more explanation."—Ib., p. 229. "They must be used with more caution, and require more preparation."— Ib., p. 153. "The apostrophe denotes the omission of an i, which was formerly inserted, and made an addition of a syllable to the word."— Priestley's Gram., p. 67. "The succession may be rendered more various or more uniform, but in one shape or an other is unavoidable."—Kames, El. of Crit., i. 253. "It excites neither terror nor compassion, nor is agreeable in any respect."—Ib., ii, 277.

"Cheap vulgar arts, whose narrowness affords No flight for thoughts, but poorly stick at words."—Denham.

UNDER NOTE VII.—MIXTURE OF DIFFERENT STYLES.

"Let us read the living page, whose every character delighteth and instructs us."—Maunder's Gram., p. 5. "For if it be in any degree obscure, it puzzles, and doth not please."—Kames, El. of Crit., ii, 357. "When a speaker addresseth himself to the understanding, he proposes the instruction of his hearers."—Campbell's Rhet., p. 13. "As the wine which strengthens and refresheth the heart."—H. Adams's View, p. 221. "This truth he wrappeth in an allegory, and feigns that one of the goddesses had taken up her abode with the other."—Pope's Works, iii, 46. "God searcheth and understands the heart."—Thomas a Kempis. "The grace of God, that brings salvation hath appeared to all men."—Barclays Works, i, 366. "Also we speak not in the words, which man's wisdom teaches; but which the Holy Ghost teacheth."—Ib., i, 388. "But he hath an objection, which he urgeth, and by which he thinks to overturn all."—Ib., iii, 327. "In that it gives them not that comfort and joy which it giveth unto them who love it."—Ib., i, 142. "Thou here misunderstood the place and misappliedst it."—Ib., iii, 38. "Like the barren heath in the desert, which knoweth not when good comes."—Friends' Extracts, p. 128; N. E. Discip., p. 75. "It speaketh of the time past, but shews that something was then doing, but not quite finished."—E. Devis's Gram., p. 42. "It subsists in spite of them; it advanceth unobserved."—PASCAL: Addison's Evidences, p. 17.

"But where is he, the Pilgrim of my song?— Methinks he cometh late and tarries long."—Byron, Cant. iv, St. 164.

UNDER NOTE VII.—CONFUSION OF MOODS.

"If a man have a hundred sheep, and one of them is gone astray, &c."—Kirkham's Gram., p. 227 with 197. "As a speaker advances in his discourse, especially if it be somewhat impassioned, and increases in energy and earnestness, a higher and louder tone will naturally steal upon him."—Kirkham's Elocution, p. 68. "If one man esteem a day above another, and another esteemeth every day alike; let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind."—Barclay's Works, i, 439. "If there be but one body of legislators, it is no better than a tyranny; if there are only two, there will want a casting voice."—Addison, Spect., No. 287. "Should you come up this way, and I am still here, you need not be assured how glad I shall be to see you."—Ld. Byron. "If he repent and becomes holy, let him enjoy God and heaven."—Brownson's Elwood, p. 248. "If thy fellow approach thee, naked and destitute, and thou shouldst say unto him, 'Depart in peace; be you warmed and filled;' and yet shouldst give him not those things that are needful to him, what benevolence is there in thy conduct?"—Kirkham's Elocution, p. 108.

"Get on your nightgown, lost occasion calls us. And show us to be watchers." —Beauties of Shakspeare, p. 278.

"But if it climb, with your assisting hands, The Trojan walls, and in the city stands." —Dryden's Virgil, ii, 145.

—————————————"Though Heaven's king Ride on thy wings, and thou with thy compeers, Us'd to the yoke, draw'st his triumphant wheels." —Milton, P. L., iv, l. 973.

"Us'd to the yoke, draw'dst his triumphant wheels." —Lowth's Gram., p. 106.

UNDER NOTE IX.—IMPROPER ELLIPSES.

"Indeed we have seriously wondered that Murray should leave some things as he has."—Education Reporter. "Which they neither have nor can do."—Barclay's Works, iii, 73. "The Lord hath, and doth, and will reveal his will to his people, and hath and doth raise up members of his body," &c.—Ib., i, 484. "We see then, that the Lord hath, and doth give such."—Ib., i, 484. "Towards those that have or do declare themselves members."—Ib., i, 494. "For which we can, and have given our sufficient reasons."—Ib., i, 507. "When we mention the several properties of the different words in sentences, in the same manner as we have those of William's, above, what is the exercise called?"—Smith's New Gram., p. 12. "It is, however to be doubted whether this peculiarity of the Greek idiom, ever has or will obtain extensively in the English."—Nutting's Gram., p. 47. "Why did not the Greeks and Romans abound in auxiliary words as much as we?"—Murray's Gram., Vol. i, p. 111. "Who delivers his sentiments in earnest, as they ought to be in order to move and persuade."—Kirkham's Elocution, p. 151.

UNDER NOTE X.—DO, USED AS A SUBSTITUTE.

"And I would avoid it altogether, if it could be done."—Kames, El. of Crit., i, 36. "Such a sentiment from a man expiring of his wounds, is truly heroic, and must elevate the mind to the greatest height that can be done by a single expression."—Ib., i, 204. "Successive images making thus deeper and deeper impressions, must elevate more than any single image can do."—Ib., i, 205. "Besides making a deeper impression than can be done by cool reasoning."—Ib., ii, 273. "Yet a poet, by the force of genius alone, can rise higher than a public speaker can do."—Blair's Rhet., p. 338. "And the very same reason that has induced several grammarians to go so far as they have done, should have induced them to go farther."—Priestley's Gram., Pref., p. vii. "The pupil should commit the first section perfectly, before he does the second part of grammar."— Bradley's Gram., p. 77. "The Greek ch was pronounced hard, as we now do in chord."—Booth's Introd. to Dict., p. 61. "They pronounce the syllables in a different manner from what they do at other times."— Murray's Eng. Reader, p. xi. "And give him the formal cool reception that Simon had done."—Dr. Scott, on Luke, vii. "I do not say, as some have done."—Bolingbroke, on Hist., p. 271. "If he suppose the first, he may do the last."—Barclay's Works, ii, 406. "Who are now despising Christ in his inward appearance, as the Jews of old did him in his outward."—Ib., i, 506. "That text of Revelations must not be understood, as he doth it."— Ib., iii, 309. "Till the mode of parsing the noun is so familiar to him, that he can do it readily."—Smith's New Gram., p. 13. "Perhaps it is running the same course which Rome had done before."—Middleton's Life of Cicero. "It ought even on this ground to be avoided; which may easily be done by a different construction."—Churchill's Gram., p. 312. "These two languages are now pronounced in England as no other nation in Europe does besides."—Creighton's Dict., p. xi. "Germany ran the same risk that Italy had done."—Murray's Key, 8vo, p. 211: see Priestley's Gram., p. 196.

UNDER NOTE XI.—PRETERITS AND PARTICIPLES.

"The Beggars themselves will be broke in a trice."—Swift's Poems, p. 347. "The hoop is hoist above his nose."—Ib., p. 404. "My heart was lift up in the ways of the Lord. 2 CHRON."—Joh. Dict., w. Lift. "Who sin so oft have mourned, Yet to temptation ran."—Burns. "Who would not have let them appeared."—Steele. "He would have had you sought for ease at the hands of Mr. Legality."—Pilgrim's Progress, p. 31. "From me his madding mind is start, And wooes the widow's daughter of the glen."—SPENSER: Joh. Dict., w. Glen. "The man has spoke, and still speaks."—Ash's Gram., p. 54. "For you have but mistook me all this while."—Beauties of Shak., p. 114. "And will you rent our ancient love asunder."—Ib., p. 52. "Mr. Birney has plead the inexpediency of passing such resolutions."— Liberator, Vol. xiii, p. 194. "Who have wore out their years in such most painful Labours."—Littleton's Dict., Pref. "And in the conclusion you were chose probationer."—Spectator, No. 32.

"How she was lost, took captive, made a slave; And how against him set that should her save."—Bunyan.

UNDER NOTE XII.—VERBS CONFOUNDED.

