The Verb to Be has always a Nominative Case after it; as, “it was I, and not He, that did it:” unless it be in the Infinitive Mode; “though you took it to be Him[46].”
The Adverbs when, while, after, &c. being left out, the Phrase is formed with the Participle independently of the rest of the Sentence: as, “The doors being shut, Jesus stood in the midst.” This is called the Case Absolute. And the Case is in English always the Nominative: as,
“God from the mount of Sinai, whose gray top
Shall tremble, He descending[47], will himself,
In thunder, lightning, and loud trumpet’s sound,
Ordain them laws.”
Milton, P. L. xii. 227.
To before a Verb is the sign of the Infinitive Mode: but there are some few Verbs, which have other Verbs following them in the Infinitive Mode without the sign to: as, bid, dare, need, make, see, hear; and, let, have, not used as Auxiliaries: as, “I bade him do it; you dare not do it; I saw him[48] do it; I heard him say it.”
The Infinitive Mode has much of the nature of a Substantive, expressing the Action itself which the Verb signifies; as the Participle has the nature of an Adjective. Thus the Infinitive Mode does the office of a Substantive in different cases; in the Nominative; as, “to play is pleasant:” in the Objective; as, “boys love to play.” In Greek it admits of the Article through all its cases, with the Preposition in the Oblique cases: in English the Article is not wanted, but the Preposition may be used: “For to will is present with me; but to perform that which is good I find not[49].” “All their works they do for to be seen of men[50].”