The following passages from the 'Anglo-Saxon' Gospels will serve to illustrate the difference between the simple infinitive and the gerundial infinitive a. Hu mæg thes his flæsc us syllan (simple infinitive) to etanne (gerundial infinitive)?-John vi. 52. [How may this (man) his flesh us give to eat?] b. Me gebyrath to wyrcanne (gerundial infinitive) thæs weorc the me sende, tha hwyle the hyt dæg ys: nyht cymth, thonne nan man wyrcan (simple infinitive) ne mæg.-John ix. 4. [Me it behoveth to work the work of him which sent me: the night cometh when no man may work.] c. And he hig asende godspel to bodigenne; and he him anweald sealde untrumnessa to hælanne, and deofel-seocnessa út to adrifanne. —Mark iii. 14, 15. [And he them sent the gospel to preach; and he them power gave sicknesses to heal, and devil-sicknesses out to drive.] d. Hig næfdon hlaf to etanne.-Mark iii. 20. [They had-not bread to eat.] e. Gif hwá earan hæbbe to gehyranne.-Mark iv. 23. [If any one ears have to hear.] f. Eart thú the to cumenne eart? oththe we othres sceolon abidan (simple infinitive)?-Matt. xi. 3. [Art thou he which to come art? or should we wait for another?] g. Tha næron alyfede to etanne.-Luke vi. 4. [Which they were not allowed to eat.] h. And eal seo mænigeo sohte hine to athrinanne.-Luke vi. 19. [And all the multitude sought him to touch.] The Simple Infinitive is used after auxiliaries, e.g. I may go; he should go; he might go. The Gerundial Infinitive may be used— 1. As a noun, e.g.— To go is impossible (Subj.) To reign is worth ambition (Subj.) We wished him to go (Indir. Obj.) 2. To qualify a noun, e.g.- We have bread to eat, and water to drink, and clothing to put on. 3. To express purpose after a verb of going or coming (cp. the Latin supine in -um), e.g.— A sower went out to sow his seed. I am come to tell you. 4. To limit an adjective (cp. the Latin supine in -u), e.g.— Marvellous to relate. Wonderful to say. Quick to forgive. The gerandial infinitive is also often used parenthetically, e.g. 'He soon left, and (to tell you the truth) I was not sorry when he went.' After bid, dare, make. feel, see, hear, let, the simple infinitive is used. Most of these verbs governed the simple infinitive in O.E. (See p. 198.) Exercises. 1. What is meant by mood? 2. Define indicative mood, subjunctive mood, infinitive mood. 3. Give instances of imperatives of the first and third person. 4. Give a list of the words which are commonly followed by the Subjunctive Mood. 5. When is the indicative used after 'if'? 6. Name the mood of the verbs in the following passages: a. b. So silently we seemed to speak, So slowly moved about, As we had lent her half our powers To eke her living out.- Hood. If 'twere done when 'tis done, then 'twere well c. Weep no more, lady. d. She doeth little kindnesses, Which most leave undone, or despise.-Lowell. e. To be or not to be: that is the question.-Shakspere. f. It is cruelty to beat a cripple with his own crutches.-Fuller. g. Be swift to hear, slow to speak.—Bible. h. There is a time to weep, and a time to laugh.—Ib. i. He must go. k. Returning were as tedious as go o'er.-Shakspere. ». The apparel oft proclaims the man.—Shakspere. Forward; and forward with them, draw my soul S. And to be glad or sad I care no more: If such there be, where'er It were all one That I should love a bright particular star If all the year were playing holidays, To sport would be as tedious as to work.-Id. t. I do not give you to posterity as a pattern to imitate, but an example to deter.-Junius. u. [He had not] the heart to conceive, the understanding to direct, or the hand to execute.-Id. 7. In what respects does the simple infinitive differ from the gerundial infinitive? PARTICIPLES AND VERBAL NOUNS. 69. A participle (Lat. participo, I take part) is a word which partakes of the nature of a verb and of an adjective, e.g. a living creature, a defeated general. There are only two simple participles in English, the Imperfect Active and the Perfect Passive. The former ends in -ing (O.E. -ende), e.g. 'the rolling waves,' 'the heaving tide.' The latter generally ends in -en or -ed, e.g. 'a spoken word,' 'a slighted suitor,' and sometimes is identical in form with the Infinitive, e.g. ‘a cut rose,' 'a plant put in the ground.' а In O.E. many participles had a distinctive prefix, viz. ge, which survives in a disguised form in yclept (=ge-clept, from ciepian, to call). With the help of the verbs have' and 'be' we may, in the case of transitive verbs, have six participial forms. 70. Simple participles can be used either attributively or predicatively, e.g. A rolling stone,'' A river gleaming in the sun,' 'A defeated general,'' Defeated again and again, he at last beat a retreat.' The compound participles are used only predicatively, e.g. Having lived in the East, he was familiar with oriental customs. Having been writing all the morning, he was fatigued. His money being exhausted, he returned home. The tree, having been felled, was cut up and carted away. Many adjectives are compounded of participles and prefixes, e.g. unforgiven, unpremeditated, ill-shaped, well-born, misbegotten. These should not be treated as participles, there being no such verbs as unforgive, unpremeditate, &c. In O.E. the perfect participle of a transitive verb was inflected, and agreed with the noun which it governed, e.g. 'He hæfth man geweorhtne' (he hath man created). Here 'geweorhtne' is the Accusative Case of 'geweorht.' It will readily be understood how such an expression as 'I have my hands washed' might be changed into 'I have washed my hands.' 71. The student should carefully distinguish between the imperfect participle, which always qualifies a noun, either attributively or predicatively, and the Verbal Noun, which also ends in modern English in -ing (O.E. -ung). Comp. A running sore' (Part.) with 'In running along' (Verbal Noun). The Verbal Noun denotes action or state. It may be used as the Subject or Object of a sentence, and may itself govern an objective case, e.g.— Seeing is believing. He loves hunting the hare. He was fond of hunting. In hunting the deer he was injured. In such expressions as a hunting whip,' 'a fishing rod,' the verbal noun forms part of a compound noun, the parts of which ought properly to be joined by a hyphen. 'A glittering stream' means a stream that glitters; but a hunting whip' does not mean a whip that hunts; it means a whip for hunting. In Shakspere and the Bible we find such forms as a dying,' 'a preparing,' 'a brewing.' The a in these expressions is a corruption of on or in, and governs the verbal noun which follows. În modern English this preposition has been dropped. Johnson wrote "My "Lives" are reprinting,' i.e. are in reprinting. In still more modern phrase we say 'are being reprinted.' 1. What is a participle? Exercises. 2. Distinguish between simple and compound participles. 3. Classify the participles of (a) A transitive verb. (b) An intransitive verb. 4. Classify the participles and verbal nouns in the following passages: a. Forty and six years was this temple in building.—Bible All friendship is feigning; b. All loving is mere folly.-Shakspere. c. The rolling stone gathers no moss. d. Gothic architecture is frozen music. e. 'Finis,' an error or a lie, my friend; f. I go a fishing.—Bible. J. h. It is the bright day brings forth the adder Of being cheated as to cheat.-Butler. 7. m. Call you that backing of your friends? n. There is a pleasure sure In being mad which none but madmen know.-Dryden. r. There is some ill a-brewing towards my rest.—Shakspere. 8. Beloved by his friends, and detested by his foes, he died at the height of his fame. t. Having been writing all the morning, I was somewhat tired. W. Let the galled jade wince, Our withers are unwrung.-Shakspere. ♥. Borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.—Id. |