The Grammar of English Grammars Part 136

"Now, _rais'd_ on Tyre's sad ruins, Pharaoh's pride Soar'd high, his legions _threat'ning_ far and wide."--_Dryden_.

EXCEPTION FIRST.

A participle sometimes relates to a preceding _phrase_ or _sentence_, of which it forms no part; as, "I then quit the society; _to withdraw and leave them to themselves_, APPEARING to me a duty."--"It is almost exclusively on the ground we have mentioned, that we have heard _his being continued in office_ DEFENDED."--_Professors' Reasons_, p. 23. (Better, "_his continuance_ in office," or, "_the continuing of him_ in office." See Obs. 18th on Rule 4th.)

"But _ever to do ill_ our sole delight, As _being_ the contrary to his high will."--_Milton_.

EXCEPTION SECOND.

With an infinitive denoting being or action in the abstract, a participle is sometimes also taken _abstractly_; (that is, without reference to any particular noun, p.r.o.noun, or other subject;) as, "To seem _compelled_, is disagreeable."--"To keep always _praying_ aloud, is plainly impossible."--"It must be disagreeable to be left pausing[418] on a word which does not, by itself, produce any idea."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p.

323.

"To praise him is to serve him, and fulfill, _Doing_ and _suffering_, his unquestion'd will."

--_Cowper_, Vol. i, p. 88.

EXCEPTION THIRD.

The participle is often used irregularly in English, as a subst.i.tute for the infinitive mood, to which it is sometimes equivalent without irregularity; as, "I saw him _enter_, or _entering_"--_Grant's Lat. Gram._, p. 230. "He is afraid of _trying_, or _to try_."--_Ibid._ Examples irregular: "Sir, said I, if the case stands thus, 'tis dangerous _drinking_:" i.e., to drink.--_Collier's Tablet of Cebes_. "It will be but ill _venturing_ thy soul upon that:" i.e., to venture.--_Bunyan's Law and Grace_, p. 27. "_Describing_ a past event as present, has a fine effect in language:" i.e., to describe.--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 93. "In English likewise it deserves _remarking_:" i.e., to be remarked.--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 232. "Bishop Atterbury deserves _being particularly mentioned_:" i.e., to be particularly mentioned.--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 291.

"This, however, is in effect no more than _enjoying_ the sweet that predominates:" i.e., to enjoy.--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 43.

"Habits are soon a.s.sum'd; but when we strive To strip them off, 'tis being _flay'd_ alive."--_Cowper_, Vol. i, p. 44

EXCEPTION FOURTH.

An other frequent irregularity in the construction of participles, is the practice of treating them essentially as nouns, without taking from them the regimen and adjuncts of participles; as, "_Your having been well educated will be_ a great recommendation."--_W. Allen's Gram._, p. 171.

(Better: "_Your excellent education_"--or, "_That you have been well educated_, will be," &c.) "It arises from _sublimity's expressing grandeur_ in its highest degree."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 29. "Concerning _the separating_ by a circ.u.mstance, _words_ intimately connected."--_Kames, El.

of Crit._, Vol. ii, p. 104. "As long as there is any hope of _their keeping pace_ with them."--_Literary Convention_, p. 114. "Which could only arise from _his knowing the secrets_ of all hearts."--_West's Letters to a Young Lady_, p. 180. "But this again is _talking_ quite at random."--_Butler's a.n.a.logy_, p. 146.

"_My being here_ it is, that holds thee hence."--_Shak._

"Such, but by foils, the clearest l.u.s.tre see, And deem _aspersing others, praising thee_."--_Savage, to Walpole_.

OBSERVATIONS ON RULE XX.

OBS. 1.--To this rule, I incline to think, there are _properly_ no other exceptions than the first two above; or, at least, that we ought to avoid, when we can, any additional anomalies. Yet, not to condemn with unbecoming positiveness what others receive for good English, I have subjoined two items more, which include certain other irregularities now very common, that, when examples of a like form occur, the reader may _pa.r.s.e them as exceptions_, if he does not choose _to censure them as errors_. The mixed construction in which participles are made to govern the possessive case, has already been largely considered in the observations on Rule 4th.

