The Grammar of English Grammars

by Goold Brown

[403] Nutting, I suppose, did not imagine the Greek article, [Greek: to], the, and the English or Saxon verb do, to be equivalent or kindred words. But there is no knowing what terms conjectural etymology may not contrive to identify, or at least to approximate and ally. The ingenious David Booth, if he does not actually identify do, with [Greek: to], the, has discovered synonymes [sic—KTH] and cognates that are altogether as unapparent to common observers: as, "It and the," says he, "when Gender is not attended to, are synonymous. Each is expressive of Being in general, and when used Verbally, signifies to bring forth, or to add to what we already see. The, it, and, add, at, to, and do, are kindred words. They mark that an addition is made to some collected mass of existence. To, which literally signifies add, (like at and the Latin ad,) is merely a different pronunciation of do. It expresses the junction of an other thing, or circumstance, as appears more evidently from its varied orthography of too."—Introd. to Analyt. Dict., p. 45. Horne Tooke, it seems, could not persuade this author into his notion of the derivation and meaning of the, it, to, or do. But Lindley Murray, and his followers, have been more tractable. They were ready to be led without looking. "To," say they, "comes from Saxon and Gothic words, which signify action, effect, termination, to act, &c."—Murray's Gram., 8vo, p. 183; Fisk's, 92. What an admirable explanation is this! and how prettily the great Compiler says on the next leaf: "Etymology, when it is guided by judgment, and [when] proper limits are set to it, certainly merits great attention!"—Ib., p. 135. According to his own express rules for interpreting "a substantive without any article to limit it" and the "relative pronoun with a comma before it," he must have meant, that "to comes from Saxon and Gothic words" of every sort, and that the words of these two languages "signify action, effect, termination, to act, &c." The latter assertion is true enough: but, concerning the former, a man of sense may demur. Nor do I see how it is possible not to despise such etymology, be the interpretation of the words what it may. For, if to means action or to act, then our little infinitive phrase, to be, must mean, action be, or to act be; and what is this, but nonsense?

[404] So, from the following language of three modern authors, one cannot but infer, that they would parse the verb as governed by the preposition; but I do not perceive that they anywhere expressly say so:

(1.) "The Infinitive is the form of the supplemental verb that always has, or admits, the preposition TO before it; as, to move. Its general character is to represent the action in prospect, or to do; or in retrospect, as to have done. As a verb, it signifies to do the action; and as object of the preposition TO, it stands in the place of a noun for the doing of it. The infinitive verb and its prefix to are used much like a preposition and its noun object."—Felch's Comprehensive Gram., p. 62.

(2.) "The action or other signification of a verb may be expressed in its widest and most general sense, without any limitation by a person or agent, but merely as the end or purpose of some other action, state of being, quality, or thing; it is, from this want of limitation, said to be in the Infinitive mode; and is expressed by the verb with the preposition TO before it, to denote this relation of end or purpose; as, 'He came to see me;' 'The man is not fit die;' 'It was not right for him to do thus.'"—Dr. S. Webber's English Gram., p. 35.

(3.) "RULE 3. A verb in the Infinitive Mode, is the object of the preposition TO, expressed or understood."—S. W. Clark's Practical Gram., p. 127.

[405] Rufus Nutting, A. M., a grammarian of some skill, supposes that in all such sentences there was "anciently" an ellipsis, not of the phrase "in order to," but of the preposition for. He says, "Considering this mode as merely a verbal noun, it might be observed, that the infinitive, when it expresses the object, is governed by a transitive verb; and, when it expresses the final cause, is governed by an intransitive verb, OR ANCIENTLY, BY A PREPOSITION UNDERSTOOD. Of the former kind—'he learns to read.' Of the latter—'he reads to learn,' i. e. 'for to learn.'"—Practical Gram., p. 101. If for was anciently understood in examples of this sort, it is understood now, and to a still greater extent; because we do not now insert the word for, as our ancestors sometimes did; and an ellipsis can no otherwise grow obsolete, than by a continual use of what was once occasionally omitted.

[406] (1.) "La préposition, est un mot indéclinable, placé devant les noms, les pronoms, et les verbes, qu'elle régit."—"The preposition is an indeclinable word placed before the nouns, pronouns, and verbs which it governs."—Perrin's Grammar, p. 152.

(2.) "Every verb placed immediately after an other verb, or after a preposition, ought to be put in the infinitive; because it is then the regimen of the verb or preposition which precedes."—See La Grammaire des Grammaires, par Girault Du Vivier, p. 774.

(3.) The American translator of the Elements of General Grammar, by the Baron De Sacy, is naturally led, in giving a version of his author's method of analysis, to parse the English infinitive mood essentially as I do; calling the word to a preposition, and the exponent, or sign, of a relation between the verb which follows it, and some other word which is antecedent to it. Thus, in the phrase, "commanding them to use his power," he says, that "'to' [is the] Exponent of a relation whose Antecedent is 'commanding,' and [whose] Consequent [is] 'use.'"—Fosdick's De Sacy, p. 131. In short, he expounds the word to in this relation, just as he does when it stands before the objective case. For example, in the phrase, "belonging to him alone: 'to,' Exponent of a relation of which the Antecedent is 'belonging,' and the Consequent, 'him alone.'"—Ib., p. 126. My solution, in either case, differs from this in scarcely any thing else than the choice of words to express it.

(4.) It appears that, in sundry dialects of the north of Europe, the preposition at has been preferred for the governing of the infinitive: "The use of at for to, as the sign of the infinitive mode, is Norse, not Saxon. It is the regular prefix in Icelandic, Danish, Swedish, and Feroic. It is also found in the northern dialects of the Old English, and in the particular dialect of Westmoreland at the present day."—Fowler, on the English Language, 8vo, 1850, p. 46.