Part 17
3. More rarely a fox or a hyena quickened his gallop to study the intruder at a safe distance.
4. When the car stopped and I looked up at the window with the pink geranium, I saw mother waiting to welcome me.
5. The whole family went to the station to see us off.
6. I do not quite know what caused me to lift my head from the friendly shelter of the blanket.
7. He felt his swift craft quiver with life beneath him in response to the rhythmic stroke of the oarsmen.
8. Jupiter bustled about to prepare some marsh hens for supper.
9. To keep the artillery dry, we stuffed wads of loose hemp into the muzzles, and fitted wooden pegs to the touch holes.
10. Down the elm-bordered road we two walked toward the sunset, and watched the mists rising ghostlike from the fields.
11. Mowgli heard the sound rumble, and rise, and fall, and die off in a creepy sort of whine behind him.
12. At recess the next noon the Centipedes met in a corner of the schoolyard to talk over the proposed lark.
13. Our Heavenly Father himself has planted that pea, and made it grow and blossom to bring joy to you and hope to me, my blessed child.
14. Nearly all the finest diamonds in the world are brought to Amsterdam to be cut into shape.
15. It was Long Tom who taught Harvey to shoot at a mark with a revolver.
16. He’s gone to fight the French for King George upon his throne.
17. We heard the meadow larks singing their wistful songs, but always instead of the black hearts upon their yellow breasts they showed us just the two white feathers in their tails.
Change sentences 2, 4, 10, 11, 13, 17 to the passive voice, and explain the change in the use of the infinitive.
LXXXV. OTHER USES OF INFINITIVES
=338.= The most frequent use of the infinitive in _-ing_ is as the object of a preposition; as, “I am tired of _doing_ nothing,” “He earned a living by _sharpening_ scissors.”
=339.= The infinitive in _-ing_, like the noun, may be the object of any preposition, but the infinitive with _to_ is used as the object of very few prepositions, only _about_, _except_, _but_, and _save_, the last two meaning _except_.
In the sentence, “He ate nothing but bananas,” the object of the preposition _but_ must be a noun because it must be the name of a food. But in the sentence, “He did nothing but play tennis,” the object of _but_ must be an infinitive because it must be the name of an action.
NOTE.—We often hear the expression “I was about to say.” In this familiar idiom the prepositional phrase _about to say_ is used as the subjective complement of the verb _was_. How do we know this? What is the use of the infinitive _to say_?
=340.= In the sentence, “The gentleman drew out the chair for the lady to sit down,” if we ask the question _for what?_ we get the answer _the lady to sit down_, hence the group of words _the lady to sit down_ must be the object of the preposition _for_. But this group of words consists of two parts, _the lady_ and the infinitive phrase _to sit down_, which have the logical relation of subject and predicate, hence we conclude that the preposition _for_ may take a double object.
=341.= The sentences, “Sheep are apt,” “I am sorry,” “The traveler was glad,” are all incomplete. We wish to know in what respect sheep are apt, what I am sorry about, what the traveler was glad of. In other words, the adjectives _apt_, _sorry_, and _glad_ need a modifier to make the sentence complete in meaning. This modifier may be an infinitive, “Sheep are apt _to get lost_,” “I am sorry _to leave Warwick_,” “The traveler was glad _to see his home again_.” We learn from these sentences that an infinitive phrase may modify an adjective.
=Exercise.=—Complete the following sentences by infinitive phrases. What do your phrases modify? How do you know?
1. This child is too young—
2. A man of twenty-five is old enough—
3. The water was so deep as—
4. The general was anxious—
5. Some lessons are not easy—
=342.= The infinitive may be used independently; as, “_To be frank_, I do not like it.” “_To make a long story short_, we were utterly defeated.”
=343.= A common error is the use of the perfect infinitive for the present. It is proper to say, “I ought to have gone,” when we mean that the time of the going was in the past; as, “I ought to have gone then, or yesterday, or a year ago.” But when we mean that the going is at the present time or is to be in the future, then we should use the present infinitive, and say, “I ought to go.”
