How to parse. ...

Par. o06, 107.] THE INFINITIVE.

81

But "him to help" might also be treated as
meaning " his helping," and regarded as the Object
of " they besought."
Either parsing may therefore be allowed, Adverbial or Complementary.
When the pupil has once grasped the notion that could,
would, &c., are followed by Infinitives, it will be no longer
necessary to separate the Auxiliary from the Infinitive. The
whole may be parsed together as a Compound Verb. For
example, in the last exercise, "could do," may be treated
as a Compound Verb.
The Complementary Subject Infinitive.
io6 Note that the Complementary Object Infinitive
cannot always be converted into a Complementary
Subject Infinitive. You can say -
(1) "I like a rascal to be punished."
But not
(2)" A rascal is liked to be punished."
The reason is this, that in (2) the Noun "rascal"
is separated and disconnected in meaning from tile
Infinitive " to be punished;" and therefore "l rascal "
would be il danger of being regarded as the complete Subject of " is liked."
107 Consequently the Complementary Subject Infinitive is seldom used except where the Noun-Subject
and the Verb are so related that the former might
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