CHAPTER XIX.

ON THE MOODS.

s. 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.

s. 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 ass _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_ tham ageyn.

_R. Br._

2. Whether feith schall _mowe to save_ him?

WICLIF, _James_ ii.

3. My woful child what flight _maist thou to take_?

HIGGINS, _Lady Sabrine_, 4.

4. Never to retourne no more, Except he _would_ his life _to loose_ therfore.

HIGGINS, _King Albanaet_, 6.

5. He said he _could not to forsake_ my love.

HIGGINS, _Queen Elstride_, 20.

6. The mayster _lette_ X men and mo _To wende_.

_Octavian_, 381.

7. And though we owe the fall of Troy requite, Yet _let_ revenge thereof from gods _to_ lighte.

HIGGINS, _King Albanaet_, 16.

8. _I durst_, my lord, _to wager_ she is honest.

_Othello_, iv. 2.

9. Whom, when on ground, she grovelling _saw to roll_, She ran in haste, &c.

_F. Q._ iv. 7, 32.

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s. 571. Imperatives have three peculiarities. (1.) They can only, in English, be used in the second person: (2.) They take pronouns after, instead of before, them: (3.) They often omit the pronoun altogether.

s. 572. For the syntax of subjunctives, see the Chapter on Conjunctions.

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