Chapter VI: Verbs (7)

OBS. 5.--The _extent_ of this influence, or of such government, has never yet been clearly determined. "This _irregularity_," says _Murray_, "extends only to _active or neuter_ verbs: ['active _and_ neuter verbs,' says _Fisk_:] for all the verbs above mentioned, when made _passive_, require the preposition _to_ before the following verb: as, 'He was seen _to_ go;' 'He was heard _to_ speak;' 'They were bidden _to_ be upon their guard.'"--_Murray's Gram._, p. 183. Fisk adds with no great accuracy "In the _past_ and _future_ tenses of the active voice also, these verbs generally require the sign _to_, to be prefixed to the following verbs; as, 'You _have dared to proceed_ without authority;' 'They _will_ not _dare to attack_ you.'"--_Gram. Simplified_, p. 125. What these gentlemen here call "_neuter verbs_," are only the two words _dare_ and _need_, which are, in most cases, active, though not always transitive; unless the infinitive itself can make them so--an inconsistent doctrine of theirs which I have elsewhere refuted. (See Obs. 3rd on Rule 5th.) These two verbs take the infinitive after them without the preposition, only when they are intransitive; while all the rest seem to have this power, only when they are transitive. If there are any exceptions, they shall presently be considered. A more particular examination of the construction proper for the infinitive after each of these eight verbs, seems necessary for a right understanding of the rule.

OBS. 6.--Of the verb BID. This verb, in any of its tenses, when it commands an action, usually governs an object and also an infinitive, which come together; as, "Thou _bidst_ the _world adore_."--_Thomson_. "If the prophet _had bid thee do_ some great thing."--_2 Kings_, v, 13. But when it means, _to promise_ or _offer_, the infinitive that follows, must be introduced by the preposition _to_; as, "He _bids_ fair _to excel_ them all"--"Perhaps no person under heaven _bids_ more unlikely _to_ be saved."--_Brown's Divinity_, p. vii. "And each _bade_ high _to_ win him."--GRANVILLE: _Joh. Dict._ After the compound _forbid_, the preposition is also necessary; as, "Where honeysuckles _forbid_ the sun _to_ enter."--_Beauties of Shak._. p. 57. In poetry, if the measure happens to require it, the word _to_ is sometimes allowed after the simple verb _bid_, denoting a command; as,

"_Bid_ me _to_ strike my dearest brother dead,
_To_ bring my aged father's hoary head."--_Rowe's Lucan_, B. i, l. 677.

OBS. 7.--Of the verb DARE. This verb, when used intransitively, and its irregular preterit _durst_, which is never transitive, usually take the infinitive after them without _to_; as, "I _dare do_ all that may become a man: Who _dares do_ more, is none."--_Shakspeare_. "If he _durst steal_ any thing adventurously."--_Id._ "Who _durst defy_ th' Omnipotent to arms."--_Milton_. "Like one who _durst_ his destiny _control_."--_Dryden_. In these examples, the former verbs have some resemblance to auxiliaries, and the insertion of the preposition _to_ would be improper. But when we take away this resemblance, by giving _dare_ or _dared_, an objective case, the preposition is requisite before the infinitive; as, "Time! I _dare thee to_ discover Such a youth or such a lover."--_Dryden_. "He _dares me to_ enter the lists."--_Fisk's Gram._, p. 125. So when _dare_ itself is in the infinitive mood, or is put after an auxiliary, the preposition is not improper; as, "And _let_ a private man _dare to say_ that it will."--_Brown's Estimate_, ii, 147. "_Would_ its compiler _dare to affront_ the Deity?"--_West's Letters_, p. 151. "What power so great, _to dare to disobey?_"--_Pope's Homer_. "Some _would_ even _dare_ to die."--_Bible_. "What _would dare to molest_ him?"--_Dr. Johnson_. "_Do_ you _dare to prosecute_ such a creature as Vaughan?"--_Junius_, Let. xxxiii. Perhaps these examples might be considered good English, either with or without the _to_; but the last one would be still better thus: "_Dare_ you _prosecute_ such a creature as Vaughan?" Dr. Priestley thinks the following sentence would have been better with the preposition inserted: "Who _have dared defy_ the worst."--HARRIS: _Priestley's Gram._, p. 132. _To_ is sometimes used after the simple verb, in the present tense; as, "Those whose words no one _dares to_ repeat."--_Opie, on Lying_, p. 147.

