How to parse. ...

72

"TO" OMITTED.

[Par. 94, 95.

Again, compare together -
I bade him I ordered him
I let him come I permitted him. to come
I made him I compelled him
I can I am able
I dare I venture
I may I am allowed
I must come I am compelled to come
I shall I am certain
I should I ought
I will I am willing
To is also omitted after the Verbs see, hear, need,
feel, e.g. "I saw him die," "I heard her sing."
What is the reason for the omission of to after all
these Verbs?
94 The reason is that our ancestors used not to put
to before the Infinitive. Instead of "to walk"
they used to say " walk-en." " To " was only used
to denote purpose, with a special form of the Verb,
"to walk-ene," i.e. " in order to walk." In time,
the inflections -en and -ene became disused. So, to
denote the Infinitive, they used " to " in all cases,
not only in its proper sense of purpose, but also as
the mere sign of the Infinitive, even where the
Infinitive was nothing but a Noun. Thus, instead
of saying "I like walk-enz," they began to say "I
like to walk."
95 But after some Verbs, such as let, may, can, &c.,
it was not found necessary to use to. These Verbs,