The English Language Part 87

In English we have two methods of expressing one idea; the method in question, and the method by means of the conjunction, _that_.

1. _I believe it to be him._ 2. _I believe that it is he._

In the first example, _it_ is the object; and _it-to-be-him_ forms one complex term.

In the second, _he_ agrees with _it_; and _it_ is the subject of a separate, though connected, proposition.

Of these two forms the Latin language adopts but one, _viz._, the former,--_credo eum esse_, not _credo quod illud est ille_.

-- 565. _The expression_ ob differentiam.--The cla.s.sical languages, although having but one of the two previous forms, are enabled to effect a variation in the application of it, which, although perhaps illogical, is convenient.

When the speaker means himself, the noun that follows, _esse_, or [Greek: einai], is nominative,--[Greek: phemi einai despotes]=_I say that I am the master_: _ait fuisse celerrimus_=_he says that he himself was the swiftest_--but, [Greek: phemi einai despoten]=_I say that he_ (some one else) _is the master_; and _ait fuisse celerrimum_=_he says that he_ (some one else) _is the swiftest_. This, though not adopted in English, is capable of being adopted,--_He believes it to be he_ (_i.e._, the speaker) _who invented the machine_; but, _he believes it to be him_ (that is, another person) _who invented it_.

-- 566. When the substantive infinitive, _to be_, is preceded by a pa.s.sive participle, combined with the verb substantive, the construction is nominative,--_it is believed to be he who spoke_, not _it is believed to be him_.--Here there are two propositions:

1. It is believed.-- 2. Who spoke.

{450} Now, here, _it_ is the subject, and, as such, nominative. But it is also the equivalent to _to be he_, which must be nominative as well. _To be he is believed_=_esse-ille creditur_,--or, changing the mode of proof,--

1. _It_ is the subject and nominative.

2. _Believed_ is part of the predicate; and, consequently, nominative also.

3. _To be he_ is a subordinate part of the predicate, in apposition with _believed_--_est creditum, nempe ent.i.tas ejus_. Or, _to be he is believed_=_esse-ille est creditum_.

As a general expression for the syntax of copulas and appositional constructions, the current rule, that _copulas and appositional verbs must be followed by the same case by which they are preceded_, stands good.

{451}

CHAPTER XVIII.

ON THE PARTICIPLES.

-- 567. The present participle, or the participle in _-ing_, must be considered in respect to its relations with the substantive in _-ing_.

_Dying-day_ is, probably, no more a participle than _morning-walk_. In respect to the syntax of such expressions as the forthcoming, I consider that they are _either_ participles or substantives.

1. When substantives, they are in regimen, and govern a genitive case--_What is the meaning of the lady's holding up her train?_ Here the word _holding_=_the act of holding_.--_Quid est significatio elevationis pallae de parte foeminae._

2. When participles, they are in apposition or concord, and would, if inflected, appear in the same case with the substantive, or p.r.o.noun, preceding them--_What is the meaning of the lady holding up her train?_ Here the word _holding_=_in the act of holding_, and answers to the Latin _foeminae elevantis_.--_Quid est significatio foeminae elevantis pallam?_

For the extent to which the view differs from that of Priestley, and still more with that of Mr. Guest, see _Phil. Trans._, 25.

-- 568. The past participle corresponds not with the Greek form [Greek: tuptomenos], but with the form [Greek: tetummenos]. _I am beaten_ is essentially a combination, expressive not of present but of past time, just like the Latin _sum verberatus_. Its Greek equivalent is not [Greek: eimi tuptomenos]=_I am a man in the act of being beaten_, but [Greek: eimi tetummenos]=_I am a man who has been beaten_. It is past in respect to the action, though present in respect to the state brought about by the action.

This essentially past element in the so-called present expression, _I am beaten_, will be again referred to.

{452}

CHAPTER XIX.

ON THE MOODS.

-- 569. The infinitive mood is a noun. The current rule that _when two verbs come together the latter is placed in the infinitive mood_ means that one verb can govern another only by converting it into a noun--_I begin to move_=_I begin the act of moving_. Verbs, _as verbs_, can only come together in the way of apposition--_I irritate_, _I beat_, _I talk at him_, _I call him names_, &c.

-- 570. The construction, however, of English infinitives is twofold. (1.) Objective. (2.) Gerundial.

When one verb is followed by another without the preposition _to_, the construction must be considered to have grown out of the objective case, or from the form in _-an_.

This is the case with the following words, and, probably, with others.

I may go, _not_ I may _to_ go.

I might go, -- I might _to_ go.

I can move, -- I can _to_ move.

I could move, -- I could _to_ move.

I will speak, -- I will _to_ speak.

I would speak, -- I would _to_ speak.

I shall wait, -- I shall _to_ wait.

I should wait, -- I should _to_ wait.

Let me go, -- Let me _to_ go.

He let me go, -- He let me _to_ go.

I do speak, -- I do _to_ speak.

I did speak, -- I did _to_ speak.

I dare go, -- I dare _to_ go.

I durst go, -- I durst _to_ go.

Thou shalt not _see_ thy brother's ox or his a.s.s _fall_ down by the way.

We _heard_ him _say_ I will destroy the temple.

{453} I _feel_ the pain _abate_.

He _bid_ her _alight_.

I would fain _have_ any one _name_ to me that tongue that any one can speak as he should do by the rules of grammar.

This, in the present English, is the rarer of the two constructions.

When a verb is followed by another, preceded by the preposition _to_, the construction must be considered to have grown out of the so-called gerund, _i.e._, the form in _-nne_, _i.e._, the dative case--_I begin to move_.

This is the case with the great majority of English verbs.

The following examples, from the Old English, of the gerundial construction where we have, at present, the objective, are Mr. Guest's.

1. Eilrid _myght nought to stand_ am ageyn.