"_Dare_ I _to_ leave of humble prose the shore?"
--_Young_, p. 377.

"Against heaven's endless mercies pour'd, how _dar'st_ thou _to_ rebel?"
--_Id._, p. 380.

"The man who _dares to_ be a wretch, deserves still greater pain."
--_Id._, p. 381.

OBS. 8.--Of the verb FEEL. This verb, in any of its tenses, may govern the infinitive without the sign _to_; but it does this, only when it is used transitively, and that in regard to a bodily perception: as, "I _feel_ it _move_."--"I _felt_ something _sting_ me." If we speak of feeling any mental affection, or if we use the verb intransitively, the infinitive that follows, requires the preposition; as, "I _feel_ it _to_ be my duty."--"I _felt_ ashamed _to_ ask."--"I _feel_ afraid _to_ go alone."--"I _felt_ about, _to_ find the door." One may say of what is painful to the body, "I _feel_ it _to_ be severe."

OBS. 9.--Of the verb HEAR. This verb is often intransitive, but it is usually followed by an objective case when it governs the infinitive; as. "To _hear_ a _bird sing_."--_Webster_. "You have never _heard me say_ so." For this reason, I am inclined to think that those sentences in which it appears to govern the infinitive alone, are elliptical; as, "I _have heard tell_ of such things."--"And I _have heard say_ of thee, that thou canst understand a dream to interpret it."--_Gen_, xli, 15. Such examples may be the same as. "I have heard _people_ tell,"--"I have heard _men_ say," &c.

OBS. 10.--Of the verb LET. By many grammarians this verb has been erroneously called an _auxiliary_ of the optative mood; or, as Dr. Johnson terms it, "a _sign_ of the _optative_ mood:" though none deny, that it is sometimes also a principal verb. It is, in fact, always a principal verb; because, as we now apply it, it is always transitive. It commonly governs an objective noun or pronoun, and also an infinitive without the sign _to_; as, "Rise up, _let us go_."--_Mark_. "Thou _shalt let it rest_."--_Exodus_. But sometimes the infinitive coalesces with it more nearly than the objective, so that the latter is placed after both verbs; as, "The solution _lets go_ the _mercury_."--_Newton_. "One _lets slip_ out of his account a good _part_ of that duration."--_Locke_. "Back! on _your_ lives; _let_ be, said he, my _prey_."--_Dryden_. The phrase, _let go_, is sometimes spoken for, _let go your hold_; and _let be_, for _let him be, let it be_, &c. In such instances, therefore, the verb _let_ is not really intransitive. This verb, even in the passive form, may have the infinitive after it without the preposition to; as, "Nothing _is let slip_."--_Walker's English Particles_, p. 165. "They _were let go_ in peace."--_Acts_, xv, 33. "The stage was never empty, nor the curtain _let fall_."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 459. "The pye's question was wisely _let fall_ without a reply."--_L'Estrange_. With respect to other passives, Murray and Fisk appear to be right; and sometimes the preposition is used after this one: as, "There's a letter for you, sir, if your name be Horatio, as I _am let to know_ it is."--_Shakspeare_. _Let_, when used intransitively, required the preposition _to_ before the following infinitive; as, "He would not _let_ [i. e. _forbear_] _to counsel_ the king."--_Bacon_. But this use of _let_ is now obsolete.

OBS. 11.--Of the verb MAKE. This verb, like most of the others, never immediately governs an infinitive, unless it also governs a noun or a pronoun which is the immediate _subject_ of such infinitive; as, "You _make me blush_."--"This only _made_ the _youngster laugh_"--_Webster's Spelling-Book_. "Which soon _made_ the young _chap hasten_ down."--_Ib._ But in very many instances it is quite proper to insert the preposition where this verb is transitive; as, "He _maketh_ both the deaf _to_ hear, and the dumb _to_ speak."--_Mark_, vii, 37. "He _makes_ the excellency of a sentence _to_ consist in four things."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 122; _Jamieson's_, 124. "It is this that _makes_ the observance of the dramatic unities _to_ be of consequence."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 464. "In _making_ some tenses of the English verb _to_ consist of principal and auxiliary."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 76. "When _make_ is intransitive, it has some qualifying word after it, besides the sign of the infinitive; as,--I think he _will make out_ to pay his debts." Formerly, the preposition _to_ was almost always inserted to govern the infinitive after _make_ or _made_; as, "Lest I _make_ my brother _to_ offend."--_1 Cor._, viii, 13. "He _made_ many _to_ fall."--_Jer._, xlvi, 16. Yet, in the following text, it is omitted, even where the verb is meant to be _passive_: "And it was lifted up from the earth, and _made stand_ upon the feet as a man."--_Dan._, vii, 4. This construction is improper, and not free from ambiguity; because _stand_ may be a noun, and _made_, an active verb governing it. There may also be uncertainty in the meaning, where the insertion of the preposition leaves none in the construction; for _made_ may signify either _created_ or _compelled_, and the infinitive after it, may denote either the _purpose_ of creation, or the _effect_ of any temporary compulsion: as, "We are _made to be serviceable_ to others."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 167. "Man _was made to mourn_."--_Burns_. "Taste _was never made to cater_ for vanity."--_Blair_. The primitive word _make_ seldom, if ever, produces a construction that is thus equivocal. The infinitive following it without _to_, always denotes the effect of the making, and not the purpose of the maker; as, "He _made_ his son Skjöld _be received_ there as king."--_North. Antiq._, p. 81. But the same meaning may be conveyed when the _to_ is used; as,

