An English Grammar Part 52

267. INFINITIVES OF THE VERB _CHOOSE._

ACTIVE VOICE.

_Indefinite._ [To] choose. _Imperfect._ [To] be choosing.

_Perfect._ [To] have chosen.

_Perfect definite._ [To] have been choosing.

Pa.s.sIVE VOICE.

_Indefinite._ [To] be chosen. _Perfect._ [To] have been chosen.

[Sidenote: To _with the infinitive._]

268. In Sec. 267 the word _to_ is printed in brackets because it is not a necessary part of the infinitive.

It originally belonged only to an inflected form of the infinitive, expressing purpose; as in the Old English, "Ut eode se s?dere his saed to sawenne" (Out went the sower his seed _to sow_).

[Sidenote: _Cases when_ to _is omitted._]

But later, when inflections became fewer, _to_ was used before the infinitive generally, except in the following cases:--

(1) After the auxiliaries _shall_, _will_ (with _should_ and _would_).

(2) After the verbs _may (might), can (could), must_; also _let_, _make_, _do_ (as, "I _do go_" etc.), _see_, _bid_ (command), _feel_, _hear_, _watch_, _please_; sometimes _need_ (as, "He _need_ not _go_") and _dare_ (to venture).

(3) After _had_ in the idiomatic use; as, "You _had_ better _go_" "He _had_ rather _walk_ than _ride_."

(4) In exclamations; as in the following examples:--

"He _find_ pleasure in doing good!" cried Sir William.--GOLDSMITH.

I _urge_ an address to his kinswoman! I _approach_ her when in a base disguise! I _do_ this!--SCOTT.

"She _ask_ my pardon, poor woman!" cried Charles.--MACAULAY.

269. _Shall_ and _will_ are not to be taken as separate verbs, but with the infinitive as one tense of a verb; as, "He _will choose_," "I _shall have chosen_," etc.

Also _do_ may be considered an auxiliary in the interrogative, negative, and emphatic forms of the present and past, also in the imperative; as,--

What! _doth_ she, too, as the credulous imagine, _learn_ [_doth learn_ is one verb, present tense] the love of the great stars?

--BULWER.

_Do_ not _entertain_ so weak an imagination--BURKE.

She _did_ not _weep_--she _did_ not _break forth_ into reproaches.--IRVING.

270. The infinitive is sometimes active in form while it is pa.s.sive in meaning, as in the expression, "a house _to let_." Examples are,--

She was a kind, liberal woman; rich rather more than needed where there were no opera boxes _to rent_.--DE QUINCEY.

Tho' it seems my spurs are yet _to win_.--TENNYSON.

But there was nothing _to do_.--HOWELLS.

They shall have venison _to eat_, and corn _to hoe_.--COOPER.

Nolan himself saw that something was _to pay_.--E.E. HALE.

271. The various offices which the infinitive and the participle have in the sentence will be treated in Part II., under "a.n.a.lysis," as we are now learning merely to recognize the forms.

GERUNDS.

272. The gerund is like the participle in form, and like a noun in use.

The participle has been called an adjectival verbal; the gerund may be called a _noun verbal_. While the gerund expresses action, it has several attributes of a noun,--it may be governed as a noun; it may be the subject of a verb, or the object of a verb or a preposition; it is often preceded by the definite article; it is frequently modified by a possessive noun or p.r.o.noun.

[Sidenote: _Distinguished from participle and verbal noun._]

273. It differs from the participle in being always used as a noun: it never belongs to or limits a noun.

It differs from the verbal noun in having the property of governing a noun (which the verbal noun has not) and of expressing action (the verbal noun merely names an action, Sec. II).

The following are examples of the uses of the gerund:--

(1) _Subject_: "The _taking_ of means not to see another morning had all day absorbed every energy;" "Certainly _dueling_ is bad, and has been put down."

(2) _Object_: (_a_) "Our culture therefore must not omit the _arming_ of the man." (_b_) "n.o.body cares for _planting_ the poor fungus;" "I announce the good of _being interpenetrated_ by the mind that made nature;" "The guilt of _having been cured_ of the palsy by a Jewish maiden."

(3) _Governing and Governed_: "We are far from _having exhausted_ the significance of the few symbols we use," also (2, _b_), above; "He could embellish the characters with new traits without _violating_ probability;" "He could not help _holding_ out his hand in return."

Exercise.--Find sentences containing five participles, five infinitives, and five gerunds.

SUMMARY OF WORDS IN _-ING_.

274. Words in -ing are of six kinds, according to use as well as meaning. They are as follows:--