Murray, Allen, Churchill, and many other grammarians, great and small, admit that participles may be made the subjects or the objects of verbs, while they retain the nature, government, and adjuncts, of participles; as, "Not _attending_ to this rule, is the cause of a very common error."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 200; _Comly's Gram._, 188; _Weld's Gram._, 2d Ed., 170. "_Polite_ is employed to signify their being _highly civilized_.'"--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 219. "One abhors _being_ in debt."--_Ib._, p. 98; _Jamieson's Rhet._, 71; _Murray's Gram._, 144. "Who affected _being_ a fine gentleman so unmercifully."--_Spect._, No. 496.

"The minister's _being attached_ to the project, prolonged their debate."--_Nixon's Pa.r.s.er_, p. 78. "It finds [i.e., _the mind_ finds,] that _acting thus_ would gratify one pa.s.sion; _not acting_, or _acting otherwise_, would gratify another."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 109. "But further, _cavilling_ and _objecting_ upon any subject _is_ much easier than _clearing up_ difficulties."--_Bp. Butler's Charge to the Clergy of Durham_, 1751.

OBS. 2.--W. Allen observes, "The use of the participle as a nominative, is one of the _peculiarities_ of our language."--_Elements of Gram._, p. 171.

He might have added, that the use of the participle as an objective governed by a verb, as a nominative after a verb neuter, or as a word governing the possessive, is also one of the peculiarities of our language, or at least an idiom adopted by no few of its recent writers. But whether any one of these four modern departures from General Grammar ought to be countenanced by us, as an idiom that is either elegant or advantageous, I very much doubt. They are all however sufficiently common in the style of reputable authors; and, however questionable their character, some of our grammarians seem mightily attached to them all. It becomes me therefore to object with submission. These mixed and irregular constructions of the participle, ought, in my opinion, to be _generally_ condemned as false syntax; and for this simple reason, that the ideas conveyed by them may _generally_, if not always, be expressed more briefly, and more elegantly, by other phraseology that is in no respect anomalous. Thus, for the examples above: "_Inattention_ to this rule, is the cause of a very common error."--"_Polite_ is employed to signify a _high degree of civilization_;"

or, "_that they are_ highly civilized."--"One abhors _debt_."--"Who affected _the_ fine gentleman so unmercifully."--"The minister's _partiality_ to the project, prolonged their debate."--"It finds [i.e., _the mind_ finds,] that _to act thus_, would gratify one pa.s.sion; _and that not to act_, or _to act otherwise_, would gratify another."--"But further, _to cavil and object_, upon any subject, is much easier than _to clear up_ difficulties." Are not these expressions much better English than the foregoing quotations? And if so, have we not reason to conclude that the adoption of participles in such instances is erroneous and ungrammatical?

OBS. 3.--In Obs. 17th on Rule 4th, it was suggested, that in English the participle, without governing the possessive case, is turned to a greater number and variety of uses, than in any other language. This remark applies mainly to the participle in _ing_. Whether it is expedient to make so much of one sort of derivative, and endeavour to justify every possible use of it which can be plausibly defended, is a question well worthy of consideration. We have already converted this participle to such a multiplicity of purposes, and into so many different parts of speech, that one can well-nigh write a chapter in it, without any other words. This practice may have added something to the copiousness and flexibility of the language, but it certainly has a tendency to impair its strength and clearness. Not every use of participles is good, for which there may be found precedents in good authors. One may run to great excess in the adoption of such derivatives, without becoming absolutely unintelligible, and without violating any rule of our common grammars. For example, I may say of somebody, "This very superficial grammatist, supposing empty criticism about the adoption of proper phraseology to be a show of extraordinary erudition, was displaying, in spite of ridicule, a very boastful turgid argument concerning the correction of false syntax, and about the detection of false logic in debate." Now, in what other language than ours, can a string of words anything like the following, come so near to a fair and literal translation of this long sentence? "This exceeding trifling witling, considering ranting criticising concerning adopting fitting wording being exhibiting transcending learning, was displaying, notwithstanding ridiculing, surpa.s.sing boasting swelling reasoning, respecting correcting erring writing, and touching detecting deceiving arguing during debating." Here are _not all_ the uses to which our writers apply the participle in _ing_, but there would seem to be enough, without adding others that are less proper.