"But Moses preferred to wile away his time."—Parker's English Composition, p. 15. "His face shown with the rays of the sun."—Calvin's Inst., 4to, p. 76. "Whom they had sat at defiance so lately."— Bolingbroke, on Hist., p. 320. "And when he was set, his disciples came unto him."—Matt., v, 1. "When he was set down on the judgement-seat."— Ib., xxvii, 19. "And when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall, and were set down together, Peter sat down among them."—Luke, xxii, 55. "So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you?"—John, xiii, 12. "Even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne."—Rev., iii, 21. "We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens."— Heb., viii, 1. "And is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."—Ib., xii, 2.[402] "He sat on foot a furious persecution."— Payne's Geog., ii, 418. "There layeth an obligation upon the saints, to help such."—Barclay's Works, i, 389. "There let him lay."—Byron's Pilgrimage, C. iv, st. 180. "Nothing but moss, and shrubs, and stinted trees, can grow upon it."—Morse's Geog., p. 43. "Who had lain out considerable sums purely to distinguish themselves."—Goldsmith's Greece, i, 132. "Whereunto the righteous fly and are safe."—Barclay's Works, i, 146. "He raiseth from supper, and laid aside his garments."—Ib., i, 438. "Whither—Oh! whither shall I fly?"—Murray's English Reader, p. 123. "Flying from an adopted murderer."—Ib., p. 122. "To you I fly for refuge."—Ib., p. 124. "The sign that should warn his disciples to fly from approaching ruin."—Keith's Evidences, p. 62. "In one she sets as a prototype for exact imitation."—Rush, on the Voice, p. xxiii. "In which some only bleat, bark, mew, winnow, and bray, a little better than others."—Ib., p. 90. "Who represented to him the unreasonableness of being effected with such unmanly fears."—Rollin's Hist., ii, 106. "Thou sawedst every action."—Guy's School Gram., p. 46. "I taught, thou taughtedst, he or she taught."—Coar's Gram., p. 79. "Valerian is taken by Sapor and flead alive, A. D. 260."—Lempriere's Chron. Table, Dict., p. xix. "What a fine vehicle is it now become for all conceptions of the mind!"—Blair's Rhet., p. 139. "What are become of so many productions?" —Volney's Ruins, p. 8. "What are become of those ages of abundance and of life?"—Keith's Evidences, p. 107. "The Spartan admiral was sailed to the Hellespont."—Goldsmiths Greece, i, 150. "As soon as he was landed, the multitude thronged about him."—Ib., i, 160. "Cyrus was arrived at Sardis."—Ib., i, 161. "Whose year was expired."—Ib., i, 162. "It had better have been, 'that faction which.'"—Priestley's Gram., p. 97. "This people is become a great nation."—Murray's Gram., p. 153; Ingersoll's, 249. "And here we are got into the region of ornament."—Blair's Rhet., p. 181. "The ungraceful parenthesis which follows, had far better have been avoided."—Ib., p. 215. "Who forced him under water, and there held him until drounded."—Indian Wars, p. 55.

"I had much rather be myself the slave, And wear the bonds, than fasten them on him."—Cowper.

UNDER NOTE XIII.—WORDS THAT EXPRESS TIME.

"I had finished my letter before my brother arrived."—Kirkham's Gram., p. 139. "I had written before I received his letter."—Blair's Rhet., p. 82. "From what has been formerly delivered."—Ib., p. 182. "Arts were of late introduced among them."—Ib., p. 245. "I am not of opinion that such rules can be of much use, unless persons saw them exemplified."—Ib., p. 336. "If we use the noun itself, we should say, 'This composition is John's.' "—Murray's Gram., p. 174. "But if the assertion referred to something, that is not always the same, or supposed to be so, the past tense must be applied."—Ib., p. 191. "They told him, that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by."—Luke, xviii, 37. "There is no particular intimation but that I continued to work, even to the present moment."—R. W. Green's Gram., p. 39. "Generally, as was observed already, it is but hinted in a single word or phrase."—Campbell's Rhet., p. 36. "The wittiness of the passage was already illustrated."—Ib., p. 36. "As was observed already."—Ib., p. 56. "It was said already in general."—Ib., p. 95. "As I hinted already."—Ib., p. 134. "What I believe was hinted once already."—Ib., p. 148. "It is obvious, as hath been hinted formerly, that this is but an artificial and arbitrary connexion."—Ib., p. 282. "They have done anciently a great deal of hurt."—Bolingbroke, on Hist., p. 109. "Then said Paul, I knew not, brethren, that he is the High Priest."—Dr. Webster's Bible: Acts, xxiii, 5. "Most prepositions originally denote the relation of place, and have been thence transferred to denote by similitude other relations."—Lowth's Gram., p. 65; Churchill's, 116. "His gift was but a poor offering, when we consider his estate."—Murray's Key, 8vo, p. 194. "If he should succeed, and should obtain his end, he will not be the happier for it."—Murray's Gram., i, p. 207. "These are torrents that swell to-day, and have spent themselves by to-morrow."—Blair's Rhet., p. 286. "Who have called that wheat to-day, which they have called tares to-morrow."—Barclay's Works, iii. 168. "He thought it had been one of his tenants."—Ib., i, 11. "But if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent."—Luke, xvi, 30. "Neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead."—Ib., verse 31. "But it is while men slept that the archenemy has always sown his tares."—The Friend, x, 351. "Crescens would not fail to have exposed him."—Addison's Evidences, p. 30.

"Bent was his bow, the Grecian hearts to wound; Fierce as he mov'd, his silver shafts resound." —Pope, Iliad, B. i, l. 64.

UNDER NOTE XIV.—VERBS OF COMMANDING, &c.

"Had I commanded you to have done this, you would have thought hard of it."—G. B. "I found him better than I expected to have found him."—Priestley's Gram., p. 126. "There are several smaller faults, which I at first intended to have enumerated."—Webster's Essays, p. 246. "Antithesis, therefore, may, on many occasions, be employed to advantage, in order to strengthen the impression which we intend that any object should make."—Blair's Rhet., p. 168. "The girl said, if her master would but have let her had money, she might have been well long ago."—See Priestley's Gram., p. 127. "Nor is there the least ground to fear, that we should be cramped here within too narrow limits."—Campbell's Rhet., p. 163; Murray's Gram., i, 360. "The Romans, flushed with success, expected to have retaken it."—Hooke's Hist., p. 37. "I would not have let fallen an unseasonable pleasantry in the venerable presence of Misery, to be entitled to all the wit that ever Rabelais scattered."—STERNE: Enfield's Speaker, p. 54. "We expected that he would have arrived last night."—Inst. p. 192. "Our friends intended to have met us."—Ib. "We hoped to have seen you."—Ib. "He would not have been allowed to have entered."—Ib.

UNDER NOTE XV.—PERMANENT PROPOSITIONS.

"Cicero maintained that whatsoever was useful was good."—"I observed that love constituted the whole moral character of God."—Dwight. "Thinking that one gained nothing by being a good man."—Voltaire. "I have already told you that I was a gentleman."—Fontaine. "If I should ask, whether ice and water were two distinct species of things."—Locke. "A stranger to the poem would not easily discover that this was verse."—Murray's Gram., 12mo, p. 260. "The doctor affirmed, that fever always produced thirst."—Inst., p. 192. "The ancients asserted, that virtue was its own reward."—Ib. "They should not have repeated the error, of insisting that the infinitive was a mere noun."—Diversions of Purley, Vol. i, p. 288. "It was observed in Chap. III. that the distinctive or had a double use."—Churchill's Gram., p. 154. "Two young gentlemen, who have made a discovery that there was no God."—Swift.

RULE XVIII.—INFINITIVES.

The Infinitive Mood is governed in general by the preposition TO, which commonly connects it to a finite verb: as, "I desire TO learn."—Dr. Adam. "Of me the Roman people have many pledges, which I must strive, with my utmost endeavours, TO preserve, TO defend, TO confirm, and TO redeem."—Duncan's Cicero, p. 41.

"What if the foot, ordain'd the dust TO tread, Or hand TO toil, aspir'd TO be the head?"—Pope.

OBSERVATIONS ON RULE XVIII.

