so that the two cases, which, in the const tence, are the next before and after it, mu Perhaps this subject will be more intellig by observing, that the words in the cases lowing the verb to be, may be said to be in other. Thus, in the sentence, "I under the words it and him are in apposition; t to the same thing, and are in the same ca

The following sentences contain devia and exhibit the pronoun in a wrong cas been him, but there is no proof of it," .6 ed, it could not have been me;" "I sav to be she; "She is the person who I un been;""Who do you think me to be? say that I am?" "And whom think ye th Passive verbs which signify naming, case before and after them: as, "He She was named Penelope; Homer is st poets; James was created a duke; Th ted emperor; The professor was app prince."*

5. The auxiliary let governs the "Let him beware;" "Let us judge ca not presume;" "Let George study his

RULE XII.

One verb governs another that pends upon it, in the infinitive m to do evil; learn to do well;" prepared to render an account of

The preposition to, though g fore the latter verb, is sometimes as, "I heard him say it;" instea

The verbs which have commonly o them in the infinitive mood, without dare, need, make, see, hear, feel; and an auxiliary; and perhaps a few othe

See English Exercises, 11th edit.

ers, is superfluous and improper. "I have observed some atirists to use," &c. "To see so many to make so little onscience of so great a sin." "It cannot but be a delightul spectacle to God and angels, to see a young person, beieged by powerful temptations on every side, to acquit imself gloriously, and resolutely to hold out against the nost violent assaults; to behold one in the prime and flower of his age, that is courted by pleasures and honours, by the devil, and all the bewitching vanities of the world, to reject all these, and to cleave steadfastly unto God."

This mood has also been improperly used, in the following places: "I am not like other men, to envy the talents I cannot reach." "Grammarians have denied, or at least doubted them to be genuine.' "That all our doings may be ordered by thy governance, to do always what is righteous in thy sight.".

166

The infinitive is fréquently governed by adjectives, substantives, and participles: as, "He is eager to learn;" "She is worthy to be loved;" "They have a desire to im prove;""Endeavouring to persuade.'

The infinitive mood has much of the nature of a sub stantive, expressing the action itself which the verb signi fies, as the participle has the nature of an adjective. Thu the infinitive mood does the office of a substantive in differ ent cases; in the nominative; as, "To play is pleasant:" in the objective: as, "Boys love to play;" "For to will i present with me; but to preform that which is good, find not "

The infinitive mood is often made absolute, or used independently on the rest of the sentence, supplying th place of the conjunction that with the potential mood: as "To confess the truth, I was in fauit; "To begin with th first." "To proceed: "To conclude;" that is, "That may confess," &c.

RULE XIII

In the use of words and phrases which, in point of time, relate to each other, a due regard t

taken away;" we should say, and the Lord hath taken away." remember the family more than it should be, "I have remembered than twenty years.

It is not easy to give particular rules of the moods and tenses of verbs with r er, so that they may be proper and co rule that can be given, is this very ge serve what the sense recessarily requi ever, be of use to give a few examples o tion. "The last week I intended to very common phrase; the infinitive be as well as the verb which it follows. wrong: for how long soever it now writing, "to write" was then present t be considered as present, when I bring the thoughts of it It ought, therefo week I intended to write. The foll also erroneous: "I cannot excuse the whose business it should have been, as interest, to have interposed their go were two circumstances which made to have lost no time." "History paint it difficult to have invented such a speci ought to be, "to interpose, to lose, t morro, because he should have 1 wherefore he was accused of the Jews ought to be, "because he would kn willing to know." "The blind man that I might receive my sight." "If attain unto the resurrection of the d places, would have been better. "Fr edge, he appears to study the Script tion;"" to have studied," &c. "I have lost it, before I arrived at the ci

I had rather walk;" It should be, " It would have afforded me no satisfa form it :" it should be, "If I could h "It would afford me no satisfaction, i

hat the auxiliaries should and would, in the imperfect times, re used to express the present and future as well as the ast for which see page 71.

1. It is proper further to observe, that verbs of the ininitive mood in the following form; "to write," "to be writing" and "to be written," always denote something ontemporary with the time of the governing verb, or subequent to it but when verbs of that mood are expressed as follows: "To have been writing," "to have written," and "to have been written," they always denote something antecedent to the time of the governing verb. This remark is thought to be of importance; for if duly attended to, it will, in most cases, be sufficient to direct us in the relative application of these tenses.

The following sentence is properly and analogically expressed: "I found him better than I expected to find him." "Expected to have found him," is irreconcilable alike to grammar and to sense. Indeed, all verbs expressive of hope, desire, intention, or command, must invariably be followed by the present, and not the perfect of the infinitive. Every person would perceive an error in this expression: "It is long since I commanded him to have done it:" Yet "expected to have found," is no better. It is as clear that the finding must be posterior to the expectations, as that the obedience must be posterior to the command.

As

In the sentence which follows, the verb is with propriety put in the perfect tense of the infinitive mood: "It would have afforded me great pleasure, as often as I reflected upon it, to have been the messenger of such intelligence." the message, in this instance, was antecedent to the pleasure, and not contemporary with it, the verb expressive of the message must denote that antecedence, by being in the perfect of the infinitive. If the message and the pleasure had been referred to as contemporary, the subsequent verb would, with equal propriety, have been put in the present of the infinitive: as, "It would have afforded me great pleasure to be the messenger of such intelligence." In the former instance, the phrase in question is equivalent to these words; "If I had been the messenger;" in the latter instance, to this expression: "Being the messenger."-For

press the past time with the defective v fect of the infinitive must always be us to have done it." When we use this v possible way to distinguish the past from

In support of the positions advanced can produce the sentiments of emin amongst whom are Lowth and Campb some writers on grammar, who strenu the governed verb in the infinitive ou tense, when the verb which governs it Though this cannot be admitted, in the controverted under this rule, or in any lar nature, yet there can be no doubt th which the thing referred to preceded t would be proper and allowable. We conversation I once had with him, h studied Homer with great care and ju be proper also to say, "From his con to have studied Homer with great c "That unhappy man is supposed olence." These examples are not our rule, but they confirm and illustra of the governing verb only, that mar absolute time; the tense of the verb g ly its relative time with respect to the

To assert, as some writers do, that mood have no tenses, no relative disting and future, is inconsistent with just the subject. That these verbs associ the tenses, is no proof of their havin their own. Whatever period the gov whether present, past, or future, the infinitive always respects that period, lated from it. Thus, the time of the fore, after, or the same as, the time according as the thing signified by the ed to be before, after, or present with the governing verb. It is, therefore that tenses are assigned to verbs o The point of time from which they a