OBS. 4.--The active participles, _admitting, allowing, considering, granting, speaking, supposing_, and the like, are frequently used in discourse so independently, that they either relate to nothing, or to the p.r.o.noun _I_ or _we_ understood; as, "_Granting_ this to be true, what is to be inferred from it?"--_Murray's Gram._, p. 195. This may be supposed to mean, "_I_, granting this to be true, _ask_ what is to be inferred from it?" "The very chin was, _modestly speaking_, as long as my whole face."--_Addison_. Here the meaning may be, "_I_, modestly speaking, _say_." So of the following examples: "_Properly speaking_, there is no such thing as chance."--_W. Allen's Gram._, p. 172. "Because, _generally speaking_, the figurative sense of a word is derived from its proper sense."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 190. "But, _admitting_ that two or three of these offend less in their morals than in their writings, must poverty make nonsense sacred?"--_Pope's Works_, Vol. iii, p. 7. Some grammarians suppose such participles to be put absolute in themselves, so as to have no reference to any noun or p.r.o.noun; others, among whom are L. Murray and Dr.

James P. Wilson, suppose them to be put absolute with a p.r.o.noun understood.

On the former supposition, they form an other exception to the foregoing rule; on the latter, they do not: the participle relates to the p.r.o.noun, though both be independent of the rest of the sentence. If we supply the ellipsis as above, there is nothing put absolute.

OBS. 5.--Participles are almost always placed after the words on which their construction depends, and are distinguished from adjectives by this position; but when other words depend on the participle, or when several participles have the same construction, the whole phrase may come before the noun or p.r.o.noun: as, "_Leaning_ my head upon my hand, _I_ began to figure to myself the miseries of confinement."--_Sterne_.

"_Immured_ in cypress shades, a _sorcerer_ dwells."--_Milton_.

"_Brib'd, bought, and bound_, they banish shame and fear; Tell you they're stanch, and have a soul sincere."--_Crabbe_.

OBS. 6.--When participles are compounded with something that does not belong to the verb, they become _adjectives_; and, as such, they cannot govern an object after them. The following construction is therefore inaccurate: "When Caius did any thing _unbecoming_ his dignity."--_Jones's Church History_, i, 87. "Costly and gaudy attire, _unbecoming_ G.o.dliness."--_Extracts_, p. 185. Such errors are to be corrected by Note 15th to Rule 9th, or by changing the particle _un_ to _not_: as, "Unbecoming _to_ his dignity;" or, "_Not_ becoming his dignity."

OBS. 7.--An imperfect or a preperfect participle, preceded by an article, an adjective, or a noun or p.r.o.noun of the possessive case, becomes a _verbal_ or _participial noun_; and, as such, it cannot with strict propriety, govern an object after it. A word which may be the object of the participle in its proper construction, requires the preposition _of_, to connect it with the verbal noun; as, 1. THE PARTICIPLE: "_Wors.h.i.+ping_ idols, the Jews sinned."--"_Thus wors.h.i.+ping_ idols,--_In wors.h.i.+ping_ idols,--or, _By wors.h.i.+ping_ idols, they sinned." 2. THE VERBAL NOUN: "_The wors.h.i.+ping of_ idols,--_Such wors.h.i.+ping of_ idols,--or, _Their wors.h.i.+ping of_ idols, was sinful."--"_In the wors.h.i.+ping of_ idols, there is sin."

