Part 134 (2/2)
OBS 2--Ingersoll, who converted Murray's Grammar into ”_Conversations_,”
says, ”I will just remark to you that the verbs in the infinitive mood, that follow _make, need, see, bid, dare, feel, hear, let_, and their participles, are _always_ GOVERNED by the Gram_, p
120 Kirkham, who pretended to turn the san of the infinitive mood, is _often understood_ before the verb; as, 'Let me proceed;' that is, Let me _to_ proceed”--_Gram in Fam Lect_, p 137 The lecturer, however, does not suppose the infinitive to be here governed by the preposition _to_, or the verb _let_, but rather by the pronoun _me_ For, in an other place, he avers, that the infinitive overned by a noun or a pronoun; as, ”Let _hiovernment of the infinitive is to be referred to the objective noun or pronoun that intervenes, none of those verbs that take the infinitive after theovern it, except _dare_ and _need_; and if _need_, in such a case, is an _auxiliary_, no government pertains to that R C
S the san of this o,' instead of, 'Letto Murray, whom these men profess to follow, _let_, in all these examples, is _an auxiliary_, and the verb that follows it, is not in the _infinitive_ mood, but in the _imperative_ So they severally contradict their oracle, and all are wrong, both he and they! The disciples pretend to correct their o_,”
and ”_Let lish!+
OBS 3--It is often ioverned, according to the instructions of Murray, or according to any author who does not parse it as I do Nutting says, ”The infinitive _mode_ sometimes follows the comparative conjunctions, _as, than_, and _how_, WITHOUT GOVERNMENT”--_Practical Gram_, p 106 Murray's uncertainty[415]
may have led to some part of this notion, but the idea that _how_ is a ”comparative conjunction,” is a blunder entirely new Kirkhaist,” that he bolts outright froning that other able writers have well contended, ”that this ly he leaves his pupils at liberty to ”_reject the idea of government_, as applied to the verb in this mood;” and even frames a rule which refers it always ”To some noun or pronoun, as its subject or actor”--_Kirkham's Gram_, p 188 Murray teaches that the object of the active verb sooverns the infinitive that follows it: as, ”They have a _desire_ to improve”--_Octavo Gram_, p 184 To what extent, in practice, he would carry this doctrine, nobody can tell; probably to every sentence in which this object is the antecedent term to the preposition _to_, and perhaps further: as, ”I _have_ a _house_ to _sell_”--_Nutting's Gram_, p 106 ”I _feel_ a _desire_ to _excel_” ”I _felt_ my _heart_ withinsupposes that the objective case before the infinitive always governs it wherever it denotes the agent of the infinitive action; as, ”He commands _me_ to _write_ a letter”--_Practical Gram_, p 96
Nixon, on the contrary, contends, that the finite verb, in such a sentence, can govern only one object, and that this object is the infinitive ”The objective case preceding it,” he says, ”is the subject or agent of that infinitive, and not governed by the preceding verb” His exalish Parser_, p 97 ”In the exa _to persuade_ them _to learn_,'--'It is pleasant _to see_ the sun,'--the pronoun _the_, I consider as _governing_ the following verb in the infinitive mode”--_Cooper's Plain and Pract Graovern the infinitive mode in such exae the expression: 'He was expected to be present' _All will adoverned by _was expected_ The saoverns it in the active”--_Sanborn's Graraovernment of the infinitive, even in _the most common_ constructions of it! Often, however, it ard to the sense, which of the tords is considered the governing or antecedent term; but where the preposition is excluded, the construction seems to imply some immediate influence of the finite verb upon the infinitive
OBS 5--The _extent_ of this influence, or of such governularity_,” 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 Grareat 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'”--_Graentlemen here call ”_neuter verbs_,” are only the tords _dare_ and _need_, which are, in h 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, see of the rule
OBS 6--Of the verb BID This verb, in any of its tenses, when it cooverns an object and also an infinitive, which coether; as, ”Thou _bidst_ the _world adore_”--_Tho”--_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 so a command; as,
”_Bid_ ed 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_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 i _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 exalish, 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 huainst heaven's endless mercies pour'd, how _dar'st_ thou _to_ rebel?”
--_Id_, p 380
”The reater pain”
--_Id_, p 381
OBS 8--Of the verb FEEL This verb, in any of its tenses, n _to_; but it does this, only when it is used transitively, and that in regard to a bodily perception: as, ”I _feel_ it __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_ ashao 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