What is the difference in the meaning of the following pairs of sentences?
1. I am sorry to offend you. I am sorry to have offended you. 2. I am glad to see you. I am glad to have seen you. 3. The train is reported to be late. The train is reported to have been late. 4. The man is said to be a candidate. The man is said to have been a candidate.
It is evident from the four pairs of sentences above that some verbs in the present tense may be followed by either a present or a perfect infinitive. This is likewise true of some verbs in the past tense. We say, “He seemed to be sleeping,” meaning that he was sleeping at the time we noted his appearance. We also say, “He seemed to have been sleeping,” meaning that he had slept before we noted his appearance.
What is the difference in the meaning of the following pairs of sentences:—
1. Washington was never known to fight a duel. Hamilton was known to have fought a duel. 2. The ship was reported to be wrecked. The ship was reported to have been wrecked. 3. The child appeared to lead the old man. The child appeared to have led the old man.
Since the verbs _desire_, _expect_, _hope_, _want_, and _wish_ refer to something in the present or the future, but never in the past, they cannot be followed by a perfect infinitive. It is absurd to say, “I hoped to have seen you,” “I expected to have gone,” “I wished to have stayed.” We should say:—
I desire to go. I desired to go.
I expect to be there. I expected to be there.
I hope to pass. I hoped to pass.
I want to know. I wanted to know.
I wish to speak. I wished to speak.
=Summary.=—The infinitive phrase may be used as the object of a preposition. The preposition _for_ may take a double object.
The infinitive phrase may modify an adjective.
The infinitive phrase may be used independently.
=Exercise.=—Explain the use of each infinitive phrase. Classify each infinitive.
1. The cat was just about to spring upon the window sill where the bird cage sat, when Paul shouted out a warning.
2. I am perfectly willing to dine in the kitchen beside this cool north window.
3. The gay youths spent their time in walking, hunting, fishing, feasting, and dancing.
4. It was so cold at Petoskey in July that the hotel proprietor furnished a large lamp for us to heat our room by.
5. The cherries grew too high to be picked except by the robins.
6. My lot was indeed a hard one; I was too old to play out of doors with my brothers, and too young to go to parties with my sisters.
7. After supper, the boy who has done nothing all day but turn grindstone, and spread hay, and run his little legs off at everybody’s beck and call, is sent on some errand or some household chore lest time may hang heavy on his hands.
8. Bark is only good to sharpen claws.
9. John was hungry enough to have eaten the New England Primer.
10. Franklin was employed in cutting wicks for the candles, filling the molds for cast candles, attending the shop, going of errands, etc.
11. To tell the truth, I prefer to stay at home.
12. The only way to make the world better is for each man to do his best.
13. A dog is good to bite peddlers and small children, and to run out and yelp at wagons that pass by, and to howl all night when the moon shines.
14. To sum up, the infinitive is used chiefly as a noun, but also as an adjective and an adverb.
15. The teacher’s eyes glanced half a dozen different ways at once,—a habit probably acquired from watching the boys.
16.
None knew thee but to love thee, Nor named thee but to praise.
17. To see the sparks rush like swarms of red bees skyward through the smoke is an experience long to be remembered.
18. To make way for hemp the magnificent forests of Kentucky were felled.
19. The crow and the blackbird seem to love these plants.
20. It takes a hundred days to lift out of the tiny seed these powerful hollow stalks.
21. The seeds fall to the ground, there to be folded in against the time when they shall rise again.
Classify the dependent clauses in sentence 1. What is the object of _except_ in sentence 5?
