Chapter VI: Verbs (5)

OBS. 19.--It is little to the credit of our grammarians, to find so many of them thus concurring in the same obvious error, and even making bad English worse. The very examples which have hitherto been given to prove that _do_ may be a substitute for other verbs, are _none of them in point_, and all of them have been constantly and shamefully _misinterpreted._ Thus: "They [_do_ and _did_] sometimes also supply the place of _another verb_, and make the repetition of it, in the same or a subsequent sentence, unnecessary: as, 'You attend not to your studies as he _does_;' (i. e. as he _attends_, &c.) 'I shall come if I can; but if I _do not_, please to excuse me;' (i. e. if I _come_ not.)"--_L. Murray's Gram._, Vol. i, p. 88; _R. C. Smith's_, 88; _Ingersoll's_, 135; _Fisk's_, 78; _A. Flint's_, 41; _Hiley's_, 30. This remark, but not the examples, was taken from _Lowths Gram._, p. 41. Churchill varies it thus, and retains Lowth's example: "It [i. e., _do_] is used also, to supply the _place of another verb_, in order to avoid the repetition of it: as, 'He _loves_ not plays, As thou _dost_, Antony.' SHAKS."--_New Gram._, p. 96. Greenleaf says, "To prevent the repetition of _one or more verbs_, in the same, or [a] following sentence, we frequently make use of _do_ AND _did_; as, 'Jack learns the English language as fast as Henry _does_;' that is, 'as fast as Henry _learns_.' 'I shall come if I can; but if I _do_ not, please to excuse me;' that is, 'if I _come_ not.'"--_Gram. Simplified_, p. 27. Sanborn says, "_Do_ is also used _instead of another verb_, and not unfrequently instead of both _the verb and its object_; as, 'he _loves work_ as well as you _do_;' that is, as well as you _love work_."--_Analyt. Gram._, p. 112. Now all these interpretations are wrong; the word _do, dost_, or _does_, being simply an auxiliary, after which the principal verb (with its object where it has one) is _understood_. But the first example is _bad English_, and its explanation is still worse. For, "_As he attends_, &c.," means, "As _he_ attends _to your studies!_" And what good sense is there in this? The sentence ought to have been, "You do not attend to your studies, as he does _to his_." That is--"as he does _attend_ to his _studies_." This plainly shows that there is, in the text, no real substitution of _does_ for _attends_. So of all other examples exhibited in our grammars, under this head: there is nothing to the purpose, in any of them; the common principle of _ellipsis_ resolves them all. Yet, strange to say, in the latest and most learned of this sort of text-books, we find the same sham example, fictitious and solecistical as it is, still blindly repeated, to show that "_does_" is not in its own place, as an auxiliary, but "supplies the place of another verb."--_Fowler's E. Gram._, 8vo. 1850. p. 265.

NOTES TO RULE XVII.

NOTE I.--When a verb has nominatives of different persons or numbers,[400] connected by _or_ or _nor_, it must agree with the nearest, (unless an other be the principal term,) and must be understood to the rest, in the person and number required; as, "Neither you nor I _am_ concerned."--_W. Allen_. "That neither they nor ye also _die_."--_Numb._, xviii, 3.

"But neither god, nor shrine, nor mystic rite,
Their city, nor her walls, his soul _delight_."
--_Rowe's Lucan_, B. x, l. 26.

NOTE II.--But, since all nominatives that require different forms of the verb, virtually produce separate clauses or propositions, it is better to complete the concord whenever we conveniently can, by expressing the verb or its auxiliary in connexion with each of them; as, "Either thou _art_ to blame, or I _am_."--_Comly's Gram._, p. 78. "Neither _were_ their numbers, nor _was_ their destination, known."--_W. Allen's Gram._, p. 134. So in clauses connected by _and_: as, "But declamation _is_ idle, and _murmurs_ fruitless."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 82. Say,--"and murmurs _are_ fruitless."

NOTE III.--In English, the speaker should always mention himself last; unless his own superior dignity, or the confessional nature of the expression, warrant him in taking the precedence: as, "_Thou or I_ must go."--"He then addressed his discourse to _my father and me_."--"_Ellen and I_ will seek, apart, the refuge of some forest cell."--_Scott_. See Obs. 11th above.

NOTE IV.--Two or more distinct subject phrases connected by _or_ or _nor_, require a singular verb; and, if a nominative come after the verb, that must be singular also: as, "That a drunkard should be poor, _or_ that a fop should be ignorant, _is_ not strange."--"To give an affront, or to take one tamely, _is_ no _mark_ of a great mind." So, when the phrases are unconnected: as, "To spread suspicion, to invent calumnies, to propagate scandal, _requires_ neither labour nor courage."--_Rambler_, No. 183.