OBS. 1.—No word is more variously explained by grammarians, than this word TO, which is put before the verb in the infinitive mood. Johnson, Walker, Scott, Todd, and some other lexicographers, call it an adverb; but, in explaining its use, they say it denotes certain relations, which it is not the office of an adverb to express. (See the word in Johnson's Quarto Dictionary.) D. St. Quentin, in his Rudiments of General Grammar, says, "To, before a verb, is an adverb;" and yet his "Adverbs are words that are joined to verbs or adjectives, and express some circumstance or quality." See pp. 33 and 39. Lowth, Priestley, Fisher, L. Murray, Webster, Wilson, S. W. Clark, Coar, Comly, Blair, Felch, Fisk, Greenleaf, Hart, Weld, Webber, and others, call it a preposition; and some of these ascribe to it the government of the verb, while others do not. Lowth says, "The preposition TO, placed before the verb, makes the infinitive mood."—Short Gram., p. 42. "Now this," says Horne Tooke, "is manifestly not so: for TO placed before the verb loveth, will not make the infinitive mood. He would have said more truly, that TO placed before some nouns, makes verbs."—Diversions of Purley, Vol. i, p. 287.

OBS. 2.—Skinner, in his Canones Etymologici, calls this TO "an equivocal article,"—Tooke, ib., i, 288. Nutting, a late American grammarian, says: "The sign TO is no other than the Greek article to; as, to agapan [, to love]; or, as some say, it is the Saxon do"—Practical Gram., p. 66. Thus, by suggesting two false and inconsistent derivations, though he uses not the name equivocal article, he first makes the word an article, and then equivocal—equivocal in etymology, and of course in meaning.[403] Nixon, in his English Parser, supposes it to be, unequivocally, the Greek article [Greek: to], the. See the work, p. 83. D. Booth says, "To is, by us, applied to Verbs; but it was the neuter Article (the) among the Greeks."—Introd. to Analyt. Dict., p. 60. According to Horne Tooke, "Minshew also distinguishes between the preposition TO, and the sign of the infinitive TO. Of the former he is silent, and of the latter he says: 'To, as to make, to walk, to do, a Graeco articulo [Greek: to].' But Dr. Gregory Sharpe is persuaded, that our language has taken it from the Hebrew. And Vossius derives the correspondent Latin preposition AD from the same source."—Diversions of Purley, Vol. i, p. 293.

OBS. 3.—Tooke also says, "I observe, that Junius and Skinner and Johnson, have not chosen to give the slightest hint concerning the derivation of TO."—Ibid. But, certainly, of his adverb TO, Johnson gives this hint: "TO, Saxon; te, Dutch." And Webster, who calls it not an adverb, but a preposition, gives the same hint of the source from which it comes to us. This is as much as to say, it is etymologically the old Saxon preposition to—which, truly, it is—the very same word that, for a thousand years or more, has been used before nouns and pronouns to govern the objective case. Tooke himself does not deny this; but, conceiving that almost all particles, whether English or any other, can be traced back to ancient verbs or nouns, he hunts for the root of this, in a remoter region, where he pretends to find that to has the same origin as do; and though he detects the former in a Gothic noun, he scruples not to identify it with an auxiliary verb! Yet he elsewhere expressly denies, "that any words change their nature by use, so as to belong sometimes to one part of speech, and sometimes to another."—Div. of Pur., Vol. i, p. 68.

OBS 4.—From this, the fair inference is, that he will have both to and do to be "nouns substantive" still! "Do (the auxiliary verb, as it has been called) is derived from the same root, and is indeed the same word as TO."—Ib., Vol. i, p. 290. "Since FROM means commencement or beginning, TO must mean end or termination."—Ib., i, 283. "The preposition TO (in Dutch written TOE and TOT, a little nearer to the original) is the Gothic substantive [Gothic: taui] or [Gothic: tauhts], i. e. act, effect, result, consummation. Which Gothic substantive is indeed itself no other than the past participle of the verb [Gothic: taujan], agere. And what is done, is terminated, ended, finished."—Ib., i, 285. No wonder that Johnson, Skinner, and Junius, gave no hint of this derivation: it is not worth the ink it takes, if it cannot be made more sure. But in showing its bearing on the verb, the author not unjustly complains of our grammarians, that: "Of all the points which they endeavour to shuffle over, there is none in which they do it more grossly than in this of the infinitive."—Ib., i, 287.

OBS. 5.—Many are content to call the word TO a prefix, a particle, a little word, a sign of the infinitive, a part of the infinitive, a part of the verb, and the like, without telling us whence it comes, how it differs from the preposition to, or to what part of speech it belongs. It certainly is not what we usually call a prefix, because we never join it to the verb; yet there are three instances in which it becomes such, before a noun: viz., to-day, to-night, to-morrow. If it is a "particle," so is any other preposition, as well as every small and invariable word. If it is a "little word," the whole bigness of a preposition is unquestionably found in it; and no "word" is so small but that it must belong to some one of the ten classes called parts of speech. If it is a "sign of the infinitive," because it is used before no other mood; so is it a sign of the objective case, or of what in Latin is called the dative, because it precedes no other case. If we suppose it to be a "part of the infinitive," or a "part of the verb," it is certainly no necessary part of either; because there is no verb which may not, in several different ways, be properly used in the infinitive without it. But if it be a part of the infinitive, it must be a verb, and ought to be classed with the auxiliaries. Dr. Ash accordingly placed it among the auxiliaries; but he says, (inaccurately, however,) "The auxiliary sign seems to have the nature of adverbs."—Grammatical Institutes, p. 33. "The auxiliary [signs] are, to, do, did, have, had, shall, will, may, can, must, might," &c.—Ib., p. 31.

OBS. 6.—It is clear, as I have already shown, that the word to may be a sign of the infinitive, and yet not be a part of it. Dr. Ash supposes, it may even be a part of the mood, and yet not be a part of the verb. How this can be, I see not, unless the mood consists in something else than either the form or the parts of the verb. This grammarian says, "In parsing, every word should be considered as a distinct part of speech: for though two or more words may be united to form a mode, a tense, or a comparison; yet it seems quite improper to unite two or more words to make a noun, a verb, an adjective, &c."—Gram. Inst., p. 28. All the auxiliaries, therefore, and the particle to among them, he parses separately; but he follows not his own advice, to make them distinct parts of speech; for he calls them all signs only, and signs are not one of his ten parts of speech. And the participle too, which is one of the ten, and which he declares to be "no part of the verb," he parses separately; calling it a verb, and not a participle, as often as it accompanies any of his auxiliary signs. This is certainly a greater impropriety than there can be in supposing an auxiliary and a participle to constitute a verb; for the mood and tense are the properties of the compound, and ought not to be ascribed to the principal term only. Not so with the preposition to before the infinitive, any more than with the conjunction if before the subjunctive. These may well be parsed as separate parts of speech; for these moods are sometimes formed, and are completely distinguished in each of their tenses, without the adding of these signs.

OBS. 7.—After a careful examination of what others have taught respecting this disputed point in grammar, I have given, in the preceding rule, that explanation which I consider to be the most correct and the most simple, and also as well authorized as any. Who first parsed the infinitive in this manner, I know not; probably those who first called the to a preposition; among whom were Lowth and the author of the old British Grammar. The doctrine did not originate with me, or with Comly, or with any American author. In Coar's English Grammar, published in London in 1796. the phrase to trample is parsed thus: "To—A preposition, serving for a sign of the infinitive mood to the verb Trample—A verb neuter, infinitive mood, present tense, governed by the preposition TO before it. RULE. The preposition to before a verb, is the sign of the infinitive mood." See the work, p. 263. This was written by a gentleman who speaks of his "long habit of teaching the Latin Tongue," and who was certainly partial enough to the principles of Latin grammar, since he adopts in English the whole detail of Latin cases.

OBS 8.—In Fisher's English Grammar, London, 1800, (of which there had been many earlier editions,) we find the following rule of syntax: "When two principal Verbs come together, the latter of them expresses an unlimited Sense, with the Preposition to before it; as he loved to learn; I chose to dance: and is called the infinitive Verb, which may also follow a Name or Quality; as, a Time to sing; a Book delightful to read." That this author supposed the infinitive to be governed by to, and not by the preceding verb, noun, or adjective, is plain from the following note, which he gives in his margin: "The Scholar will best understand this, by being told that infinite or invariable Verbs, having neither Number, Person, nor Nominative Word belonging to them, are known or governed by the Preposition TO coming before them. The Sign to is often understood; as, Bid Robert and his company (to) tarry."—Fisher's New Gram., p. 95.