OBS. 8.--It is commonly supposed that these two modes of expression are, in very many instances, equivalent to each other in meaning, and consequently interchangeable. How far they really are so, is a question to be considered. Example: "But if candour be _a confounding of_ the distinctions between sin and holiness, _a depreciating of_ the excellence of the latter, and at the same time _a diminis.h.i.+ng of_ the evil of the former; then it must be something openly at variance with the letter and the spirit of revelation."--_The Friend_, iv, 108. Here the nouns, _distinctions, excellence_, and _evil_, though governed by _of_, represent the _objects_ of the forenamed actions; and therefore they might well be governed by _confounding, depreciating_, and _diminis.h.i.+ng_, if these were participles.

But if, to make them such, we remove the article and the preposition, the construction forsakes our meaning; for _be confounding, (be) depreciating_, and _(be) diminis.h.i.+ng_, seem rather to be verbs of the compound form; and our uncertain nominatives after _be_, thus disappear in the shadow of a false sense. But some sensible critics tell us, that this preposition _of_ should refer rather to the _agent_ of the preceding action, than to its _pa.s.sive object_; so that such a phrase as, "_the teaching of boys_,"

should signify rather the instruction which boys give, than that which they receive. If, for the sake of this principle, or for any other reason, we wish to avoid the foregoing phraseology, the meaning may be expressed thus: "But if _your_ candour _confound_ the distinctions between sin and holiness; _if it depreciate_ the excellence of the latter, and at the same time _diminish_ the evil of the former; then it must be something openly at variance with the letter and the spirit of revelation."

OBS. 9.--When the use of the preposition produces ambiguity or harshness, let a better expression be sought. Thus the sentence, "He mentions _Newton's writing of_ a commentary," is not entirely free from either of these faults. If the preposition be omitted, the word _writing_ will have a double construction, which is inadmissible, or at least objectionable. Some would say, "He mentions _Newton writing_ a commentary." This, though not uncommon, is still more objectionable because it makes the leading word in sense the adjunct in construction. The meaning may be correctly expressed thus: "He mentions _that Newton wrote_ a commentary." "Mr. Dryden makes a very handsome observation on _Ovid's writing a letter_ from Dido to aeneas."--_Spect._, No. 62; _Campbell's Rhet._, p. 265; _Murray's Key_, ii, 253. Here the word _writing_ is partly a noun and partly a participle. If we make it wholly a noun, by saying, "on _Ovid's writing of_ a letter," or wholly a participle, by saying, "on _Ovid writing_ a letter;" it may be doubted, whether we have effected any improvement. And again, if we adopt Dr. Lowth's advice, "Let it be either the one or the other, and abide by its proper construction;" we must make some change; and therefore ought perhaps to say; "on _Ovid's conceit of writing_ a letter from Dido to aeneas." This is apparently what Addison meant, and what Dryden remarked upon; the latter did not speak of the letter itself, else the former would have said, "on _Ovid's letter_ from Dido to aeneas."

OBS. 10.--When a needless possessive, or a needless article, is put before the participle, the correction is to be made, not by inserting _of_, but by expunging the article, according to Note 16th to Rule 1st, or the possessive, according to Note 5th to Rule 4th. Example: "By _his_ studying the Scriptures he became wise."--_Lennie's Gram._, p. 91. Here _his_ serves only to render the sentence incorrect; yet this spurious example is presented by Lennie to _prove_ that a participle may take the possessive case before it, when the preposition _of_ is not admissible after it. So, in stead of expunging one useless word, our grammarians _often_ add an other and call the twofold error a _correction_; as, "For _his_ avoiding _of_ that precipice, he is indebted to his friend's care."--_Murray's Key_, ii, 201. Or worse yet: "_It was from our_ misunderstanding _of_ the directions _that_ we lost our way."--_Ibid._ Here, not _our_ and _of_ only, but four other words, are worse than useless. Again: "By _the_ exercising _of_ our judgment, it is improved. Or thus: By _exercising_ our judgment, it is improved."--_Comly's Key in his Gram._, 12th Ed., p. 188. Each of these pretended corrections is wrong in more respects than one. Say, "By exercising our _judgement, we improve it_" Or, "Our _judgement_ is improved by _being exercised_" Again: "_The loving of_ our enemies is a divine _command_; Or, _loving our enemies_ [is a divine command]."--_Ibid._ Both of these are also wrong. Say, "'_Love your enemies_,' is a divine command."