"The fear of God is freedom, joy, and peace;
And _makes_ all ills that vex us here _to_ cease."--_Waller_, p. 56.

OBS. 12.--Of the verb NEED. I incline to think, that the word _need_, whenever it is rightly followed by the infinitive without _to_, is, in reality an _auxiliary_ of the potential mood; and that, like _may, can_, and _must_, it may properly be used, in both the present and the perfect tense, without personal inflection: as, "He _need_ not _go_, He _need_ not _have gone_;" where, if _need_ is a principal verb, and governs the infinitive without _to_, the expressions must be, "He _needs_ not _go_, He _needed_ not _go_, or, He _has_ not _needed go_." But none of these three forms is agreeable; and the last two are never used. Wherefore, in stead of placing in my code of false syntax the numerous examples of the former kind, with which the style of our grammarians and critics has furnished me, I have exhibited many of them, in contrast with others, in the eighth and ninth observations on the Conjugation of Verbs; in which observations, the reader may see what reasons there are for supposing the word _need_ to be sometimes an auxiliary and sometimes a principal verb. Because no other author has yet intentionally recognized the propriety of this distinction, I have gone no farther than to show on what grounds, and with what authority from usage, it might be acknowledged. If we adopt this distinction, perhaps it will be found that the regular or principal verb _need_ always requires, or, at least, always admits, the preposition _to_ before the following infinitive; as, "They _need_ not _to_ be specially indicated."--_Adams's Rhet._, i, 302. "We _need_ only _to_ remark."--_Ib._, ii, 224. "A young man _needed_ only _to_ ask himself," &c.--_Ib._, i, 117. "Nor is it conceivable to me, that the lightning of a Demosthenes _could need to_ be sped upon the wings of a semiquaver."--_Ib._, ii, 226. "But these people _need to_ be informed."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 220. "No man _needed_ less _to_ be informed."--_Ib._, p. 175. "We _need_ only _to_ mention the difficulty that arises."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 362. "_Can_ there _need to_ be argument to prove so plain a point?"--_Graham's Lect_. "Moral instruction _needs to_ have a more prominent place."--_Dr. Weeks_. "Pride, ambition, and selfishness, _need to_ be restrained."--_Id._ "Articles are sometimes omitted, where they _need to_ be used."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 197. "Whose power _needs_ not _to_ be dreaded."--_Wilson's Hebrew Gram._, p. 93. "A workman that _needeth_ not _to_ be ashamed."--_2 Tim._, ii, 15. "The small boys _may have needed to_ be managed according to the school system."--_T. D. Woolsey_. "The difficulty of making variety consistent, _needs_ not _to_ disturb him."--_Rambler_, No. 122. "A more cogent proof _needs_ not _to_ be introduced."--_Wright's Gram._, p. 66. "No person _needs to_ be informed, that _you_ is used in addressing a single person."--_Wilcox's Gram._, p. 19. "I hope I _need_ not _to_ advise you further."--_Shak., All's Well_.

"Nor me, nor other god, thou _needst to_ fear,
For thou to all the heavenly host art dear."--_Congreve_.