LXXXVI. SUMMARY OF INFINITIVES
=344.=
I. DEFINITION.—An infinitive is a verbal noun.
II. FORMS. 1. The infinitive with _to_. (a) Intransitive verbs. _Present_, to go, to be going. _Perfect_, to have gone, to have been going. (b) Transitive verbs. _Present_, to see, to be seeing, to be seen. _Perfect_, to have seen, to have been seeing, to have been seen. 2. The infinitive in _-ing_. (a) Intransitive verbs. _Present_, going. _Perfect_, having gone, having been going. (b) Transitive verbs. _Present_, seeing, being seen. _Perfect_, having seen, having been seeing, having been seen. III. USES. 1. As a =noun=. (a) _Subject of a verb._ To err is human. Hunting is a sport. (b) _Object of a verb._ He expects to win. They stopped working. (c) _Subjective complement._ My desire is to own a boat. His task is feeding the sheep. (d) _Appositive._ His idea, to use coal ashes, was carried out. His work, running a machine, is monotonous. (e) _Object of a preposition._ The patient did nothing but eat and sleep. The child was praised for telling the truth. 2. As an =adjective=. (a) _Modifying a noun._ I have a garden to make. (b) _Completing a verb._ These boats are not to let. 3. As an =adverb=. (a) _Modifying a verb._ I went back to get some matches. (b) _Modifying an adjective._ We are sure to succeed. 4. As part of a =double object=. (a) _Of a verb._ I made her tell me. (b) _Of a preposition._ I made room for her to sit with me. 5. =Independent use.= To speak plainly, I don’t believe it.
LXXXVII. ANALYSIS OF SENTENCES CONTAINING INFINITIVE PHRASES
=345.= The infinitive phrase is analyzed very much like a predicate. First, the infinitive should be given as the base word; then its complement and modifiers should be given.
MODEL.—_By the law of the jungle the tiger has no right to change his quarters without fair warning._
This is a simple, declarative sentence.
The subject is _the tiger_. The predicate is _has by the law of the jungle no right to change his quarters without fair warning_.
The predicate verb is _has_; it is completed by the direct object _no right to change his quarters without fair warning_, and then modified by the prepositional phrase _by the law of the jungle_.
The base word of the object is the noun _right_; it is modified by the infinitive phrase _to change his quarters without fair warning_, and then denied by the adjective _no_.
The base word of the infinitive phrase is the infinitive _to change_; it is completed by the direct object _his quarters_ and modified by the prepositional phrase _without fair warning_. The base word of the object is the noun _quarters_, modified by the possessive pronoun _his_. The base word of the object of the preposition _without_ is the infinitive _warning_, which is modified by the adjective _fair_.
The base word of the object of the preposition _by_ is the noun _law_, which is modified by the prepositional phrase _of the jungle_ and the article _the_.
=Exercise.=—Analyze the following sentences:—
1. Turning grindstones to grind scythes is one of those heroic but unobtrusive occupations for which one gets no credit.
2. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.
3. When Kotick felt his skin tingle all over, his mother told him he was learning the feel of the water.
4. Mother made and embroidered a white linen pocket for me to wear at my belt.
5. The neighbors and friends did not wait for an invitation to go to the house of the young wife, so impatient were they to see her treasures.
6. The Boy had no desire to investigate further, with the risk of finding the lynx at home.
7. It seems hard any day to think what to have for dinner.
8. The next thing was to cord up the trunk, and Mr. Peterkin tried to move it.
9. I have seen wild bees and butterflies feeding at a height of 13,000 feet above the sea.
10. If you wear an automobile veil to pick cherries in, I must get an automobile to take you to the cherry trees.
11. No person but yourself is permitted to lift this stone or enter the cave.
12. Very sweet were the child’s ways of loving her father,—putting flowers on his study table, learning to read so that she could read his books, reaching up to rub her cheek against his, praying for him, and letting him put her to bed.
13. The Oldest Inhabitant refused to go to bed on any terms, but persisted in sitting up in a rocking-chair until daybreak.