NOTE V.--In general, when _verbs_ are connected by _and, or_, or _nor_, they must either agree in mood, tense, and form, or the simplest in form must be placed first; as, "So Sennacherib king of Assyria _departed_, and _went_ and _returned_, and _dwelt_ at Nineveh."--_Isaiah_, xxxvii, 37. "For if I _be_ an offender, or _have committed_ any thing worthy of death, I refuse not to die."--_Acts_, xxv, 11.

NOTE VI.--In stead of conjoining discordant verbs, it is in general better to repeat the nominative or insert a new one; as, "He was greatly heated, and [_he] drank_ with avidity."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 201. "A person may be great or rich by chance; but _cannot be_ wise or good, without taking pains for it."--_Ib._, p. 200. Say,--"but _no one can be_ wise or good, without taking pains for it."

NOTE VII.--A mixture of the forms of the solemn style and the familiar, is inelegant, whether the verbs refer to the same nominative or have different ones expressed; as, "What _appears_ tottering and in hazard of tumbling, _produceth_ in the spectator the painful emotion of fear."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 356. "And the milkmaid _singeth_ blithe, And the mower _whets_ his sithe."--_Milton's Allegro_, l. 65 and 66.

NOTE VIII.--To use different moods under precisely the same circumstances, is improper, even if the verbs have separate nominatives; as, "Bating that one _speak_ and an other _answers_, it is quite the same."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 368. Say,--"that one _speaks_;" for both the speaking and the answering are assumed as facts.

NOTE IX.--When two terms are connected, which involve different forms of the same verb, such parts of the compound tenses as are not common to both forms, should be inserted in full: except sometimes after the auxiliary _do_; as, "And then he _falls_, as I _do_."--_Shak_. That is, "as I _do fall_." The following sentences are therefore faulty: "I think myself highly obliged _to make_ his fortune, as he _has_ mine."--_Spect._, No. 474. Say,--"as he _has made_ mine." "Every attempt to remove them, _has_, and likely _will prove_ unsuccessful."--_Gay's Prosodical Gram._, p. 4. Say,--"_has proved_, and likely _will prove_, unsuccessful."

NOTE X.--The verb _do_ must never be substituted for any term to which its own meaning is not adapted; nor is there any use in putting it for a preceding verb that is equally short: as, "When we see how confidently men rest on groundless surmises in reference to their own souls, we cannot wonder that they _do it_ in reference to others."--_Simeon_. Better:--"that they _so rest_ in reference to _the souls of_ others;" for this repeats the idea with more exactness. NOTE XI.--The preterit should not be employed to form the compound tenses of the verb; nor should the perfect participle be used for the preterit or confounded with the present. Thus: say, "To have _gone_," not, "To have _went_;" and, "I _did_ so," not, "I _done_ so;" or, "He _saw_ them," not, "He _seen_ them." Again: say not, "It was _lift_ or _hoist_ up;" but, "It was _lifted_ or _hoisted_ up."

NOTE XII.--Care should be taken, to give every verb or participle its appropriate form, and not to confound those which resemble each other; as, _to flee_ and _to fly, to lay_ and _to lie, to sit_ and _to set, to fall_ and _to fell_, &c. Thus: say, "He _lay_ by the fire;" not, "He _laid_ by the fire;"--"He _has become_ rich;" not, "He _is become_ rich;"--"I _would_ rather _stay_;" not, "I _had_ rather _stay_."

NOTE XIII.--In the syntax of words that express time, whether they be verbs, adverbs, or nouns, the order and fitness of time should be observed, that the tenses may be used according to their import. Thus: in stead of, "I _have seen_ him _last week_;" say, "I _saw_ him _last week_;"--and, in stead of, "I _saw_ him _this week_;" say, "I _have seen_ him _this week_." So, in stead of, "I _told_ you _already_;" or, "I _have told_ you _before_;" say, "I _have told_ you _already_;"--"I _told_ you _before_."

NOTE XIV.--Verbs of commanding, desiring, expecting, hoping, intending, permitting, and some others, in all their tenses, refer to actions or events, relatively present or future: one should therefore say, "I hoped you _would come_;" not, "I hoped you _would have come_;"--and, "I intended _to do_ it;" not, "I intended _to have done_ it;"--&c.

NOTE XV.--Propositions that are as true now as they ever were or will be, should generally be expressed in the present tense: as, "He seemed hardly to know, that two and two _make_ four;" not, "_made_."--_Blair's Gram._, p. 65. "He will tell you, that whatever _is, is_ right." Sometimes the present tense is improper with the conjunction _that_, though it would be quite proper without it; as, "Others said, _That_ it _is_ Elias. And others said, _That_ it _is_ a prophet."--_Mark_, vi, 15. Here _That_ should be omitted, or else _is_ should be _was_. The capital _T_ is also improper.

IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.

FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE XVII.

UNDER THE RULE ITSELF.--NOMINATIVES CONNECTED BY OR.

