OBS. 28.—The infinitive usually follows the word on which it depends, or to which the particle to connects it; but this order is sometimes reversed: as, "To beg I am ashamed."—Luke, xvi, 3. "To keep them no longer in suspense, [I say plainly,] Sir Roger de Coverly is dead."—Addison. "To suffer, as to do, Our strength is equal."—Milton.
"To catch your vivid scenes, too gross her hand."—Thomson.
OBS. 29.—Though, in respect to its syntax, the infinitive is oftener connected with a verb, a participle, or an adjective, than with a noun or a pronoun, it should never be so placed that the reader will be liable to mistake the person to whom, or the thing to which, the being, action, or passion, pertains. Examples of error: "This system will require a long time to be executed as it should be."—Journal of N. Y. Lit. Convention, 1830, p. 91. It is not the time, that is to be executed; therefore say, "This system, to be executed as it should be, will require a long time." "He spoke in a manner distinct enough to be heard by the whole assembly."—Murray's Key, 8vo, p. 192. This implies that the orator's manner was heard! But the grammarian interprets his own meaning, by the following alternative: "Or—He spoke distinctly enough to be heard by the whole assembly."—Ibid. This suggests that the man himself was heard. "When they hit upon a figure that pleases them, they are loth to part with it, and frequently continue it so long, as to become tedious and intricate."—Murray's Gram., p. 341. Is it the authors, or their figure, that becomes tedious and intricate? If the latter, strike out, "so long, as to become," and say, "till it becomes." "Facts are always of the greatest consequence to be remembered during the course of the pleading."—Blair's Rhet., p. 272. The rhetorician here meant: "The facts stated in an argument, are always those parts of it, which it is most important that the hearers should be made to remember."
OBS. 30.—According to some grammarians, "The Infinitive of the verb to be, is often understood; as, 'I considered it [to be] necessary to send the dispatches.'"—W. Allen's Gram., p. 166. In this example, as in thousands more, of various forms, the verb to be may be inserted without affecting the sense; but I doubt the necessity of supposing an ellipsis in such sentences. The adjective or participle that follows, always relates to the preceding objective; and if a noun is used, it is but an other objective in apposition with the former: as, "I considered it an imposition." The verb to be, with the perfect participle, forms the passive infinitive; and the supposition of such an ellipsis, extensively affects one's mode of parsing. Thus, "He considered himself insulted," "I will suppose the work accomplished," and many similar sentences, might be supposed to contain passive infinitives. Allen says, "In the following construction, the words in italics are (elliptically) passive infinitives; I saw the bird caught, and the hare killed; we heard the letters read."—W. Allen's Gram., p. 168. Dr. Priestley observes, "There is a remarkable ambiguity in the use of the participle preterite, as the same word may express a thing either doing, or done; as, I went to see the child dressed."—Priestley's Gram., p. 125. If the Doctor's participle is ambiguous, I imagine that Allen's infinitives are just as much so. "The participle which we denominate past, often means an action whilst performing: thus, I saw the battle fought, and the standard lowered."—Wilson's Essay, p. 158. Sometimes, especially in familiar conversation, an infinitive verb is suppressed, and the sign of it retained; as, "They might have aided us; they ought to" [have aided us].—Herald of Freedom. "We have tried to like it, but it's hard to."—Lynn News.
OBS. 31.—After the verb make, some writers insert the verb be, and suppress the preposition to; as, "He must make every syllable, and even every letter, in the word which he pronounces, be heard distinctly."—Blair's Rhet., p. 329; Murray's E. Reader, p. 9. "You must make yourself be heard with pleasure and attention."—Duncan's Cicero, p. 84. "To make himself be heard by all."—Blair's Rhet., p. 328. "To make ourselves be heard by one."—Ibid. "Clear enough to make me be understood."—Locke, on Ed., p. 198. In my opinion, it would be better, either to insert the to, or to use the participle only; as, "The information which he possessed, made his company to be courted."—Dr. M'Rie. "Which will both show the importance of this rule, and make the application of it to be understood."—Blair's Rhet., p. 103. Or, as in these brief forms: "To make himself heard by all."—"Clear enough to make me understood."
OBS. 32.—In those languages in which the infinitive is distinguished as such by its termination, this part of the verb may be used alone as the subject of a finite verb; but in English it is always necessary to retain the sign to before an abstract infinitive, because there is nothing else to distinguish the verb from a noun. Here we may see a difference between our language and the French, although it has been shown, that in their government of the infinitive they are in some degree analogous:—"HAÏR est un tourment; AIMER est un besoin de l'âme."—M. de Ségur. "To hate is a torment; to love is a requisite of the soul." If from this any will argue that to is not here a preposition, the same argument will be as good, to prove that for is not a preposition when it governs the objective case; because that also may be used without any antecedent term of relation: as, "They are by no means points of equal importance, for me to be deprived of your affections, and for him to be defeated in his prosecution."—Anon., in W. Allen's Gram., p. 166. I said, the sign to must always be put before an abstract infinitive: but possibly a repetition of this sign may not always be necessary, when several such infinitives occur in the same construction: as, "But, to fill a heart with joy, restore content to the afflicted, or relieve the necessitous, these fall not within the reach of their five senses."—Art of Thinking, p. 66. It may be too much to affirm, that this is positively ungrammatical; yet it would be as well or better, to express it thus: "But to relieve the necessitous, to restore content to the afflicted, and to fill a heart with joy, these full not within the reach of their five senses."
OBS. 33.—In the use of the English infinitive, as well as of the participle in ing, the distinction of voice is often disregarded; the active form being used in what, with respect to the noun before it, is a passive sense: as, "There's no time to waste."—W. Allen's Gram., p. 82. "You are to blame."—Ib. "The humming-bird is delightful to look upon."—Ib. "What pain it was to drown."—Shak. "The thing's to do."—Id. "When deed of danger was to do."—Scott. "The evil I bring upon myself, is the hardest to bear."—Home's Art of Thinking, p. 27. "Pride is worse to bear than cruelty."—Ib., p. 37. These are in fact active verbs, and not passive. We may suggest agents for them, if we please; as, "There is no time for us to waste." That the simple participle in ing may be used passively, has been proved elsewhere. It seems sometimes to have no distinction of voice; as, "What is worth doing, is worth doing well."—Com. Maxim. This is certainly much more agreeable, than to say, "What is worth being done, is worth being done well." In respect to the voice of the infinitive, and of this participle, many of our grammarians are obviously hypercritical. For example: "The active voice should not be used for the passive; as, I have work to do: a house to sell, to let, instead of to be done, to be sold, to be let."—Sanborn's Gram., p. 220. "Active verbs are often used improperly with a passive signification, as, 'the house is building, lodgings to let, he has a house to sell, nothing is wanting;' in stead of 'the house is being built, lodgings to be lett, he has a house to be sold, nothing is wanted.'"—Blair's Gram., p. 64. In punctuation, orthography, and the use of capitals, here are more errors than it is worth while to particularize. With regard to such phraseology as, "The house is being built," see, in Part II, sundry Observations on the Compound Form of Conjugation. To say, "I have work to do,"—"He has a house to sell,"—or, "We have lodgings to let," is just as good English, as to say, "I have meat to eat."—John, iv, 32. And who, but some sciolist in grammar, would, in all such instances, prefer the passive voice?
IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE XVIII.
INFINITIVES DEMANDING THE PARTICLE TO.
"William, please hand me that pencil."—R. C. Smith's New Gram., p. 12.