THE ACTIVE INFINITIVE. 
61 
uninflected infinitive or the inflected infinitive. And yet a few general prin¬ 
ciples seem to emerge from an examination of the groups, principles helpful 
to a solution of the problem despite the difficulty of precise formulation and 
despite a number of apparent, if not real, exceptions thereto. 
To begin with group I, verbs having as object only the Uninflected Infini¬ 
tive, it is to be observed: — 
1. The objective infinitive in most instances appears to the modern Eng¬ 
lishman as a direct (accusative) object, and doubtless so appeared to the 
Anglo-Saxon, for it occurs usually with verbs having the direct object in the 
accusative, as may be seen by a reference to the list given on page 36. Of 
this list, the verbs most frequently so used are the verb of commanding ( hatan ), 
the verb of causing and permitting ( Icetan ), the verbs of sense perception, and 
the verbs of mental perception. 
2. Occasionally, however, the uninflected objective infinitive occurs with 
verbs having another regimen than that of 1, and it occurs: — 
(a) Occasionally with verbs governing ( aa ) a genitive or an accusative 
(cunnian, ‘ attempt; ’ hogian ( hycgan ), ‘think/ ‘intend;’ lystan, ‘desire;’ 
tweogean ( tweon ), ‘ doubt ’) or ( bb ) an accusative or a dative (wunian , ‘ use/ 
‘ be wont ’), though verbs of double regimen usually (especially when one of 
the cases is an accusative), as we shall see, govern both the uninflected and 
the inflected infinitive. 
(b) Very rarely with a verb governing the genitive only ( blinnan , ‘ cease 
from ’). As we shall see below, p. 68 , the compound, ablinnan, is followed by 
either infinitive. 
(c) Very rarely with a verb not found with a case ( onmedan , ‘presume/ 
‘ undertake ’). 
As to group II, verbs having as object only the Inflected Infinitive, it is to 
be noted: — 
1 . To the modern mind, in the majority of instances, the objective infini¬ 
tive appears as the “ indirect object,” under which phrase I here include geni¬ 
tive objects (occasionally also instrumental objects) as well as dative objects; 
and as a rule it doubtless so appeared to the Anglo-Saxon; for in most instances 
this inflected infinitive is found as the object with verbs whose noun object 
is in the genitive or the dative (occasionally the instrumental); or with verbs 
followed by a preposition plus an oblique case; or with verbs followed indiffer¬ 
ently by an “ indirect ” case or by a prepositional phrase. To be more specific, 
the inflected infinitive as object occurs: — 
(a) With certain verbs having an accusative of the direct object and a 
dative of the indirect object, with most of which ( osteowan , ‘ show; ’ cy&an, 
1 make known; ’ geswutelian, ‘ show; ’ geteohhian, ‘ arrange; ’ Iceran, ‘ teach; ' 
tcecan, ‘ teach ’) the infinitive appears to us as the indirect object toward which 
the action of the main verb tends. With one ( geceosan , ‘ choose ’) the simplex 
governs a genitive; in one (liefan, ‘ allow ’) the datival sense is strong; one 
(swerian , ‘ swear ’) is found only in the later Chronicle; while the remaining 
verb (tellan, ‘ tell ’) is found only once. 
(b) (1) With certain verbs followed by an accusative plus a prepositional 
phrase ( gefon, ‘ undertake,’ -f- to; Iceran, ‘ teach/ ‘ direct/ + to or on; under - 