Or, "_We are divinely commanded to love_ our enemies." Some are apt to jumble together the active voice and the pa.s.sive, and thus destroy the unity even of a short sentence; as, "By _exercising_ our memories, they _are improved_."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 226 and 195. "The error _might have been avoided_ by _repeating_ the substantive."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 172.

"By _admitting_ such violations of established grammatical distinctions, confusion _would be introduced_."--_Ib._, p. 187. In these instances, we have an active participle without an agent; and this, by the preposition _by_, is made an adjunct to a pa.s.sive verb. Even the participial noun of this form, though it actually drops the distinction of voice, is awkward and apparently incongruous in such a relation.

OBS. 11.--When the verbal noun necessarily retains any adjunct of the verb or participle, it seems proper that the two words be made a compound by means of the hyphen: as, "Their hope shall be as the _giving-up_ of the ghost."--_Job_, xi, 20. "For if the _casting-away_ of them be the reconciling of the world."--_Rom._, xi, 15. "And the _gathering-together_ of the waters called he seas."--_Gen._, i, 10. "If he should offer to stop the _runnings-out_ of his justice."--_Law and Grace_, p. 26. "The _stopping-short_ before the usual pause in the melody, aids the impression that is made by the description of the stone's _stopping-short_.'"--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 106. I do not find these words united in the places referred to, but this is nevertheless their true figure. Our authors and printers are lamentably careless, as well as ignorant, respecting _the figure of words_: for which part of grammar, see the whole of the third chapter, in Part First of this work; also observations on the fourth rule of syntax, from the 30th to the 35th. As certain other compounds may sometimes be broken by _tmesis_, so may some of these; as, "Not forsaking the _a.s.sembling_ of ourselves _together_, as the manner of some is."--_Heb._, x, 23. Adverbs may relate to participles, but nouns require adjectives. The following phrase is therefore inaccurate: "For the more _easily_ reading of large numbers." Yet if we say, "For reading large numbers _the more easily_," the construction is different, and not inaccurate. Some calculator, I think, has it, "For the more _easily_ reading large numbers." But Hutton says, "For the more _easy_ reading _of_ large numbers."--_Hutton's Arith._, p. 5; so _Babc.o.c.k's_, p. 12. It would be quite as well to say, "For the _greater ease in_ reading large numbers."

OBS. 12.--Many words of a participial form are used directly as nouns, without any article, adjective, or possessive case before them, and without any object or adjunct after them. Such is commonly the construction of the words _spelling, reading, writing, ciphering, surveying, drawing, parsing_, and many other such _names_ of actions or exercises. They are rightly put by Johnson among "_nouns_ derived from _verbs_;" for, "The [name of the]

action is the same with the participle present, as _loving, frighting, fighting, striking_."--_Dr. Johnson's Gram._, p. 10. Thus: "I like _writing_."--_W. Allen's Gram._, p. 171. "He supposed, with them, that _affirming_ and _denying_ were operations of the mind."--_Tooke's Diversions_, i, 35. "'Not rendering,' said Polycarp the disciple of John, 'evil for evil, or _railing_ for _railing_, or _striking_ for _striking_, or _cursing_ for _cursing_."--_Dymond, on War_. Against this practice, there is seldom any objection; the words are wholly nouns, both in sense and construction. We call them _participial_ nouns, only because they resemble participles in their derivation; or if we call them _verbal_ nouns, it is because they are derived from verbs. But we too frequently find those which retain the government and the adjuncts of participles, used as nouns before or after verbs; or, more properly speaking, used as mongrels and nondescripts, a doubtful species, for which there is seldom any necessity, since the infinitive, the verbal or some other noun, or a clause introduced by the conjunction _that_, will generally express the idea in a better manner: as, "_Exciting_ such disturbances, is unlawful."

