the following the pronoun used before the infinitive should have the possessive-case form, since it qualifies the infinitive.

The teacher does not approve of their sitting on the front seat. [Not them sitting.]

I witnessed his walking the tight rope.

Of course the pronoun may stand in the objective case
provided it is the real object of the verb and the form in
-ing is a participle qualifying the pronoun.
It will be
noted, however, that the sense is very different.
with the above the following:

I took a photograph of them sitting on the bank.
I saw him walking the rope.

Compare

When a transitive infinitive in -ing is qualified by an article it is treated almost wholly like a noun, and the object following is usually governed by inserting the preposition of. Such is also frequently the case when the infinitive is limited by a possessive, occasionally when it is not limited at all.

An old abusing of God's patience and the king's English.Merry Wives, I, 4.

Great care must be taken in the ordering of clauses.

In a moment you will witness the acrobat's performing of a difficult feat. [But, We saw him performing a difficult feat. In the first case performing performance.]

=

What dost thou mean by shaking of thy head?—K. John, III, 1.

EXERCISES.

Discuss infinitive constructions in the following, correcting errors:

1. What need you be so boisterous rough ?-K. John, IV, 1. Thou oughtest not to let thy horse wear a cloak.—2 Henry VI., IV.

It becomes of vast importance to see whether or not the things around us are, in general, such as to help and elicit our best self. -ARNOLD: Culture and Anarchy.

And now to try and trace these in the composite English genius.-ARNOLD: Celtic Literature.

2. It is sufficient to more than compensate for all our losses. He sends to again beg Camilla to become his wife.

I shall never be able to one-millionth part atone for what I have done.

So I will venture to humbly offer myself as an illustration.— ARNOLD: Culture and Anarchy.

[They] would be careful on their part not, in disparaging and discrediting the false culture, to unwittingly disparage and discredit, among a people with little natural reverence for it, the true also. Ibid.

3. That, however, will not prevent their doing, in the end, good service if they persevere.-ARNOLD: Culture and Anarchy.

He leads his disciples to believe . . . that the having a vote, like the having a large family, or a large business, or large muscles, has in it some edifying and perfecting effect upon human nature.-Ibid.

What would you say to James going with you?

Can we send any one to Paris without it becoming known all over the camp?

The drying up a single tear has more

Of honest fame than shedding seas of gore.-BYRON.

I shall always carry with me the recollection of his galloping down the hill to certain death.

In the case of Danjuro, after the usual greetings by the servants at the entrance and taking off my shoes, I was asked into a large room.

There was no end to the congratulations, shaking hands, embraces, and inextinguishable laughter.

Many find much fault with the calling professing Christians, that differ one from another in some matters of opinion, by distinct names.-ISAAC TAYLOR.

36. Mixed Constructions.-When two or more phrases similarly constructed are used in the same connection one is often abbreviated, since the omitted portion can easily be supplied from the other. For example, we say: “He

is as steady of hand, as bright of eye, as keen of intellect, as any young man of thirty," and it is clear that the last as does duty for three, completing each of the three comparisons. When, however, the phrases are dissimilar in form no such abbreviation can take place, as any attempt to complete one phrase from the other would result in a false construction.

1. Error may arise from overlooking the fact that the use of an auxiliary or that a change of auxiliary carries with it a different form of the verb. Sometimes, too, the verb to be supplied is of a different number or person from the verb expressed. The remedy in every case is simply to repeat the verb, supplying the needed form.

If the mother needs all this, how much more will the teacher. [Add need it.]

This was then mixed with straw and the bricks shaped in wooden frames or moulds. [Supply were after bricks.]

2. Comparisons are a fruitful source of errors of this kind.

Worcester's dictionary may be as good but it is no better than Webster's.

Here we may supply the missing correlative as, but the resulting construction, while precise, is awkward. We get a better result by completing the first comparison and omitting the correlative than of the second; thus:

Worcester's dictionary may be as good as Webster's, but it is no

better.

It would seem that all elisions of this nature are more tolerable at the end of a clause or sentence than in the middle. See, for example, a sentence written just above, “It is clear that the last as does duty for three [as's]."

Constructions proper to comparatives and those proper to superlatives are often mixed. The words used after a comparative to denote the class with which anything is

compared should be so framed as to exclude the subject of comparison; the words used after a superlative should include the subject of comparison. The following sentences are therefore incorrect. Correctness can usually be secured by supplying some such word as other or similar after a comparative, and by avoiding any such word after a superlative.

He probably combines in himself more qualities of greatness than any man now living.

That was the most trying ordeal I ever experienced before or since.

NOTE.-When comparisons are expressed negatively or restrictively so is preferred to as as the first member of the correlative phrase. Sometimes, as in a question, a very delicate distinction can be made by observing this usage. The day shall not be up so soon as I.-K. John, v, 5.

Something; and scarce so much: nothing, indeed.--All's Well, 11, 5.
Is any man here so base as he?

3. Idiom frequently requires that words similar in meaning be followed by different prepositional phrases. When such constructions arise each phrase should be expressed in full, or at least such portions of each as differ.

Bad:

After his purpose is served he is willing and even desirous of getting rid of his so-called friend.

EXERCISES.

Criticise the following constructions:

1. If you have not yet you certainly ought to see it.

He was persuaded, you bribed.

I have not loved the world, nor the world me.-BYRON.

All three were accused, but only one convicted.

Nearer, the ferry-boats were going in and out at short intervals, and here and there a small launch, which with her shrill whistle paid her respects to the giant tug with her convoy which she was taking out to sea.

It has at least been scientifically established that the summit of

the famous "enchanted mesa is uninhabited, and, as far as Professor Libby's party could discover, it has never been.

2. Since the coast region is neither so cold in winter nor so warm in summer, it is a much more desirable place to live in than the interior.

Thus Indian finances would be in a position as bad if not worse than before.

The Yukon is said to be only second if not the peer of the "Father of Waters."

This after all was as much or more than Elizabeth had a right to expect.-FROUDE.

One of the worst if not the worst obstacle to our success is the scarcity of fuel.

Of all English writers we probably know as much if not more of Macaulay than of any other.

Ten soldiers armed and disciplined will avail more for protection than a hundred unarmed and undisciplined.

He is the bravest of the brave.

She is the sweetest-tempered of any of my friends.

More Chinese enter by this port than by any port in the country. The position as president of this new university has been tendered to one of the most distinguished men now at the head of a great college.

Was there ever man a coward that hath drunk so much sack as I to-day?-Tempest, III, 2.

Some French words express ideas which no corresponding English terms express as well.

On the other hand, the wild geese probably do not leave the north till they are frozen out, for I have heard their bugles sounding southward so late as the middle of December.-LOWELL. Macaulay was not exuberantly copious as these two illustrious writers, but he had the art of being various without being voluminous. [Supply as or so, as the case requires.] 3. My object was not to detract but to add to your resources. Such instances do not deprive the Americans of the credit they claim to be a law-biding community.-BRYCE.

At last the day arrived which he had so long dreamed and looked forward to,