[414] "The Infinitive Mood is not confined to a trunk or nominative, and is always preceded by to, expressed or implied."—S. Barrett's Gram., 1854, p. 43.
[415] Lindley Murray, and several of his pretended improvers, say, "The infinitive sometimes follows the word AS: thus, 'An object so high as to be invisible.' The infinitive occasionally follows THAN after a comparison; as, 'He desired nothing more than to know his own imperfections.'"—Murray's Gram., 8vo, p. 184; Fisk's, 125; Alger's, 63; Merchant's, 92. See this second example in Weld's Gram., p. 167; Abridg., 124. Merchant, not relishing the latter example, changes it thus: "I wish nothing more, than to know his fate." He puts a comma after more, and probably means, "I wish nothing else than to know his fate." So does Fisk, in the other version: and probably means, "He desired nothing else than to know his own imperfections." But Murray, Alger, and Weld, accord in punctuation, and their meaning seems rather to be, "He desired nothing more heartily than [he desired] to know his own imperfections." And so is this or a similar text interpreted by both Ingersoll and Weld, who suppose this infinitive to be "governed by another verb, understood: as, 'He desired nothing more than to see his friends;' that is, 'than he desired to see,' &c."—Ingersoll's Gram., p. 244; Weld's Abridged, 124. But obvious as is the ambiguity of this fictitious example, in all its forms, not one of these five critics perceived the fault at all. Again, in their remark above cited, Ingersoll, Fisk, and Merchant, put a comma before the preposition "after," and thus make the phrase, "after a comparison," describe the place of the infinitive. But Murray and Alger probably meant that this phrase should denote the place of the conjunction "than." The great "Compiler" seems to me to have misused the phrase "a comparison," for, "an adjective or adverb of the comparative degree;" and the rest, I suppose, have blindly copied him, without thinking or knowing what he ought to have said, or meant to say. Either this, or a worse error, is here apparent. Five learned grammarians severally represent either "than" or "the infinitive," as being AFTER "a comparison;" of which one is the copula, and the other but the beginning of the latter term! Palpable as is the absurdity, no one of the five perceives it! And, besides, no one of them says any thing about the government of this infinitive, except Ingersoll, and he supplies a verb. "Than and as," says Greenleaf, "sometimes appear to govern the infinitive mood; as, 'Nothing makes a man suspect much more, than to know little;' 'An object so high as to be invisible."—Gram. Simp., p. 38. Here is an other fictitious and ambiguous example, in which the phrase, "to know little," is the subject of makes understood. Nixon supposes the infinitive phrase after as to be always the subject of a finite verb understood after it; as, "An object so high as to be invisible is or, implies." See English Parser, p. 100.
[416] Dr. Crombie, after copying the substance of Campbell's second Canon, that, "In doubtful cases analogy should be regarded," remarks: "For the same reason, 'it needs' and 'he dares,' are better than 'he need' and 'he dare.'"—On Etym. and Synt., p. 326. Dr. Campbell's language is somewhat stronger: "In the verbs to dare and to need, many say, in the third person present singular, dare and need, as 'he need not go: he dare not do it.' Others say, dares and needs. As the first usage is exceedingly irregular, hardly any thing less than uniform practice could authorize it."—Philosophy of Rhet., p. 175. Dare for dares I suppose to be wrong; but if need is an auxiliary of the potential mood, to use it without inflection, is neither "irregular," nor at all inconsistent with the foregoing canon. But the former critic notices these verbs a second time, thus: "'He dare not,' 'he need not,' may be justly pronounced solecisms, for 'he dares,' 'he needs.'"—Crombie, on Etym. and Synt., p. 378. He also says, "The verbs bid, dare, need, make, see, hear, feel, let, are not followed by the sign of the infinitive."—Ib., p. 277. And yet he writes thus: "These are truths, of which, I am persuaded, the author, to whom I allude, needs not to be reminded."—Ib., p. 123. So Dr. Bullions declares against need in the singular, by putting down the following example as bad English: "He need not be in so much haste."—Bullions's E. Gram., p. 134. Yet he himself writes thus: "A name more appropriate than the term neuter, need not be desired."—Ib., p. 196. A school-boy may see the inconsistency of this.
[417] Some modern grammarians will have it, that a participle governed by a preposition is a "participial noun;" and yet, when they come to parse an adverb or an objective following, their "noun" becomes a "participle" again, and not a "noun." To allow words thus to dodge from one class to an other, is not only unphilosophical, but ridiculously absurd. Among those who thus treat this construction of the participle, the chief, I think, are Butler, Hurt, Weld, Wells, and S. S. Greene.
[418] Dr. Blair, to whom Murray ought to have acknowledged himself indebted for this sentence, introduced a noun, to which, in his work, this infinitive and these participles refer: thus, "It is disagreeable for the mind to be left pausing on a word which does not, by itself, produce any idea."—Blair's Rhetoric, p. 118. See Obs. 10th and 11th on Rule 14th.