Say rather, "_To excite_ such disturbances,--_The exciting of_ such disturbances,--_The excitation of_ such disturbances,--or, _That one should excite_ such disturbances, is unlawful."

OBS. 13.--Murray says, "The word _the_, before the _active participle_, in the following sentence, and in all others of a similar construction, is improper, and should be omitted: '_The_ advising, or _the_ attempting, to excite such disturbances, is unlawful.' It should be, '_Advising_ or _attempting_ to excite disturbances.'"--_Octavo Gram._, p. 195. But, by his own showing, "the present participle, with the definite article _the_ before it, becomes a _substantive_."--_Ib._, p. 192. And substantives, or nouns, by an other of his notes, can govern the infinitive mood, just as well as participles; or just as well as the verbs which he thinks would be very proper here; namely, "To _advise_ or _attempt_ to excite such disturbances."--_Ib._, p. 196. It would be right to say, "_Any advice_, or _attempt_, to excite such disturbances, is unlawful." And I see not that he has improved the text at all, by expunging the article. _Advising_ and _attempting_, being disjunct nominatives to _is_, are nothing but nouns, whether the article be used or not; though they are rather less obviously such without it, and therefore the change is for the worse.

OBS. 14.--Lennie observes, "When _a preposition_"--(he should have said, When _an other_ preposition--) "follows the participle, _of_ is inadmissible; as, _His_ depending _on_ promises proved his ruin. _His_ neglecting _to_ study when young, rendered him ignorant all his life."--_Prin. of E. Gram._, 5th Ed., p. 65; 13th Ed., 91. Here _on_ and _to_, of course, exclude _of_; but the latter may be changed to _of_, which will turn the infinitive into a noun: as, "_His_ neglecting _of study_,"

&c. "_Depending_" and "_neglecting_," being equivalent to _dependence_ and _neglect_, are participial nouns, and not "participles." Professor Bullions, too, has the same faulty remark, examples and all; (for his book, of the same t.i.tle, is little else than a gross plagiarism from Lennie's;) though he here forgets his other erroneous doctrines, that, "A _preposition_ should never be used before the infinitive," and that, "Active verbs do not admit a preposition after them." See _Bullions's Prin.

of E. Gram._, pp. 91, 92, and 107.

OBS. 15.--The participle in _ing_ is, on many occasions, equivalent to the infinitive verb, so that the speaker or writer may adopt either, just as he pleases: as, "So their gerunds are sometimes found _having_ [or _to have_]

an absolute or apparently neuter signification."--_Grant's Lat. Gram._, p.

234. "With tears that ceas'd not _flowing_" [or _to flow_].--_Milton_. "I would willingly have him _producing_ [_produce_, or _to produce_] his credentials."--_Barclay's Works_, iii, 273. There are also instances, and according to my notion not a few, in which the one is put _improperly_ for the other. The participle however is erroneously used for the infinitive much oftener than the infinitive for the participle. The lawful uses of both are exceedingly numerous; though the syntax of the participle, strictly speaking, does not include its various _conversions_ into other parts of speech. The princ.i.p.al instances of _regular_ equivalence between infinitives and participles, may be reduced to the following heads:

1. After the verbs _see, hear_, and _feel_, the participle in _ing_, relating to the objective, is often equivalent to the infinitive governed by the verb; as, "I saw him _running_"--"I heard it _howling_."--_W.

Allen_. "I feel the wind _blowing_." Here the verbs, _run, howl_, and _blow_, might be subst.i.tuted. 2. After intransitive verbs signifying _to begin_ or _to continue_, the participle in _ing_, relating to the nominative, may be used in stead of the infinitive connected to the verb; as, "The a.s.s began _galloping_ with all his might."--_Sandford and Merton_.