OBS. 13.--If _need_ is ever an auxiliary, the essential difference between an auxiliary and a principal verb, will very well account for the otherwise puzzling fact, that good writers sometimes inflect this verb, and sometimes do not; and that they sometimes use _to_ after it, and sometimes do not. Nor do I see in what other way a grammarian can treat it, without condemning as bad English a great number of very common phrases which he cannot change for the better. On this principle, such examples as, "He _need_ not _proceed_," and "He _needs_ not _to_ proceed," may be perfectly right in either form; though Murray, Crombie,[416] Fisk, Ingersoll, Smith, C. Adams, and many others, pronounce both these forms to be wrong; and unanimously, (though contrary to what is perhaps the best usage,) prefer, "He _needs_ not _proceed_."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 180.

OBS. 14.--On questions of grammar, the _practice of authors_ ought to be of more weight, than the _dogmatism of grammarians_; but it is often difficult to decide well by either; because errors and contradictions abound in both. For example: Dr. Blair says, (in speaking of the persons represented by _I_ and _thou_,) "Their sex _needs_ not _be_ marked."--_Rhet._, p. 79. Jamieson abridges the work, and says, "_needs_ not _to_ be marked."--_Gram. of Rhet._, p. 28. Dr. Lowth also says, "_needs_ not _be_ marked."--_Gram._, p. 21. Churchill enlarges the work, and says, "_needs_ not _to_ be marked."--_New Gram._, p. 72. Lindley Murray copies Lowth, and says, "_needs_ not _be_ marked."--_Gram._, 12mo, 2d Ed., p. 39; 23d Ed., p. 51; and perhaps all other editions. He afterwards enlarges his own work, and says, "_needs_ not _to_ be marked."--_Octavo Gram._, p. 51. But, according to Greenleaf they all express the idea ungrammatically; the only true form being, "Their sex _need_ not _be marked_." See _Gram. Simplified_, p. 48. In the two places in which the etymology and the syntax of this verb are examined, I have cited from proper sources more than twenty examples in which _to_ is used after it, and more than twenty others in which the verb is not inflected in the third person singular. In the latter, _need_ is treated as an auxiliary; in the former, it is a principal verb, of the regular construction. If the principal verb _need_ can also govern the infinitive without _to_, as all our grammarians have supposed, then there is a third form which is unobjectionable, and my pupils may take their choice of the three. But still there is a fourth form which nobody approves, though the hands of some great men have furnished us with examples of it: as, "A figure of thought _need_ not _to_ detort the words from their literal sense."--_J. Q. Adams's Lectures_, Vol. ii, p. 254. "Which a man _need_ only _to_ appeal to his own feelings immediately to evince."--_Clarkson's Prize-Essay on Slavery_, p. 106.

OBS. 15.--Webster and Greenleaf seem inclined to justify the use of _dare_, as well as of _need_, for the third person singular. Their doctrine is this: "In _popular practice_ it is used in the third person, without the personal termination. Thus, instead of saying, 'He _dares_ not do it;' WE _generally_ say, 'He _dare_ not do it.' In like manner, _need_, when an active verb, is regular in its inflections; as, 'A man _needs_ more prudence.' But _when intransitive_, it drops the personal terminations in the present tense, and is followed by a verb without the prefix _to_; as, 'A man _need_ not _be_ uneasy.'"--_Greenleaf s Grammar Simplified_, p. 38; _Webster's Philosophical Gram._, p. 178; _Improved Gram._, 127. Each part of this explanation appears to me erroneous. In _popular practice_, one shall oftener hear, "He _dares n't_ do it," or even, "_You dares n't_ do it," than, "_He dare not_ do it." But it is only in the trained practice of the schools, that he shall ever hear, "He _needs n't_ do it," or, "He _needs not_ do it." If _need_ is sometimes used without inflection, this peculiarity, or the disuse of _to_ before the subsequent infinitive, is not a necessary result of its "_intransitive_" character. And as to their latent _nominative_, "whereof there _is_ no _account_," or, "whereof there _needs_ no _account_;" their _fact_, of which "there _is_ no _evidence_," or of which "there _needs_ no _evidence_;" I judge it a remarkable phenomenon, that authors of so high pretensions, could find, in these _transpositions_, a nominative to "_is_," but none to "_needs_!" See a marginal note under Rule 14th, at p. 570.