OBS. 9.—The forms of parsing, and also the rules, which are given in the early English grammars, are so very defective, that it is often impossible to say positively, what their authors did, or did not, intend to teach. Dr. Lowth's specimen of "grammatical resolution" contains four infinitives. In his explanation of the first, the preposition and the verb are parsed separately, as above; except that he says nothing about government. In his account of the other three, the two words are taken together, and called a "verb, in the infinitive mode." But as he elsewhere calls the particle to a preposition, and nowhere speaks of any thing else as governing the infinitive, it seems fair to infer, that he conceived the verb to be the regimen of this preposition.[404] If such was his idea, we have the learned Doctor's authority in opposition to that of his professed admirers and copyists. Of these, Lindley Murray is doubtless the most famous. But Murray's twelfth rule of syntax, while it expressly calls to before the infinitive a preposition, absurdly takes away from it this regimen, and leaves us a preposition that governs nothing, and has apparently nothing to do with the relation of the terms between which it occurs.

OBS. 10.—Many later grammarians, perceiving the absurdity of calling to before the infinitive a preposition without supposing it to govern the verb, have studiously avoided this name; and have either made the "little word" a supernumerary part of speech, or treated it as no part of speech at all. Among these, if I mistake not, are Allen, Lennie, Bullions, Alger, Guy, Churchill, Hiley, Nutting, Mulligan, Spencer, and Wells. Except Comly, the numerous modifiers of Murray's Grammar are none of them more consistent, on this point, than was Murray himself. Such of them as do not follow him literally, either deny, or forbear to affirm, that to before a verb is a preposition; and consequently either tell us not what it is, or tell us falsely; some calling it "a part of the verb," while they neither join it to the verb as a prefix, nor include it among the auxiliaries. Thus Kirkham: "To is not a preposition when joined to a verb in this mood; thus, to ride, to rule; but it should be parsed with the verb, and as a part of it."—Gram. in Familiar Lect., p. 137. So R. C. Smith: "This little word to when used before verbs in this manner, is not a preposition, but forms a part of the verb, and, in parsing, should be so considered."—Productive Gram., p. 65. How can that be "a part of the verb," which is a word used before it? or how is to "joined to the verb," or made a part of it, in the phrase, "to ride?" But Smith does not abide by his own doctrine; for, in an other part of his book, he adopts the phraseology of Murray, and makes to a preposition: saying, "The preposition TO, though generally used before the latter verb, is sometimes properly omitted; as, 'I heard him say it;' instead of 'to say it.'"—Productive Gram., p. 156. See Murray's Rule 12th.

OBS. 11.—Most English grammarians have considered the word to as a part of the infinitive, a part of the verb; and, like the teachers of Latin, have referred the government of this mood to a preceding verb. But the rule which they give, is partial, and often inapplicable; and their exceptions to it, or the heterogeneous parts into which some of them divide it, are both numerous and puzzling. They teach that at least half of the ten different parts of speech "frequently govern the infinitive:" if so, there should be a distinct rule for each; for why should the government of one part of speech be made an exception to that of an other? and, if this be done, with respect to the infinitive, why not also with respect to the objective case? In all instances to which their rule is applicable, the rule which I have given, amounts to the same thing; and it obviates the necessity for their numerous exceptions, and the embarrassment arising from other constructions of the infinitive not noticed in them. Why then is the simplest solution imaginable still so frequently rejected for so much complexity and inconsistency? Or how can the more common rule in question be suitable for a child, if its applicability depends on a relation between the two verbs, which the preposition to sometimes expresses, and sometimes does not?

OBS. 12.—All authors admit that in some instances, the sign to is "superfluous and improper," the construction and government appearing complete without it; and the "Rev. Peter Bullions, D. D., Professor of Languages in the Albany Academy," has recently published a grammar, in which he adopts the common rule, "One verb governs another in the infinitive mood; as, I desire to learn;" and then remarks, "The infinitive after a verb is governed by it only when the attribute expressed by the infinitive is either the subject or [the] object of the other verb. In such expressions as 'I read to learn,' the infinitive is not governed by 'I read,' but depends on the phrase 'in order to' understood."—Bullions's Prin. of E. Gram., p. 110. But, "I read 'in order to' to learn," is not English; though it might be, if either to were any thing else than a preposition: as, "Now set to to learn your lesson." This broad exception, therefore, which embraces well-nigh half the infinitives in the language, though it contains some obvious truth, is both carelessly stated, and badly resolved. The single particle to is quite sufficient, both to govern the infinitive, and to connect it to any antecedent term which can make sense with such an adjunct. But, in fact, the reverend author must have meant to use the "little word" but once; and also to deny that it is a preposition; for he elsewhere says expressly, though, beyond question, erroneously, "A preposition should never be used before the infinitive."—Ib., p. 92. And he also says, "The Infinitive mood expresses a thing in a general manner, without distinction of number, person, or time, and commonly has TO before it."—Ib., Second Edition, p. 35. Now if TO is "before" the mood, it is certainly not a part of it. And again, if this mood had no distinction of "time," our author's two tenses of it, and his own two special rules for their application, would be as absurd as is his notion of its government. See his Obs. 6 and 7, ib., p. 124.

OBS. 13.—Richard Hiley, too, a grammarian of perhaps more merit, is equally faulty in his explanation of the infinitive mood. In the first place, he absurdly says, "TO before the infinitive mood, is considered as forming part of the verb; but in every other situation it is a preposition."—Hiley's Gram., Third Edition, p. 28. To teach that a "part of the verb" stands "before the mood," is an absurdity manifestly greater, than the very opposite notion of Dr. Ash, that what is not a part of the verb, may yet be included in the mood. There is no need of either of these false suppositions; or of the suggestion, doubly false, that to "in every other situation, is a preposition." What does preposition mean? Is to a preposition when it is placed after a verb, and not a preposition when it is placed before it? For example: "I rise to shut to the door."—See Luke, xiii, 25.

OBS. 14.—In his syntax, this author further says, "When two verbs come together, the latter must be in the infinitive mood, when it denotes the object of the former; as, 'Study to improve.'" This is his Rule. Now look at his Notes. "1. When the latter verb does not express the object, but the end, or something remote, the word for, or the words in order to, are understood; as, 'I read to learn;' that is, 'I read for to learn,' or, 'in order [TO] to learn.' The word for, however, is never, in such instances, expressed in good language. 2. The infinitive is frequently governed by adjectives, substantives, and participles; but in this instance also, a preposition is understood, though never expressed; as, 'Eager to learn;' that is, 'eager for to learn;' or, 'for learning;' 'A desire to improve;' that is, 'for to improve.'"—Hiley's Gram., p. 89. Here we see the origin of some of Bullions's blunders. To is so small a word, it slips through the fingers of these gentlemen. Words utterly needless, and worse than needless, they foist into our language, in instances beyond number, to explain infinitives that occur at almost every breath. Their students must see that, "I read to learn," and, "I study to improve," with countless other examples of either sort, are very different constructions, and not to be parsed by the same rule! And here the only government of the infinitive which Hiley affirms, is immediately contradicted by the supposition of a needless for "understood."

OBS. 15.—In all such examples as, "I read to learn,"—"I strive to learn"—"Some eat to live,"—"Some live to eat,"—"She sings to cheer him,"—"I come to aid you,"—"I go to prepare a place for you,"—the action and its purpose are connected by the word to; and if, in the countless instances of this kind, the former verbs do not govern the latter, it is not because the phraseology is elliptical, or ever was elliptical,[405] but because in no case is there any such government, except in the construction of those verbs which take the infinitive after them without the preposition to. Professor Bullions will have the infinitive to be governed by a finite verb, "when the attribute expressed by the infinitive is the subject of the other verb." An infinitive may be made the subject of a finite verb; but this grammarian has mistaken the established meaning of subject, as well as of attribute, and therefore written nonsense. Dr. Johnson defines his adverb TO, "A particle coming between two verbs, and noting the second as the object of the first." But of all the words which, according to my opponents and their oracles, govern the infinitive, probably not more than a quarter are such verbs as usually have an object after them. Where then is the propriety of their notion of infinitive government? And what advantage has it, even where it is least objectionable?