14. The Eskimo never knows when his own time may come to beg.
15. Fate tried to conceal him by naming him Smith.
16. The only department of life in which Mr. Randall failed to shine was the making of sufficient money to live upon.
17. He saw an eagle swoop across the gigantic hollow, but the great bird dwindled to a dot ere it was halfway over.
18. After she began wearing the bracelet, she was unwilling to go without it even for a day.
19. Hewing wood and sawing plank leave me no time to take part in disputes.
20. The one object of Polly’s life was to get out of her cage.
21. The skipper had taken his little daughter to bear him company.
22. Every boy is anxious to be a man.
23. A man has no more right to say a rude thing to another than to knock him down.
24. To travel in Switzerland it is generally necessary to cross the mountains, to go around the sides, or to go through them.
25. Even the blind men’s dogs appeared to know Scrooge.
26. Let dogs delight to bark and bite.
27. When a bear kills a sheep, he skins it deftly and has the politeness to leave the pelt in a neat bundle, just to indicate to the farmer that he has been robbed by a gentleman.
28. The first tracks to meet their eyes were the delicate footprints of the red squirrel.
29. It is not good to make a jest of thy teacher.
30. Angels seemed to have sat with Ernest by the fireside.
31. My joy was greater than I can express when I saw the tiger rise and slink into the jungle.
LXXXVIII. PARTICIPLES
=346.= In Lesson LIV we learned that the perfect tenses of any verb are formed by combining certain auxiliaries with the =past participles= of the verb; as, “I have _heard_,” “I had _heard_,” “I shall have _heard_.” We learned also that the past participle is one of the principal parts of a verb.
In Lesson LV we learned that the passive voice of any transitive verb is formed by adding its past participle to the conjugation of the verb _be_; as, “It is _caught_,” “It was _caught_,” “It will be _caught_.”
In Lesson LVI we learned that the past participle of a verb may be used like an adjective as the subjective complement of a verb; as, “The potatoes seem _done_,” “The flowers are _withered_ now.”
=347.= In Lesson LVII we learned that the =present participle= of a verb always ends in _-ing_, and that this participle is used in forming the progressive conjugation, as, “I am _sleeping_,” “I was _sleeping_,” “I shall be _sleeping_.”
We are ready now to study participles in all their relations.
=348.= Intransitive verbs have four participles:—
PRESENT PAST PERFECT
coming come having come _Progressive_ having been coming
Transitive verbs have six participles:—
PRESENT PAST PERFECT
_Active_ writing having written _Active Progressive_ having been writing[1] _Passive_ being written written having been written
[1] This form is rarely used.
The active participles denote action performed; they make us think of the doer of the action. On the other hand, the passive participles denote action received; they make us think of the receiver of the action.
The present participle expresses action as still in progress; the past participle expresses action completed in past time; the perfect participle expresses past action completed before some particular past time.
=349.= The participle, like the infinitive, is a verbal, because it is a verb form without the power to assert. Just as an infinitive is oftenest used as a noun, so the participle is oftenest used as an adjective; that is, it is usually associated with some noun. Indeed, it is by their adjective use that we are able to distinguish participles from infinitives in _-ing_, for in form they are almost exactly the same.
What nouns do the participles belong with in the following sentences?
I hear the sound of trickling water.
The lost child had wandered far.
The diamonds sparkling in her dark hair rivaled the stars.
The chair made two hundred years ago tilted one forward very uncomfortably.
=350.= The participles used oftenest are the simplest of all, the present active participle and the past passive participle.
=351.= A participle, like an infinitive, may have all the complements and modifiers that a verb may have; as, “The man _turning the switch_ is faithful,” “_Feeling sleepy after lunch_, I took a nap.”
The participle and all its accompanying words form together a =participial phrase=.
=Summary.=—A =participle= is a verbal that is generally used as an adjective.
Participles may be active or passive or progressive in meaning.
Participles have three tenses,—present, past, and perfect. The present participle expresses continuing action, the past participle completed action, and the perfect participle past action completed before a particular time.
Participles have the same complements and modifiers as verbs.
A =participial phrase= is a group of words consisting of a participle and its complement and modifiers.
=Exercise 1.=—Form all the participles of the verbs _choose_, _draw_, _drink_, _go_, _find_, _know_, _tell_, _think_, _turn_, _shine_.