OBS. 16.--Of the verb SEE. This verb, whenever it governs the infinitive without _to_, governs also an objective noun or pronoun; as, "_See me do_ it."--"I _saw him do_ it."--_Murray_. Whenever it is intransitive, the following infinitive must be governed by _to_; as, "I _will see to have_ it done."--_Comly's Gram._, p. 98; _Greenleaf's_, 38. "How _could_ he _see to do_ them?"--_Beauties of Shak._, p. 43. In the following text, _see_ is transitive, and governs the infinitive; but the two verbs are put so far apart, that it requires some skill in the reader to make their relation apparent: "When ye therefore _shall see_ the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, _stand_ in the holy place," &c.--_Matt._, xxiv, 15. An other scripturist uses the _participle_, and says--"_standing_ where it ought not," &c.--_Mark_, xiii, 14. The Greek word is the same in both; it is a participle, agreeing with the noun for _abomination_. Sometimes the preposition _to_ seems to be admitted on purpose to protract the expression: as,

"Tranio, I _saw_ her coral lips _to move_,
And with her breath she did perfume the air."--_Shak_.

OBS 17.--A few other verbs, besides the eight which are mentioned in the foregoing rule and remarks, sometimes have the infinitive after them without _to_. W. Allen teaches, that, "The sign _to_ is _generally_ omitted," not only after these eight, but also after eight others; namely, "_find, have, help, mark, observe, perceive, watch_, and the old preterit _gan_, for _began_; and _sometimes_ after _behold_ and _know_."--_Elements of Gram._, p. 167. Perhaps he may have found _some instances_ of the omission of the preposition after all these, but in my opinion his rule gives a very unwarrantable extension to this "irregularity," as Murray calls it. The usage belongs only to particular verbs, and to them not in all their applications. Other verbs of the same import do not in general admit the same idiom. But, by a license for the most part peculiar to the poets, the preposition _to_ is occasionally omitted, especially after verbs equivalent to those which exclude it; as, "And _force_ them _sit_."--_Cowper's Task_, p. 46. That is, "And _make_ them _sit_." According to Churchill, "To use _ought_ or _cause_ in this manner, is a Scotticism: [as,] 'Won't you _cause_ them _remove_ the hares?'--'You _ought_ not _walk_.' SHAK."--_New Gram._, p. 317. The verbs, _behold, view, observe, mark, watch_, and _spy_, are only other words for _see_; as, "There might you _behold_ one joy _crown_ an other."--_Shak_. "There I sat, _viewing_ the silver stream _glide_ silently towards the tempestuous sea."--_Walton_. "I _beheld_ Satan as lightning _fall_ from heaven."--_Luke_, x, 18.

"Thy drowsy nurse hath sworn she did them _spy
Come_ tripping to the room where thou didst lie."--_Milton_.

------"Nor with less dread the loud
Ethereal trumpet from on high '_gan blow_."--_Id., P. L._, vi, 60.

OBS. 18.--After _have, help_, and _find_, the infinitive sometimes occurs without the preposition _to_, but much oftener with it; as, "When enumerating objects which we wish to _have appear_ distinct."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 222. "Certainly, it is heaven upon earth, to _have_ a man's mind _move_ in charity, _rest_ in Providence, and _turn_ upon the poles of truth."--_Ld. Bacon_. "What wilt thou _have_ me _to_ do?"--_Acts_, ix, 6. "He will _have_ us _to_ acknowledge him."--_Scougal_, p. 102. "I _had to walk_ all the way."--_Lennie's Gram._, p. 85. "Would you _have_ them _let go_ then? No."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 248. According to Allen's rule, this question is ambiguous; but the learned author explains it in Latin thus: "Placet igitur eos _dimitti_? Minimé." That is, "Would you have them _dismissed_ then? No." Had he meant, "Would you have them _to_ let go then?" he would doubtless have said so. Kirkham, by adding _help_ to Murray's list, enumerates nine verbs which he will have to exclude the sign of the infinitive; as, "_Help_ me _do_ it."--_Gram._, p. 188. But good writers sometimes use the particle _to_ after this verb; as, "And Danby's matchless impudence _helped to_ support the knave."--DRYDEN: _Joh. Dict., w. Help_. Dr. Priestley says, "It must, I suppose, be according to the _Scotch_ idiom that Mrs. Macaulay omits it after the verb _help_: 'To _help carry_ on the new measures of the court.' _History_, Vol. iv, p. 150."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 133. "You will _find_ the difficulty _disappear_ in a short time."--_Cobbett's English Gram._, ¶ 16. "We shall always _find_ this distinction _obtain_."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 245. Here the preposition _to_ might have been inserted with propriety. Without it, a plural noun will render the construction equivocal. The sentence, "You will find the _difficulties disappear_ in a short time," will probably be understood to mean, "You will find _that_ the difficulties disappear in a short time." "I do not _find_ him _reject_ his authority."--_Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 167. Here too the preposition might as well have been inserted. But, as this use of the infinitive is a sort of Latinism, some critics would choose to say, "I do not find _that he rejects_ his authority." "Cyrus was extremely glad to find _them have_ such sentiments of religion."--_Rollin_, ii, 117. Here the infinitive may be varied either by the participle or by the indicative; as, "to find _them having_," or, "to find _they had_." Of the three expressions, the last, I think, is rather the best.