OBS. 16.—Take for an example of this contrast the terms, "Strive to enter in—many will seek to enter in."—Luke, xiii, 24. Why should it be thought more eligible to say, that the verb strive or will seek governs the infinitive verb to enter; than to say, that to is a preposition, showing the relation between strive and enter, or between will seek and enter, and governing the latter verb? (See the exact and only needful form for parsing any such term, in the Twelfth Praxis of this work.) None, I presume, will deny, that in the Greek or the Latin of these phrases, the finite verbs govern the infinitive; or that, in the French, the infinitive entrer is governed first by one preposition, and then by an other. "Contendite intrare—multi quaerent intrare."—Montanus. "Efforcez-vous d'entrer—plusieurs chercheront a y entrer."—French Bible. In my opinion, to before a verb is as fairly a preposition as the French de or a; and it is the main design of these observations, while they candidly show the reader what others teach, to prove it so. The only construction which makes it any thing else, is that which puts it after a verb or a participle, in the sense of an adverbial supplement; as, "The infernal idol is bowed down to."—Herald of Freedom. "Going to and fro."—Bible. "At length he came to."—"Tell him to heave to."—"He was ready to set to." With singular absurdness of opinion, some grammarians call to a preposition, when it thus follows a verb and governs nothing, who resolutely deny it that name, when it precedes the verb, and requires it to be in the infinitive mood, as in the last two examples. Now, if this is not government, what is? And if to, without government, is not an adverb, what is? See Obs. 2d on the List of Prepositions.

OBS. 17.—The infinitive thus admits a simpler solution in English, than in most other languages; because we less frequently use it without a preposition, and seldom, if ever, allow any variety in this connecting and governing particle. And yet in no other language has its construction given rise to a tenth part of that variety of absurd opinions, which the defender of its true syntax must refute in ours. In French, the infinitive, though frequently placed in immediate dependence on an other verb, may also be governed by several different prepositions, (as, a, de, pour, sans, apres,) according to the sense.[406] In Spanish and Italian, the construction is similar. In Latin and Greek, the infinitive is, for the most part, immediately dependent on an other verb. But, according to the grammars, it may stand for a noun, in all the six cases; and many have called it an indeclinable noun. See the Port-Royal Latin and Greek grammars; in which several peculiar constructions of the infinitive are referred to the government of a preposition—constructions that occur frequently in Greek, and sometimes even in Latin.

OBS. 18.—It is from an improper extension of the principles of these "learned languages" to ours, that much of the false teaching which has so greatly and so long embarrassed this part of English grammar, has been, and continues to be, derived. A late author, who supposes every infinitive to be virtually a noun, and who thinks he finds in ours all the cases of an English noun, not excepting the possessive, gives the following account of its origin and nature: "This mood, with almost all its properties and uses, has been adopted into our language from the ancient Greek and Latin tongues. * * * The definite article [Greek: to] [,] the, which they [the Greeks] used before the infinitive, to mark, in an especial manner, its nature of a substantive, is evidently the same word that we use before our infinitive; thus, 'to write,' signifies the writing; that is, the action of writing;—and when a verb governs an infinitive, it only governs it as in the objective case."—Nixon's English Parser, p. 83. But who will believe, that our old Saxon ancestors borrowed from Greek or Latin what is now our construction of the very root of the English verb, when, in all likelihood, they could not read a word in either of those languages, or scarcely knew the letters in their own, and while it is plain that they took not thence even the inflection of a single branch of any verb whatever?

OBS. 19.—The particle to, being a very common preposition in the Saxon tongue, has been generally used before the English infinitive, ever since the English language, or any thing like it, existed. And it has always governed the verb, not indeed "as in the objective case," for no verb is ever declined by cases, but simply as the infinitive mood. In the Anglo-Saxon version of the Gospels, which was made as early as the eleventh century, the infinitive mood is sometimes expressed in this manner, and sometimes by the termination on without the preposition. Dr. Johnson's History of the English Language, prefixed to his large Dictionary, contains, of this version, and of Wickliffe's, the whole of the first chapter of Luke; except that the latter omits the first four verses, so that the numbers for reference do not correspond. Putting, for convenience, English characters for the Saxon, I shall cite here three examples from each; and these, if he will, the reader may compare with the 19th, the 77th, and the 79th verse, in our common Bible. SAXON: "And ic eom asend with the sprecan. and the this bodian."—Lucae, i, 19. WICKLIFFE: "And Y am sent to thee to speke and to evangelise to thee these thingis."—Luk, i, 15. SAXON: "To syllene his folce haele gewit on hyra synna forgyfnesse."—Lucae, i, 77. WICKLIFFE: "To geve science of heelth to his puple into remissioun of her synnes."—Luk, i, 73. SAXON: "Onlyhtan tham the on thystrum and on deathes sceade sittath. ure fet to gereccenne on sibbe weg."—Lucae, i, 79. WICKLIFFE: "To geve light to them that sitten in derknessis, and in schadowe of deeth, to dresse oure feet into the weye of pees."—Luk, i, 75. "In Anglo-Saxon," says Dr. Latham, "the dative of the infinitive verb ended in -nne, and was preceded by the preposition to: as, To lufienne = ad amandum [= to loving, or to love]; To baernenne = ad urendum [= to burning, or to burn]; To syllanne = ad dandum [= to giving, or to give]."—Hand-Book, p. 205.

OBS. 20.—Such, then, has ever been the usual construction of the English infinitive mood; and a wilder interpretation than that which supposes to an article, and says, "to write signifies the writing," cannot possibly be put upon it. On this supposition, "I am going to write a letter," is a pure Grecism; meaning, "I am going the writing a letter," which is utter nonsense. And further, the infinitive in Greek and Latin, as well as in Saxon and English, is always in fact governed as a mood, rather than as a case, notwithstanding that the Greek article in any of its four different cases may, in some instances, be put before it; for even with an article before it, the Greek infinitive usually retains its regimen as a verb, and is therefore not "a substantive," or noun. I am well aware that some learned critics, conceiving that the essence of the verb consists in predication, have plainly denied that the infinitive is a verb; and, because it may be made the subject of a finite verb, or may be governed by a verb or a preposition, have chosen to call it "a mere noun substantive." Among these is the erudite Richard Johnson, who, with so much ability and lost labour, exposed, in his Commentaries, the errors and defects of Lily's Grammar and others. This author adduces several reasons for his opinion; one of which is the following: "Thirdly, it is found to have a Preposition set before it, an other sure sign of a Substantive; as, 'Ille nihil praeter loqui, et ipsum maledice et maligne, didicit.' Liv. l. 45, p. 888. [That is, "He learned nothing but to speak, and that slanderously and maliciously."] 'At si quis sibi beneficium dat, nihil interest inter dare et accipere.' Seneca, de Ben. l. 5, c. 10." [That is, "If any one bestows a benefit on himself, there is no difference between give and take;" [407]—or, "between bestowing and receiving."]—See Johnson's Gram. Com., p. 342. But I deny that a preposition is a "sure sign of a substantive." (See Obs. 2d on the Prepositions, and also Obs. 1st on the List of Prepositions, in the tenth chapter of Etymology.) And if we appeal to philological authorities, to determine whether infinitives are nouns or verbs, there will certainly be found more for the latter name, than the former; that is, more in number, if not in weight; though it must be confessed, that many of the old Latin grammarians did, as Priscian tells us, consider the infinitive a noun, calling it Nomen Verbi, the Name of the Verb.[408] If we appeal to reasons, there are more also of these;—or at least as many, and most of them better: as, 1. That the infinitive is often transitive; 2. That it has tenses; 3. That it is qualified by adverbs, rather than by adjectives; 4. That it is never declined like a noun; 5. That the action or state expressed by it, is not commonly abstract, though it may be so sometimes; 6. That in some languages it is the root from which all other parts of the verb are derived, as it is in English.