[419] The perfect contrast between from and to, when the former governs the participle and the latter the infinitive, is an other proof that this to is the common preposition to. For example, "These are the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth."—Zech., vi, 5. Now if this were rendered "which go forth to stand," &c., it is plain that these prepositions would express quite opposite relations. Yet, probably from some obscurity in the original, the Greek version has been made to mean, "going forth to stand;" and the Latin, "which go forth, that they may stand;" while the French text conveys nearly the same sense as ours,—"which go forth from the place where they stood."
[420] Cannot, with a verb of avoiding, or with the negative but, is equivalent to must. Such examples may therefore be varied thus: "I cannot but mention:" i.e., "I must mention."—"I cannot help exhorting him to assume courage."—Knox. That is, "I cannot but exhort him."
[421] See the same thing in Kirkham's Gram. p. 189; in Ingersoll's, p. 200; in Smith's New Grammar, p. 162; and in other modifications and mutilations of Murray's work. Kirkham, in an other place, adopts the doctrine, that, "Participles frequently govern nouns and pronouns in the possessive case; as, 'In case of his majesty's dying without issue, &c.; Upon God's having ended all his works, &c.; I remember its being reckoned a great exploit; At my coming in he said, &c."—Kirkham's Gram., p. 181. None of these examples are written according to my notion of elegance, or of accuracy. Better: "In case his Majesty die without issue."—"God having ended all his works."—"I remember it was reckoned a great exploit."—"At my entrance, he said," &c.
[422] We have seen that Priestley's doctrine, as well as Lowth's, is, that when a participle is taken substantively, "it ought not to govern another word;" and, for the same reason, it ought not to have an adverb relating to it. But many of our modern grammarians disregard these principles, and do not restrict their "participial nouns" to the construction of nouns, in either of these respects. For example: Because one may say, "To read superficially, is useless," Barnard supposes it right to say, "Reading superficially is useless." "But the participle," says he, "will also take the adjective; as, 'Superficial reading is useless.'"—Analytic Gram., p. 212. In my opinion, this last construction ought to be preferred; and the second, which is both irregular and unnecessary, rejected. Again, this author says: "We have laid it down as a rule, that the possessive case belongs, like an adjective, to a noun. What shall be said of the following? 'Since the days of Samson, there has been no instance of a man's accomplishing a task so stupendous.' The entire clause following man's, is taken as a noun. 'Of a man's success in a task so stupendous.' would present no difficulty. A part of a sentence, or even a single participle, thus often stands for a noun. 'My going will depend on my father's giving his consent,' or 'on my father's consenting.' A participle thus used as a noun, may be called a PARTICIPIAL NOUN."—Ib., p. 131. I dislike this doctrine also. In the first example, man may well be made the leading word in sense; and, as such, it must be in the objective case; thus: "There has been no instance of a man accomplishing a task so stupendous." It is also proper to say. "My going will depend on my father's consenting," or, "on my father's consent." But an action possessed by the agent, ought not to be transitive. If, therefore, you make this the leading idea, insert of: thus, "There has been no instance of a man's accomplishing of a task so stupendous." "My going will depend on my father's giving of his consent."—"My brother's acquiring [of] the French language will be a useful preparation for his travels."—Barnard's Gram., p. 227. If participial nouns retain the power of participles, why is it wrong to say, "A superficial reading books is useless?" Again, Barnard approves of the question, "What do you think of my horse's running to-day?" and adds, "Between this form of expression and the following, 'What do you think of my horse running to-day?' it is sometimes said, that we should make a distinction; because the former implies that the horse had actually run, and the latter, that it is in contemplation to have him do so. The difference of meaning certainly exists; but it would seem more judicious to treat the latter as an improper mode of speaking. What can be more uncouth than to say, 'What do you think of me going to Niagara?' We should say my going, notwithstanding the ambiguity. We ought, therefore, to introduce something explanatory; as, 'What do you think of the propriety of my going to Niagara?"—Analytic Gram., p. 227. The propriety of a past action is as proper a subject of remark as that of a future one; the explanatory phrase here introduced has therefore nothing to do with Priestley's distinction, or with the alleged ambiguity. Nor does the uncouthness of an objective pronoun with the leading word in sense improperly taken as an adjunct, prove that a participle may properly take to itself a possessive adjunct, and still retain the active nature of a participle.
[423] The following is an example, but it is not very intelligible, nor would it be at all amended, if the pronoun were put in the possessive case: "I sympathize with my sable brethren, when I hear of them being spared even one lash of the cart-whip."—REV. DR. THOMPSON: Garrison, on Colonization, p. 80. And this is an other, in which the possessive pronoun would not be better: "But, if the slaves wish, to return to slavery, let them do so; not an abolitionist will turn out to stop them going back."—Antislavery Reporter, Vol. IV, p. 223. Yet it might be more accurate to say—"to stop them from going back." In the following example from the pen of Priestley, the objective is correctly used with as, where some would be apt to adopt the possessive: "It gives us an idea of him, as being the only person to whom it can be applied."—Priestley's Gram., p. 151. Is not this better English than to say, "of his being the only person?" The following is from the pen of a good scholar: "This made me remember the discourse we had together, at my house, about me drawing constitutions, not as proposals, but as if fixed to the hand."—WILLIAM PENN: Letter to Algernon Sidney, Oct. 13th, 1681. Here, if me is objectionable, my without of would be no less so. It might be better grammar to say, "about my drawing of constitutions."