"The infinitive mode has commonly the sign to before it.

Yet Nixon, by assuming that of, with the word governed by it, constitutes a possessive case, contrives to give to participles, and even to the infinitive mood, all three of the cases.

Of the infinitive, he says, "An examination of the first and second methods of parsing this mo

If the infinitive mood is really a declinable substantive, none of our grammarians have placed it in the right chapter; except that bold contemner of all grammatical and literary authority, Oliver B. Peirce.

A verb is conjugated negatively, by placing the adverb not after it, or after the first auxiliary; but the infinitive and participles take the negative first: as, Not to love, Not to have loved; Not loving, Not loved, Not having loved.

Or, if it is really of one tense only, it is plainly an aorist; and hence the time must be specified by the infinitive that follows: as, "He ought to go; He ought to have gone."

Being originally a preterit, it never occurs in the infinitive mood, and is entirely invariable, except in the solemn style, where we find oughtest in both tenses; as, "How thou oughtest to behave thyself."1

To wit, used alone, to indicate a thing spoken of, (as the French use their infinitive, savoir, à savoir, or the phrase, c'est à savoir,) is undoubtedly an elliptical expression: probably for, "I give you to wit;" i. e., "I give you to know."

The definitions to be given in the Sixth Praxis, are two for an article, six for a noun, three for an adjective, six for a pronoun, seven for a verb finite, five for an infinitive, and one for a participle, an adverb, a conjunction, a preposition, or an interjection.

5: à 6: Active infinitive.

pas, point, jamais, plus, guère, rien, personne, pas un, que, aucun, nul, ni.-Order of negative particles with infinitive.

9: à with infinitive.

Relative clause used for active infinitive or present participle.

13: subjunctive, why? 14: il y va de sa vie. 15: perfect infinitive.

19: faire; subjunctive, why? 20: infinitive.

Active infinitive with faire, laisser, entendre, and voir.

4: active infinitive. 5: le tailleur.

The verb "to be," or any of its forms (am, is, are, were, etc.), does not take an object, but, being equivalent in meaning to the symbol "=," takes the same case after it as before it: the nominative, if the form is "finite"; the objective, if the form is "infinitive" and has a subject of its own.

The perfect infinitive is properly used to denote action which is completed at the time denoted by the principal verb: as, "I am glad to have seen Niagara Falls;" "He felt sorry to have hurt your feelings.

" EXCEPTION.Ought, must, need, and should (in the sense of "ought") have no distinctive form to denote past time; with these verbs present time is denoted by putting the complementary infinitive in the present tense, past time is denoted by putting the complementary infinitive in the perfect tense: as, "You ought to go," "You ought to have gone;" "He should be careful," "He should have been careful."

" EXCEPTION.Ought, must, need, and should (in the sense of "ought") have no distinctive form to denote past time; with these verbs present time is denoted by putting the complementary infinitive in the present tense, past time is denoted by putting the complementary infinitive in the perfect tense: as, "You ought to go," "You ought to have gone;" "He should be careful," "He should have been careful."

A similar change from the present to the perfect infinitive is found after could and might in some of their uses: as, "I could go," "I could have gone;" "You might have answered.

With an infinitive, like is the common word, love being appropriate only in the hyperbole of poetical or rhetorical feeling.

START, BEGIN, COMMENCE.To start is "to set out" or "to set going," and is not followed by an infinitive.

Before an infinitive, "begin" or "commence" is used.