OBS. 21.—So far as I know, it has not yet been denied, that to before a participle is a preposition, or that a preposition before a participle governs it; though there are not a few who erroneously suppose that participles, by virtue of such government, are necessarily converted into nouns. Against this latter idea, there are many sufficient reasons; but let them now pass, because they belong not here. I am only going to prove, in this place, that to before the infinitive is just such a word as it is before the participle; and this can be done, call either of them what you will. It is plain, that if the infinitive and the participle are ever equivalent to each other, the same word to before them both must needs be equivalent to itself. Now I imagine there are some examples of each equivalence; as, "When we are habituated to doing [or to do] any thing wrong, we become blinded by it."—Young Christian, p. 326. "The lyre, or harp, was best adapted to accompanying [or to accompany] their declamations."—Music of Nature, p. 336. "The new beginner should be accustomed to giving [or to give] all the reasons for each part of speech."—Nutting's Gram., p. 88. "Which, from infecting our religion and morals, fell to corrupt [say, to corrupting] our language."—SWIFT: Blair's Rhet., p. 108. Besides these instances of sameness in the particle, there are some cases of constructional ambiguity, the noun and the verb having the same form, and the to not determining which is meant: as, "He was inclined to sleep."—"It must be a bitter experience, to be more accustomed to hate than to love." Here are double doubts for the discriminators: their "sign of the infinitive" fails, or becomes uncertain; because they do not know it from a preposition. Cannot my opponents see in these examples an argument against the distinction which they attempt to draw between to and to? An other argument as good, is also afforded by the fact, that our ancestors often used the participle after to, in the very same texts in which we have since adopted the infinitive in its stead; as, "And if yee wolen resceyue, he is Elie that is to comynge."—Matt., xi, 14. "Ihesu that delyueride us fro wraththe to comynge."—1 Thes., i, 10. These, and seventeen other examples of the same kind, may be seen in Tooke's Diversions of Purley, Vol. ii. pp. 457 and 458.

OBS. 22.—Dr. James P. Wilson, speaking of the English infinitive, says:—"But if the appellation of mode be denied it, it is then a verbal noun. This is indeed its truest character, because its idea ever represents an object of approach. To supplies the defect of a termination characteristic of the infinitive, precedes it, and marks it either as that, towards which the preceding verb is directed;[409] or it signifies act, and shows the word to import an action. When the infinitive is the expression of an immediate action, which it must be, after the verbs, bid, can, dare, do, feel, hear, let, make, may, must, need, see, shall, and will, the preposition TO is omitted."—Essay on Grammar, p. 129. That the truest character of the infinitive is that of a verbal noun, is not to be conceded, in weak abandonment of all the reasons for a contrary opinion, until it can be shown that the action or being expressed by it, must needs assume a substantive character, in order to be "that towards which the preceding verb is directed." But this character is manifestly not supposable of any of those infinitives which, according to the foregoing quotation, must follow other verbs without the intervention of the preposition to: as, "Bid him come;"—"He can walk." And I see no reason to suppose it, where the relation of the infinitive to an other word is not "immediate" but marked by the preposition, as above described. For example: "And he laboured till the going-down of the sun TO deliver him."—Dan., vi, 14. Here deliver is governed by to, and connected by it to the finite verb laboured; but to tell us, it is to be understood substantively rather than actively, is an assumption as false, as it is needless.

OBS. 23.—To deny to the infinitive the appellation of mood, no more makes it a verbal noun, than does the Doctor's solecism about what "ITS IDEA ever represents." "The infinitive therefore," as Horne Tooke observes, "appears plainly to be what the Stoics called it, the very verb itself, pure and uncompounded."—Diversions of Purley, Vol. i, p. 286. Not indeed as including the particle to, or as it stands in the English perfect tense, but as it occurs in the simple root. But I cited Dr. Wilson, as above, not so much with a design of animadverting again on this point, as with reference to the import of the particle to; of which he furnishes a twofold explanation, leaving the reader to take which part he will of the contradiction. He at first conceives it to convey in general the idea of "towards," and to mark the infinitive as a term "towards which" something else "is directed." If this interpretation is the true one, it is plain that to before a verb is no other than the common preposition to; and this idea is confirmed by its ancient usage, and by all that is certainly known of its derivation. But if we take the second solution, and say, "it signifies act," we make it not a preposition, but either a noun or a verb; and then the question arises, Which of these is it? Besides, what sense can there be, in supposing to go to mean act go, or to be equivalent to do go.[410]

OBS. 24.—Though the infinitive is commonly made an adjunct to some finite verb, yet it may be connected to almost all the other parts of speech, or even to an other infinitive. The preposition to being its only and almost universal index, we seldom find any other preposition put before this; unless the word about, in such a situation, is a preposition, as I incline to think it is.[411] Anciently, the infinitive was sometimes preceded by for as well as to; as, "I went up to Jerusalem for to worship."—Acts, xxiv, 11. "What went ye out for to see?"—Luke, vii, 26. "And stood up for to read."—Luke, iv, 16. Here modern usage rejects the former preposition: the idiom is left to the uneducated. But it seems practicable to subjoin the infinitive to every one of the ten parts of speech, except the article: as,

1. To a noun; as, "If there is any precept to obtain felicity."—Hawkesworth. "It is high time to awake out of sleep."—Rom., xiii, 11. "To flee from the wrath to come."—Matt., iii, 7.

2. To an adjective; as, "He seemed desirous to speak, yet unwilling to offend."—Hawkesworth. "He who is the slowest to promise, is the quickest to perform."—Art of Thinking, p. 35.

3. To a pronoun; as, "I discovered him to be a scholar."—W. Allen's Gram., p. 166. "Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar?"—Luke, xx, 22. "Let me desire you to reflect impartially."—BLAIR: Murray's Eng. Reader, p. 77. "Whom hast thou then or what t' accuse?"—Milton, P. L., iv, 67.

4. To a finite verb; as, "Then Peter began to rebuke him."—Matt., xvi, 22. "The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost."—Luke, xix, 10.

5. To an other infinitive; as, "To go to enter into Egypt."—Jer., xli, 17. "We are not often willing to wait to consider."—J. Abbott. "For what had he to do to chide at me?"—Shak.

6. To a participle; as, "Still threatening to devour me."—Milton. "Or as a thief bent to unhoard the cash of some rich burgher."—Id.

7. To an adverb; as, "She is old enough to go to school."—"I know not how to act."—Nutting's Gram., p. 106. "Tell me when to come, and where to meet you."—"He hath not where to lay his head."

8. To a conjunction; as, "He knows better than to trust you."—"It was so hot as to melt these ornaments."—"Many who praise virtue, do no more than praise it."—Dr. Johnson.

9. To a preposition; as, "I was about to write."—Rev., x, 4. "Not for to hide it in a hedge."—Burns's Poems, p. 42. "Amatum iri, To be about to be loved."—Adam's Gram., p. 95.[412]

10. To an interjection; as, "O to forget her!"—Young's Night Thoughts.

OBS. 25.—The infinitive is the mere verb, without affirmation, without person or number, and therefore without the agreement peculiar to a finite verb. (See Obs. 8th on Rule 2d.) But, in most instances, it is not without limitation of the being, action, or passion, to some particular person or persons, thing or things, that are said, supposed, or denied, to be, to act, or to be acted upon. Whenever it is not thus limited, it is taken abstractly, and has some resemblance to a noun: because it then suggests the being, action, or passion alone: though, even then, the active infinitive may still govern the objective case; and it may also be easy to imagine to whom or to what the being, action, or passion, naturally pertains. The uses of the infinitive are so many and various, that it is no easy matter to classify them accurately. The following are unquestionably the chief of the things for which it may stand:

1. For the supplement to an other verb, to complete the sense; as, "Loose him, and let him go."—John, xi, 44. "They that go to seek mixed wine."—Prov., xxiii, 30. "His hands refuse to labour."—Ib., xxi, 25. "If you choose to have those terms."—Tooke's D. P., ii, 374. "How our old translators first struggled to express this."—Ib., ii, 456. "To any one who will please to examine our language."—Ib., ii, 444. "They are forced to give up at last."—Ib., ii, 375. "Which ought to be done."—Ib., ii, 451. "Which came to pass."—Acts, xi, 28. "I dare engage to make it out."—Swift.