OBS. 19.--When two or more infinitives are connected in the same construction, one preposition sometimes governs them both or all; a repetition of the particle not being always necessary, unless we mean to make the terms severally emphatical. This fact is one evidence that _to_ is not a necessary part of each infinitive verb, as some will have it to be. Examples: "Lord, suffer me first TO _go_ and _bury_ my father."--_Matt._, viii, 21. "To _shut_ the door, means, TO _throw_ or _cast_ the door to."--_Tooke's D. P._, ii, 105. "Most authors expect the printer TO _spell, point_, and _digest_ their copy, that it may be intelligible to the reader."--_Printer's Grammar_.

"I'll not be made a soft and dull-eyed fool,
To _shake_ the head, _relent_, and _sigh_, and _yield_."--_Shak_.

OBS. 20.--An infinitive that explains an other, may sometimes be introduced without the preposition _to_; because, the former having it, the construction of the latter is made the same by this kind of apposition: as, "The most accomplished way of using books at present is, TO _serve_ them as some do lords; _learn_ their _titles_, and, then _brag_ of their acquaintance."--SWIFT: _Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 166.

OBS. 21.--After _than_ or _as_, the sign of the infinitive is sometimes required, and sometimes excluded; and in some instances we can either insert it or not, as we please. The latter term of a comparison is almost always more or less elliptical; and as the nature of its ellipsis depends on the structure of the former term, so does the necessity of inserting or of omitting the sign of the infinitive. Examples: "No desire is more universal than [_is the desire_] to be exalted and honoured."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 197. "The difficulty is not so great to die for a friend, as [_is the difficulty_] to find a friend worth dying for."--_Id., Art of Thinking_, p. 42. "It is no more in one's power to love or not to love, than [_it is in one's power_] to be in health or out of order."--_Ib._, p. 45. "Men are more likely to be praised into virtue, than [_they are likely_] to be railed out of vice."--_Ib._, p. 48. "It is more tolerable to be always alone, than [_it is tolerable_] never to be so."--_Ib._, p. 26. "Nothing [_is_] more easy than to do mischief [_is easy_]: nothing [is] more difficult than to suffer without complaining" [_is difficult_].--_Ib._, p. 46. Or: "than [_it is easy_] to do mischief:" &c., "than [_it is difficult_] to suffer," &c. "It is more agreeable to the nature of most men to follow than [_it is agreeable to their nature_] to lead."--_Ib._, p. 55. In all these examples, the preposition _to_ is very properly inserted; but what excludes it from the former term of a comparison, will exclude it from the latter, if such governing verb be understood there: as, "You no more heard me _say_ those words, than [_you heard me_] _talk_ Greek." It may be equally proper to say, "We choose rather to lead than _follow_," or, "We choose rather to lead than _to_ follow."--_Art of Thinking_, p. 37. The meaning in either case is, "We choose to lead rather than _we choose to_ follow." In the following example, there is perhaps an ellipsis of _to_ before _cite_: "I need do nothing more than _simply cite_ the explicit declarations," &c.--_Gurney's Peculiarities_, p. 4. So in these: "Nature did no more than _furnish_ the power and means."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 147.

"To beg, than _work_, he better understands;
Or we perhaps might take him off thy hands."
--_Pope's Odyssey_, xvii, 260.