=Exercise 2.=—Select all the participial phrases in these sentences. Tell what noun or pronoun they belong with. Classify the participles.
1. Two children sat on the grass under the lilacs, making dandelion chains and talking happily.
2. Those three tall poles now being lifted to position will enable us to have a telephone.
3. From a little hill called Hutchinson’s Hill you could look over three and a half miles of ground covered with fighting seals.
4. Having given away the old candle mold, she was anxious to get it back again.
5. Mrs. Merrithew, knowing well that little folk are generally troubled with a wonderful thirst, had also brought a cup and a bottle of lemonade.
6. The floors were bird’s-eye maple, and having been lately waxed, they looked too fine for my desecrating tread.
7. The workmen, having been painting for hours on the sunny side of the house, grew faint and dizzy.
8. The boy took his seat, frowning and blinking at the candle light, while his mother, placing his coffee before him, let her hand rest on his shoulder.
9. Having passed at the turnstile into the campus, David stood before the college.
10. In one hand he carried a faded valise made of Brussels carpet sprinkled with pink roses.
11. The old peasant woman, having eaten three meals with the servants and three with the mistress, declared at evening that she was satisfied.
12. If all the money being spent for ice-cream sodas were put to some useful purpose—cement sidewalks, for instance,—few of us would be stubbing our toes on old board walks.
13. A snowball soaked in water and left out to cool was a projectile which had been resorted to with disastrous results.
14. No flying or crawling creature escapes the sharp little eyes of the birds.
15. Its roots having been cut, the top of the tree suffered.
16. The tourists, having watched the bears nose about among the tin cans in the garbage piles, went back to the hotel to avoid being devoured by mosquitoes.
17. Very soon their path led them out into a wide glade, fenced all about with the serried and formal ranks of the young firs.
18. That log just being sawed will produce eight hundred feet of lumber.
19. The whale is the largest animal now living in the world.
20. Having been told by his master that he too could go to the village, Shep bounded away down the road like mad.
21. Sleep, having descended upon him, spread a quiet mist through his brain.
22. Having been tramped down by the cattle, the snow was smooth like a floor.
Tell the use of all the infinitive phrases in sentences 2, 4, 10, 13.
LXXXIX. PARTICIPLES MODIFYING NOUNS
=352.= The participle may be associated with a noun in several ways.
(1) The participle may modify a noun precisely like an adjective, as when we say _boiling_ water, _pleading_ eyes, _revolving_ turret, _educated_ men, _hammered_ brass, _plowed_ land, _dried_ apples.
The participle in this use can be distinguished from a real adjective in two ways:—(_a_) it comes from a verb, (_b_) it cannot be compared.
Apply these two tests to the seven participles just given.
Some participles have become real adjectives, as _loving, learned_, _striking_ (in _striking appearance_), _annoying_, _exciting_. Any one of these adjectives may be compared.
(2) The participle or participial phrase may take the place of an adjective clause. Sometimes it is used instead of a restrictive clause, thus pointing out a particular thing or class of things; as, “The men _shoveling coal on the docks_ were prostrated by the heat.” Sometimes the participial phrase takes the place of an unrestrictive clause, thus adding a new thought to the sentence; as, “Here comes a turbaned negress, _balancing a basket of lemons on her head_.”
In both the sentences just given the participial phrase comes after the noun it modifies, thus taking in the sentence the same position as the appositive adjective.
The restrictive participial phrase is not set off by a comma. The unrestrictive participial phrase is set off by a comma.
(3) The participial phrase may take the place of a clause of time or cause, and yet modify a noun, as in the following sentences:—
Those pens, _having been given to me by my dear master_, were never put to any common uses.
_Having said these words_, Beowulf plunged into the water and disappeared among the dark waves.
In the first sentence, change the phrase to a clause of cause. What noun does the phrase modify?
In the second sentence, what does the participial phrase modify? What can you say of its position? Change it to a clause of time.