2. For the purpose, or end, of that to which it is added; as, "Each has employed his time and pains to establish a criterion."—Tooke's D. P., ii, 374. "I shall not stop now, to assist in their elucidation."—Ib., ii, 75. "Our purposes are not endowed with words to make them known."—Ib., ii, 74. [A] "TOOL is some instrument taken up to work with."—Ib., ii, 145. "Labour not to be rich."—Prov., xxiii, 4. "I flee unto thee to hide me."—Ps., cxliii, 9. "Evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him."—Ib., cxl, 11.

3. For the object of an affection or passion; as, "He loves to ride."—"I desire to hear her speak again."—Shale. "If we wish to avoid important error."—Tooke's D. P., ii, 3. "Who rejoice to do evil."—Prov., ii, 14. "All agreeing in earnestness to see him."—Shak. "Our curiosity is raised to know what lies beyond."—Kames, El. of Crit., ii, 335.

4. For the cause of an affection or passion; as, "I rejoice to hear it."—"By which I hope to have laid a foundation," &c.—Blair's Rhet., p. 34. "For he made me mad, to see him shine so brisk, and smell so sweet."—Beauties of Shak., p. 118. "Thou didst eat strange flesh, which some did die to look on."—Ib., p. 182. "They grieved to see their best allies at variance."—Rev. W. Allen's Gram., p. 165.

5. For the subject of a proposition, or the chief term in such subject; as, "To steal is sinful."—"To do justice and judgement, is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice."—Prov., xxi, 3. "To do RIGHT, is, to do that which is ordered to be done."—Tooke's D. P., ii, 7. "To go to law to plague a neighbour, has in it more of malice, than of love to justice."—Seattle's Mor. Sci., i, 177.

6. For the predicate of a proposition, or the chief term in such predicate; as, "To enjoy is to obey."—Pope. "The property of rain is to wet, and fire, to burn."—Beauties of Shak., p. 15. "To die is to be banished from myself."—Ib., p. 82. "The best way is, to slander Valentine."—Ib., p. 83. "The highway of the upright is to depart from evil."—Prov., xvi, 17.

7. For a coming event, or what will be; as, "A mutilated structure soon to fall."—Cowper. "He being dead, and I speedily to follow him."—Tooke's D. P., ii, 111. "She shall rejoice in time to come."—Prov., xxxi, 25. "Things present, or things to come."—1 Cor., iii, 22.

8. For a necessary event, or what ought to be; as, "It is to be remembered."—"It is never to be forgotten."—Tooke's D. P., ii, 2. "An oversight much to be deplored."—Ib., ii, 460. "The sign is not to be used by itself, or to stand alone; but is to be joined to some other term."—Ib., ii, 372. "The Lord's name is to be praised."—Ps., cxiii, 3.

9. For what is previously suggested by another word; as, "I have faith to believe."—"The glossarist did well here not to yield to his inclination."—Tooke's D. P., ii, 329. "It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord."—Ps., xcii, 1. "It is as sport to a fool to do mischief."—Prov., x, 23. "They have the gift to know it."—Shak. "We have no remaining occupation but to take care of the public."—Art of Thinking, p. 52.

10. For a term of comparison or measure; as, "He was so much affected as to weep."—"Who could do no less than furnish him."—Tooke's D. P., ii, 408. "I shall venture no farther than to explain the nature and convenience of these abbreviations."—Ib., ii, 439. "I have already said enough to show what sort of operation that is."—Ib., ii, 358.

OBS. 26.—After dismissing all the examples which may fairly be referred to one or other of the ten heads above enumerated, an observant reader may yet find other uses of the infinitive, and those so dissimilar that they can hardly be reduced to any one head or rule; except that all are governed by the preposition to, which points towards or to the verb; as, "A great altar to see to."—Joshua, xxii, 10. "[Greek: Bomon megan tou idein]."—Septuagint. That is, "An altar great to behold." "Altare infinitae magnitudinis."—Vulgate. "Un fort grand autel."—French Bible. "Easy to be entreated."—Jos., iii, 17. "There was none to help."—Ps., cvii, 12. "He had rained down manna upon them to eat."—Ps., lxxviii, 24. "Remember his commandments to do them."—Ps., viii, 18. "Preserve thou those that are appointed to die."—Ps., lxxix, 11. "As coals to burning coals, and as wood to fire; so is a contentious man to kindle strife."—Prov., xxvi, 21. "These are far beyond the reach and power of any kings to do away."—Tooke's D. P., ii, 126. "I know not indeed what to do with those words."—Ib., ii, 441. "They will be as little able to justify their innovation."—Ib., ii, 448. "I leave you to compare them."—Ib., ii, 458. "There is no occasion to attribute it."—Ib., ii, 375. "There is no day for me to look upon."—Beauties of Shak., p. 82. "Having no external thing to lose."—Ib., p. 100. "I'll never be a gosling to obey instinct."—Ib., p. 200. "Whereto serves mercy, but to confront the visage of offence?"—Ib., p. 233. "If things do not go to suit him."—Liberator, ix, 182. "And, to be plain, I think there is not half a kiss to choose, who loves an other best."—Shak., p. 91. "But to return to R. Johnson's instance of good man."—Tooke's D. P., ii, 370. Our common Bibles have this text: "And a certain woman cast a piece of a millstone upon Abimelech's head, and all to break his skull."—Judges, ix, 53. Perhaps the interpretation of this may be, "and so as completely to break his skull." The octavo edition stereotyped by "the Bible Association of Friends in America," has it, "and all-to brake his skull." This, most probably, was supposed by the editors to mean, "and completely broke his skull;" but all-to is no proper compound word, and therefore the change is a perversion. The Septuagint, the Vulgate, and the common French version, all accord with the simple indicative construction, "and broke his skull."

OBS. 27.—According to Lindley Murray, "The infinitive mood is often made absolute, or used independently on [say of] the rest of the sentence, supplying the place of the conjunction that with the potential mood: as, 'To confess the truth, I was in fault;' 'To begin with the first;' 'To proceed;' 'To conclude;' that is, 'That I may confess,' &c."—Murray's Gram., 8vo, p. 184; Ingersoll's Gram., p. 244. Some other compilers have adopted the same doctrine. But on what ground the substitution of one mood for the other is imagined, I see not. The reader will observe that this potential mood is here just as much "made absolute," as is the infinitive; for there is nothing expressed to which the conjunction that connects the one phrase, or the preposition to the other. But possibly, in either case, there may be an ellipsis of some antecedent term; and surely, if we imagine the construction to be complete without any such term, we make the conjunction the more anomalous word of the two. Confession of the truth, is here the aim of speaking, but not of what is spoken. The whole sentence may be, "In order to confess the truth, I admit that I was in fault." Or, "In order that I may confess the truth, I admit that I was in fault." I do not deny, that the infinitive, or a phrase of which the infinitive is a part, is sometimes put absolute; for, if it is not so in any of the foregoing examples, it appears to be so in the following: "For every object has several faces, so to speak, by which it may be presented to us."—Blair's Rhet., p. 41. "To declare a thing shall be, long before it is in being, and then to bring about the accomplishment of that very thing, according to the same declaration; this, or nothing, is the work of God."—Justin Martyr.

"To be, or not to be;—that is the question."—Shakspeare.

"To die;—to sleep;—To sleep! perchance, to dream!"—Id., Hamlet.

OBS. 28.—The infinitive usually follows the word on which it depends, or to which the particle to connects it; but this order is sometimes reversed: as, "To beg I am ashamed."—Luke, xvi, 3. "To keep them no longer in suspense, [I say plainly,] Sir Roger de Coverly is dead."—Addison. "To suffer, as to do, Our strength is equal."—Milton.

"To catch your vivid scenes, too gross her hand."—Thomson.

OBS. 29.—Though, in respect to its syntax, the infinitive is oftener connected with a verb, a participle, or an adjective, than with a noun or a pronoun, it should never be so placed that the reader will be liable to mistake the person to whom, or the thing to which, the being, action, or passion, pertains. Examples of error: "This system will require a long time to be executed as it should be."—Journal of N. Y. Lit. Convention, 1830, p. 91. It is not the time, that is to be executed; therefore say, "This system, to be executed as it should be, will require a long time." "He spoke in a manner distinct enough to be heard by the whole assembly."—Murray's Key, 8vo, p. 192. This implies that the orator's manner was heard! But the grammarian interprets his own meaning, by the following alternative: "Or—He spoke distinctly enough to be heard by the whole assembly."—Ibid. This suggests that the man himself was heard. "When they hit upon a figure that pleases them, they are loth to part with it, and frequently continue it so long, as to become tedious and intricate."—Murray's Gram., p. 341. Is it the authors, or their figure, that becomes tedious and intricate? If the latter, strike out, "so long, as to become," and say, "till it becomes." "Facts are always of the greatest consequence to be remembered during the course of the pleading."—Blair's Rhet., p. 272. The rhetorician here meant: "The facts stated in an argument, are always those parts of it, which it is most important that the hearers should be made to remember."