OBS. 22.--It has been stated, in Obs. 16th on Rule 17th, that good writers are apt to shun a repetition of any part common to two or more verbs in the same sentence; and among the examples there cited is this: "They mean _to_, and will, hear patiently."--_Salem Register_. So one might say, "Can a man arrive at excellence, who has no desire _to_?"--"I do not wish to go, nor expect _to_."--"Open the door, if you are going _to_." Answer: "We want _to_, and try _to_, but can't." Such ellipses of the infinitive after _to_, are by no means uncommon, especially in conversation; nor do they appear to me to be always reprehensible, since they prevent repetition, and may contribute to brevity without obscurity. But Dr. Bullions has lately thought proper to _condemn_ them; for such is presumed to have been the design of the following note: "_To_, the sign of the infinitive, should never be used for the infinitive itself. Thus, 'I have not written, and I do not intend _to_,' is a colloquial vulgarism for, 'I have not written, and I do not intend _to write_.'"--_Bullions's Analyt. and Pract. Gram._, p. 179. His "Exercises to be corrected," here, are these: "Be sure to write yourself and tell him to. And live as God designed me to."--_Ib._, 1st Ed., p. 180. It being manifest, that _to_ cannot "be used _for_"--(that is, _in place of_--)what is implied _after_ it, this is certainly a very awkward way of hinting "there should never be an ellipsis of the infinitive after _to_." But, from the false syntax furnished, this appears to have been the meaning intended. The examples are severally faulty, but not for the reason suggested--not because "_to_" is used for "_write_" or "_live_"--not, indeed, for any one reason common to the three--but because, in the first, "_to write_" and "_have not written_," have nothing in common which we can omit; in the second, the mood of "_tell_" is doubtful, and, without a comma after "yourself," we cannot precisely know the meaning; in the third, the mood, the person, and the number of "_live_," are all unknown. See Note 9th to Rule 17th, above; and Note 2d to the General Rule, below.

OBS. 23.--Of some infinitives, it is hard to say whether they are transitive or intransitive; as, "Well, then, let us proceed; we have other forced marches to _make_; other enemies to _subdue_; more laurels to _acquire_; and more injuries to _avenge_."--BONAPARTE: _Columbian Orator_, p. 136. These, without ellipsis, are intransitive; but relatives may be inserted.

IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.

FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE XIX.

INFINITIVES AFTER BID, DARE, FEEL, HEAR, LET, &c.

"I dare not to proceed so hastily, lest I should give offence."--_Murray's Exercises_, p. 63.

[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the preposition _to_ is inserted before _proceed_, which follows the active verb _dare_. But, according to Rule 19th, "The active verbs, _bid, dare, feel, hear, let, make, need, see_, and their participles, usually take the infinitive after them without the preposition _to_;" and this is an instance in which the finite verb should immediately govern the infinitive. Therefore, the _to_ should be omitted; thus, "I _dare_ not _proceed_ so hastily," &c.]

"Their character is formed, and made appear."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 115.

[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the preposition _to_ is not inserted between _made_ and _appear_, the verb _is made_ being passive. But, according to Obs. 5th and 10th on Rule 19th, those verbs which in the active form govern the infinitive without _to_, do not so govern it when they are made passive, except the verb _let_. Therefore, _to_ should be here inserted; thus, "Their character is formed, and made _to_ appear."]

"Let there be but matter and opportunity offered, and you shall see them quickly to revive again."--_Wisdom of the Ancients_, p. 53. "It has been made appear, that there is no presumption against a revelation."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 252. "MANIFEST, _v. t_. To reveal; to make to appear; to show plainly."--_Webster's American Dict._ "Let him to reign like unto good Aurelius, or let him to bleed like unto Socrates."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 169. "To sing I could not; to complain I durst not."--_S. Fothergill_. "If T. M. be not so frequently heard pray by them."--_Barclay's Works_, iii, 132. "How many of your own church members were never heard pray?"--_Ib._, iii, 133. "Yea, we are bidden pray one for another."--_Ib._, iii, 145. "He was made believe that neither the king's death, nor imprisonment would help him."--_Sheffield's Works_, ii, 281. "I felt a chilling sensation to creep over me."--_Inst._, p. 188. "I dare to say he has not got home yet."--_Ib._ "We sometimes see bad men to be honoured."--_Ib._ "I saw him to move."--_Felch's Comprehensive Gram._, p. 62. "For see thou, ah! see thou a hostile world to raise its terrours."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 167. "But that he make him to rehearse so."--_Lily's Gram._, p. xv. "Let us to rise."--_Fowle's True Eng. Gram._, p. 41.

"Scripture, you know, exhorts us to it;
Bids us to 'seek peace, and ensue it.'"--_Swift's Poems_, p. 336.

"Who bade the mud from Dives' wheel
To spurn the rags of Lazarus?
Come, brother, in that dust we'll kneel,
Confessing Heaven that ruled it thus."--_Christmas Book_.