as By nouns alone, as in this sentence, “he wishes 
s departure”? 
e infinitive mood, 
yt 
: «“ 
_ Here the verb “ to wish’? is that to which the other 
ideas are subjoined ; and the verb «to depart” is that 
which is variously implied in the subjoined series of 
The -of one of these to another will some-~ 
times be dictated by convenience, according as the in- 
tention of a writer is to.study brevity, or to indulge in 
minuteness of detail; and. sometimes there will be so 
little foundation for any particular preference, that the 
choice will be left to faney, to habit, or to the love of 
variety. Sometimes a sentiment expressed in one of 
these modes in one language requires a different one 
when translated into another. - Credo te sapere may be 
translated “ I believe you to be wise ;” but dizi te sa- 
pere cannot be. translated “ I said you to be wise ;’’ 
the infinitive is here to be laid aside, and instead of it, 
a sentence must be subjoined by means of the werd 
“that.” “I said that you were wise,” 
» We generally find it more eligible to use an infinitive 
than a noun, when we have occasion to connect with the 
meaning of the word any considerable variety of cir- 
cumstances. We say “ murder is a heinous crime ;” 
but when we mention the agent and the object, we pre- 
fer using the infinitive mood, we say, “ for a son to mur- 
der a parent is a heinous crime.” _ This is a more com- 
plete expression than “the murder of a parent by a 
son.” Indeed this last phrase evidently requires a verb 
_ or a participle to make it complete; thus, “ the murder 
of aparent committed by a son, isa heinous crime ;” and, 
_ as this makes the phrase verbose and tedious, it is better 
to say, “for a son to murder a parent is a heinous 
_ crime.’ Inthe Latin language, this idea would be most 
conveniently expressed by the subjunctive mood pre- 
ceded by the icle ut... Ut filius parentem interficial 
nefas est. It is but seldom that the mention of the agent 
is combined with the use of the infinitive, when. the 
combined phrase is to be made the nominative to a 
verb. Such expressions as filium interficere parentem 
nefas est, are sometimes used, but they are inconvenient 
and ungraceful, and therefo 
as when we say, “he 
re not common, 
_ The infinitive mood is varied in respect of tense. 
That form which. is called the present infinitive is in 
reality of no tense. It is pure, absolute, and aoristic. It 
may be employed without the implication of time, and 
it admits of being applied equally to past, present, and 
future transactions. .The remarks which we have made 
on that of the indicative mood called its present 
tense, will suggest sufficient proofs of this fact ; and the 
_ subjects are so nearly analogous, that it is unnecessary to 
- nog aa tiade particular illustrations of this point. 
e- The infinitive in the past tense is, in the Latin lan- 
guage, fully expressed by the termination isse, which is 
y allied to the pluperfect subjunctive, a circum- 
stance probably arising from the coincidence of their use 
as consisting in a subserviency to subjunction, 
# The future infinitive, both in Latin and in English, 
is formed by circumlocution, In. Latin the general 
____ infinitive of the. substantive verb is, for this pur- 
« ene with the future participle. — Jiurum, or 
i, C85. In English it is constructed on similar 
; iples. We say “to be about to go.” We some- 
es merely use ‘the general aoristic infinitive atier a 
\ verb which implies a reference to futurity, as “I ex- 
pect him to go.” In expressing such ideas, however, 
“ 
«i 
GRAMMAR. 
437 
we frequently the infinitive as not well fitted for Universat’ 
our purpose, and in its stead employ a sentence in the “remmar- 
future indicative, subjoined by the word “ that ;” as“ | “"¥"" 
bs that he will go.” $ 
imilar principles are discovered in the formation of 
the tenses of the infinitive in the passive voice. 
6. The Gerund and Supine. 
Tue Gerund is a part of speech nearly resembling the The gerund 
infinitive, but tending more strongly to the noun, both rigs to 
in form and syntax. Like the noun, it is governed by jya. sn. 
prepositions, which the infinitive, at least in'the Latin ingnitive 
English languages, is not. We say, “ much harm mood. 
is done to the constitution by drinking.’ In Latin this 
idea is expressed by the ablative of the gerund (po/ando.) 
The infinitive is sometimes thus used without a pr 
sition, as in a passage already quoted from Plautus, Ego 
sum defessus reperire, vos defesst querere ; but the gerund 
is, in almost every instance, better adapted to such pur- 
poses. Such passages contribute to show to what ex- 
tent the infinitive may be used as a noun ; but the in- 
frequency of that mode of employing it, arid the fre- 
guent use of the gerund, prove to us that differences 
in the forms of words, or parts of speech, often con- 
sist in a different extent of adaptation to particular pur- 
poses, and that the characters of some pass almost in- 
sensibly into those of others. 
The gerund differs from the infinitive in not admit- 
ting the mention of the agent in equally close syntax. 
It does not even, like the noun, admit of the annexation 
of this or any other idea by a genitive or an adjective, 
nor has it any power analogous to that which the infi- 
nitive has of taking an accusative before it, to signify 
the agent. The gerund therefore is employed on] 
when no mention of the agent is required, or when this 
is done by connecting it with some other word in the 
sentence, as when we say “ men hurt themselves dy 
drinking.” —- 
The gerund takes the regimen of the verb with re- Ye moe 
spect tothe nouns which it introduces. In Latin we i 
say potando vinum; and in English, « by drinking wine.” 
e same word may however be also used as a noun, 
and then it may take an adjective and govern the geni- 
tive; as “by the drinking of wine.” The difference 
-betwixt the word in “ ing,” in these two modes of em- 
ploying it, is analogous to the difference betwixt the La- 
tin gerund in dum, and the noun in ~éas, or in atio or 
itio, formed from the verb. Instead of the preceding 
phrase, we may employ potu, or potatione vini. The La- 
tin word called the gerund also admits of being used as 
a noun; we can say potando vint, as well as potando 
vinum. 
The gerunds now mentioned have no accident of The pre- 
tense conjoined with them. We formerly observed, "* 
however, that the preterite form of the English verb, as e 
used after the auxiliary ‘ to have,’’ has the nature of a 
preterite gerund. “ Gone" is the name of am act com- 
pleted. In the phrase “ I have gone,” it occupies the 
place of anoun governed in the accusative. In verbs of 
the transitive kind, while it is thus governed, it governs 
in its turn another noun, in the same manner as the 
other parts of the verb to which it belongs... We say 
«T have given them my promise.” This is the nature 
of the word separately considered ; but it is never used 
as a gerund in any other connection, and therefore gram- 
marians have neglected to ascertain its proper character. “ 
The word called.a supine in the Latin language is, The spire. 
in structure and_use, similar to the gerund, though not 
possessing all its inflections, and more limited in its ap- 
plication. ' 