OBS. 30.—According to some grammarians, "The Infinitive of the verb to be, is often understood; as, 'I considered it [to be] necessary to send the dispatches.'"—W. Allen's Gram., p. 166. In this example, as in thousands more, of various forms, the verb to be may be inserted without affecting the sense; but I doubt the necessity of supposing an ellipsis in such sentences. The adjective or participle that follows, always relates to the preceding objective; and if a noun is used, it is but an other objective in apposition with the former: as, "I considered it an imposition." The verb to be, with the perfect participle, forms the passive infinitive; and the supposition of such an ellipsis, extensively affects one's mode of parsing. Thus, "He considered himself insulted," "I will suppose the work accomplished," and many similar sentences, might be supposed to contain passive infinitives. Allen says, "In the following construction, the words in italics are (elliptically) passive infinitives; I saw the bird caught, and the hare killed; we heard the letters read."—W. Allen's Gram., p. 168. Dr. Priestley observes, "There is a remarkable ambiguity in the use of the participle preterite, as the same word may express a thing either doing, or done; as, I went to see the child dressed."—Priestley's Gram., p. 125. If the Doctor's participle is ambiguous, I imagine that Allen's infinitives are just as much so. "The participle which we denominate past, often means an action whilst performing: thus, I saw the battle fought, and the standard lowered."—Wilson's Essay, p. 158. Sometimes, especially in familiar conversation, an infinitive verb is suppressed, and the sign of it retained; as, "They might have aided us; they ought to" [have aided us].—Herald of Freedom. "We have tried to like it, but it's hard to."—Lynn News.

OBS. 31.—After the verb make, some writers insert the verb be, and suppress the preposition to; as, "He must make every syllable, and even every letter, in the word which he pronounces, be heard distinctly."—Blair's Rhet., p. 329; Murray's E. Reader, p. 9. "You must make yourself be heard with pleasure and attention."—Duncan's Cicero, p. 84. "To make himself be heard by all."—Blair's Rhet., p. 328. "To make ourselves be heard by one."—Ibid. "Clear enough to make me be understood."—Locke, on Ed., p. 198. In my opinion, it would be better, either to insert the to, or to use the participle only; as, "The information which he possessed, made his company to be courted."—Dr. M'Rie. "Which will both show the importance of this rule, and make the application of it to be understood."—Blair's Rhet., p. 103. Or, as in these brief forms: "To make himself heard by all."—"Clear enough to make me understood."

OBS. 32.—In those languages in which the infinitive is distinguished as such by its termination, this part of the verb may be used alone as the subject of a finite verb; but in English it is always necessary to retain the sign to before an abstract infinitive, because there is nothing else to distinguish the verb from a noun. Here we may see a difference between our language and the French, although it has been shown, that in their government of the infinitive they are in some degree analogous:—"HAIR est un tourment; AIMER est un besoin de l'ame."—M. de Segur. "To hate is a torment; to love is a requisite of the soul." If from this any will argue that to is not here a preposition, the same argument will be as good, to prove that for is not a preposition when it governs the objective case; because that also may be used without any antecedent term of relation: as, "They are by no means points of equal importance, for me to be deprived of your affections, and for him to be defeated in his prosecution."—Anon., in W. Allen's Gram., p. 166. I said, the sign to must always be put before an abstract infinitive: but possibly a repetition of this sign may not always be necessary, when several such infinitives occur in the same construction: as, "But, to fill a heart with joy, restore content to the afflicted, or relieve the necessitous, these fall not within the reach of their five senses."—Art of Thinking, p. 66. It may be too much to affirm, that this is positively ungrammatical; yet it would be as well or better, to express it thus: "But to relieve the necessitous, to restore content to the afflicted, and to fill a heart with joy, these full not within the reach of their five senses."

OBS. 33.—In the use of the English infinitive, as well as of the participle in ing, the distinction of voice is often disregarded; the active form being used in what, with respect to the noun before it, is a passive sense: as, "There's no time to waste."—W. Allen's Gram., p. 82. "You are to blame."—Ib. "The humming-bird is delightful to look upon."—Ib. "What pain it was to drown."—Shak. "The thing's to do."—Id. "When deed of danger was to do."—Scott. "The evil I bring upon myself, is the hardest to bear."—Home's Art of Thinking, p. 27. "Pride is worse to bear than cruelty."—Ib., p. 37. These are in fact active verbs, and not passive. We may suggest agents for them, if we please; as, "There is no time for us to waste." That the simple participle in ing may be used passively, has been proved elsewhere. It seems sometimes to have no distinction of voice; as, "What is worth doing, is worth doing well."—Com. Maxim. This is certainly much more agreeable, than to say, "What is worth being done, is worth being done well." In respect to the voice of the infinitive, and of this participle, many of our grammarians are obviously hypercritical. For example: "The active voice should not be used for the passive; as, I have work to do: a house to sell, to let, instead of to be done, to be sold, to be let."—Sanborn's Gram., p. 220. "Active verbs are often used improperly with a passive signification, as, 'the house is building, lodgings to let, he has a house to sell, nothing is wanting;' in stead of 'the house is being built, lodgings to be lett, he has a house to be sold, nothing is wanted.'"—Blair's Gram., p. 64. In punctuation, orthography, and the use of capitals, here are more errors than it is worth while to particularize. With regard to such phraseology as, "The house is being built," see, in Part II, sundry Observations on the Compound Form of Conjugation. To say, "I have work to do,"—"He has a house to sell,"—or, "We have lodgings to let," is just as good English, as to say, "I have meat to eat."—John, iv, 32. And who, but some sciolist in grammar, would, in all such instances, prefer the passive voice?



IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE XVIII.

INFINITIVES DEMANDING THE PARTICLE TO.

"William, please hand me that pencil."—R. C. Smith's New Gram., p. 12.

[FORMULE—Not proper, because the infinitive verb hand is not preceded by the preposition to. But, according to Rule 18th, "The preposition to governs the infinitive mood, and commonly connects it to a finite verb." Therefore, to should be here inserted; thus, "William, please to hand me that pencil."]

"Please insert points so as to make sense."—Davis's Gram., p. 123. "I have known Lords abbreviate almost the half of their words."—Cobbett's English Gram., 153. "We shall find the practice perfectly accord with the theory."—Knight, on the Greek Alphabet, p. 23. "But it would tend to obscure, rather than elucidate the subject."—L. Murray's Gram., p. 95. "Please divide it for them as it should be."—Willett's Arith., p. 193. "So as neither to embarrass, nor weaken the sentence."—Blair's Rhet., p. 116; Murray's Gram., 322. "Carry her to his table, to view his poor fare,[413] and hear his heavenly discourse."—SHERLOCK: Blair's Rhet., p. 157; Murray's Gram., 347. "That we need not be surprised to find this hold in eloquence."—Blair's Rhet., p. 174. "Where he has no occasion either to divide or explain."—Ib., p. 305. "And they will find their pupils improve by hasty and pleasant steps."—Russell's Gram., Pref., p. 4. "The teacher however will please observe," &c.—Infant School Gram., p. 8. "Please attend to a few rules in what is called syntax."—Ib., p. 128. "They may dispense with the laws to favor their friends, or secure their office."—Webster's Essays, p. 39. "To take back a gift, or break a contract, is a wanton abuse."—Ib., p. 41. "The legislature has nothing to do, but let it bear its own price."—Ib., p. 315. "He is not to form, but copy characters."—Rambler, No. 122. "I have known a woman make use of a shoeing-horn."—Spect., No. 536. "Finding this experiment answer, in every respect, their wishes."—Sandford and Merton, p. 51. "In fine let him cause his argument conclude in the term of the question."—Barclay's Works, Vol. iii, p. 443.