"We do not know in what either reason or instinct consist."--_Rambler_, No. 41.

[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the verb _consist_ is of the plural number, and does not correctly agree with its two nominatives, _reason_ and _instinct_, which are connected by _or_, and taken disjunctively. But, according to Rule 17th, "When a verb has two or more nominatives connected by _or_ or _nor_, it must agree with them singly, and not as if taken together." Therefore, _consist_ should be _consists_; thus, "We do not know in what either reason or instinct _consists_."]

"A noun or a pronoun joined with a participle, constitute a nominative case absolute."--_Bicknell's Gram._, Part ii, p. 50. "The relative will be of that case, which the verb or noun following, or the preposition going before, use to govern."--_Dr. Adam's Gram._, p. 203. "Which the verb or noun following, or the preposition going before, usually govern."--_Gould's Adam's Gram._, p. 200.[401] "In the different modes of pronunciation which habit or caprice give rise to."--_Knight, on the Greek Alphabet_, p. 14. "By which he, or his deputy, were authorized to cut down any trees in Whittlebury forest."--_Junius_, p. 251. "Wherever objects were to be named, in which sound, noise, or motion were concerned, the imitation by words was abundantly obvious."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 55. "The pleasure or pain resulting from a train of perceptions in different circumstances, are a beautiful contrivance of nature for valuable purposes."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 262. "Because their foolish vanity or their criminal ambition represent the principles by which they are influenced, as absolutely perfect."--_Life of Madame De Stael_, p. 2. "Hence naturally arise indifference or aversion between the parties."--_Brown's Estimate_, ii, 37. "A penitent unbeliever, or an impenitent believer, are characters no where to be found."--_Tract_, No. 183. "Copying whatever is peculiar in the talk of all those whose birth or fortune entitle them to imitation."--_Rambler_, No. 194. "Where love, hatred, fear, or contempt, are often of decisive influence."--_Duncan's Cicero_, p. 119. "A lucky anecdote, or an enlivening tale relieve the folio page."--_D'Israeli's Curiosities_, Vol. i, p. 15. "For outward matter or event, fashion not the character within."--_Book of Thoughts_, p. 37. "Yet sometimes we have seen that wine, or chance, have warmed cold brains."--_Dryden's Poems_, p. 76. "Motion is a Genus; Flight, a Species; this Flight or that Flight are Individuals."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 38. "When _et, aut, vel, sine_, or _nec_, are joined to different members of the same sentence."--_Adam's Lat. and Eng. Gram._, p. 206; _Gould's Lat. Gram._, 203; _Grant's_, 266. "Wisdom or folly govern us."--_Fisk's English Gram._, 84. "_A_ or _an_ are styled indefinite articles."--_Folker's Gram._, p. 4. "A rusty nail, or a crooked pin, shoot up into prodigies."--_Spectator_, No. 7. "Are either the subject or the predicate in the second sentence modified?"--_Fowler's E. Gram._, 8vo, 1850, p. 578, §589.

"Praise from a friend, or censure from a foe,
Are lost on hearers that our merits know."
--_Pope, Iliad_, B. x, l. 293.

UNDER THE RULE ITSELF.--NOMINATIVES CONNECTED BY NOR.

"Neither he nor she have spoken to him."--_Perrin's Gram._, p. 237. "For want of a process of events, neither knowledge nor elegance preserve the reader from weariness."--JOHNSON: _in Crabb's Syn._, p. 511. "Neither history nor tradition furnish such information."--_Robertson's Amer._, Vol. i, p. 2. "Neither the form nor power of the liquids have varied materially."--_Knight, on the Greek Alph._, p. 16. "Where neither noise nor motion are concerned."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 55. "Neither Charles nor his brother were qualified to support such a system."--_Junius_, p. 250. "When, therefore, neither the liveliness of representation, nor the warmth of passion, serve, as it were, to cover the trespass, it is not safe to leave the beaten track."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 381. "In many countries called Christian, neither Christianity, nor its evidence, are fairly laid before men."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 269. "Neither the intellect nor the heart are capable of being driven."--_Abbott's Teacher_, p. 20. "Throughout this hymn, neither Apollo nor Diana are in any way connected with the Sun or Moon."--_Coleridge's Introd._, p. 199. "Of which, neither he, nor this Grammar, take any notice."--_Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 346. "Neither their solicitude nor their foresight extend so far."--_Robertson's Amer._, Vol. i, p. 287. "Neither Gomara, nor Oviedo, nor Herrera, consider Ojeda, or his companion Vespucci, as the first discoverers of the continent of America."--_Ib._, Vol. i, p. 471. "Neither the general situation of our colonies, nor that particular distress which forced the inhabitants of Boston to take up arms, have been thought worthy of a moment's consideration."--_Junius_, p. 174.

"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 à 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 Græco 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.