"It commenced _raining_ very hard."--_Silliman_. "The steamboats commenced _running_ on Sat.u.r.day."--_Daily Advertiser_. "It is now above three years since he began _printing_."--_Dr. Adam's Pref. to Rom. Antiq._ "So when they continued _asking_ him."--_John_, viii, 7. Greek, "[Greek: Os epemenon erotontes auton.]" Latin, "c.u.m ergo perseverarent _interrogantes_ eum."--_Vulgate_. "c.u.m autem perseverarent eum _interrogare_."--_Beza_.

"Then shall ye continue _following_ the Lord your G.o.d."--_1 Sam._, xii, 14.

"Eritis _sequentes_ Dominum Deum vestrum."--_Vulgate_. "As she continued _praying_ before the Lord."--_1 Sam._, i, 12. "c.u.m ilia _multiplicaret preces_ coram Domino."--_Vulgate_. "And they went on _beating down_ one an other."--_2 Sam._, xiv, 16. "Make the members of them go on _rising_ and _growing_ in their importance."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 116. "Why do you keep _teasing_ me?"

3. After _for, in, of_, or _to_, and perhaps some other prepositions, the participle may in most cases be varied by the infinitive, which is governed by _to_ only; as, "We are better fitted _for receiving_ the tenets and _obeying_ the precepts of that faith which will make us wise unto salvation."--_West's Letters_, p. 51. That is--"_to receive_ the tenets and _obey_ the precepts." "Men fit _for fighting_, practised _in fighting_, proud _of fighting_, accustomed _to fighting_."--_W. Allen's Gram._, p.

172. That is, "fit _to fight_," &c. "What is the right path, few take the trouble _of inquiring_."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo. ii, 235. Better, perhaps:--"few take the trouble _to inquire_."

OBS. 16.--One of our best grammarians says, "The infinitive, in the following sentences, _should be exchanged_ for the participle: 'I am weary _to bear_ them.' Is. i, 14. 'Hast thou, spirit, perform'd _to point_ the tempest?' Shak."--_Allen's Gram._, p. 172. This suggestion implies, that the participle would be here not only equivalent to the infinitive in sense, but better in expression. It is true, the preposition _to_ does not well express the relation between _weary_ and _bear_; and, doubtless, some regard should be had to the meaning of this particle, whenever it is any thing more than an index of the mood. But the critic ought to have told us how he would make these corrections. For in neither case does the participle alone appear to be a fit subst.i.tute for the infinitive, either with or without the _to_; and the latter text will scarcely bear the participle at all, unless we change the former verb; as, "Hast thou, spirit, _done pointing_ the tempest?" The true meaning of the other example seems somewhat uncertain. The Vulgate has it, _"Laboravi sustinens_," "I have laboured _bearing_ them;" the French Bible, "_Je suis las de les souffrir_," "I am tired of _bearing_ them;" the Septuagint, "[Greek: Ouketi anaeso tas hamartias humon,]" "I will no more forgive your sins."

OBS. 17.--In the following text, the infinitive is used improperly, nor would the participle in its stead make pure English: "I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt-offerings, _to have been_ continually before me."--_Ps. 1. 8._ According to the French version, _"to have been"_ should be _"which are;"_ but the Septuagint and the Vulgate take the preceding noun for the nominative, thus: "I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices, _but thy burnt-offerings are_ continually before me."

OBS. 18.--As the preposition _to_ before the infinitive shows the latter to be "_that towards which_ the preceding verb is directed," verbs of _desisting, omitting, preventing_, and _avoiding_, are generally found to take the participle after them, and not the infinitive; because, in such instances, the direction of effort seems not to be so properly _to_, or _towards_, as _from_ the action.[419] Where the preposition _from_ is inserted, (as it most commonly is, after some of these verbs.) there is no irregularity in the construction of the participle; but where the participle immediately follows the verb, it is perhaps questionable whether it ought to be considered the object of the verb, or a mere participle relating to the nominative which precedes. If we suppose the latter, the participle may be pa.r.s.ed by the common rule; if the former, it must be referred to the third exception above. For example: