How to parse. ...

Par. 396, 397.]

" 1TO."

229

Some Adjectives, such as "necessary," " fit," have
to be supplied in such cases: —
(16) " I llave the pleasure, honor, &c., to inform you,"
i.e. "the pleasure, honor, that goes so far as
to," &c.i
396 In all the above Examples there are two causes
for the use of "to " instead of " at," "for," "of,"
&c. (1) A Transitive Verb is often implied; (2)
"to " being constantly used with the Gerundive of
purpose, came to be used with the Infinitive (used
for the Gerundive) even where there is no sense of
purpose. See Par. 94; also 585-6.
397 " So as to." "To" is often found after
"so...as ":
(17) " Be so kind as to excuse me."
This might have been written without " so... as:"
"Be kind to excuse me," i.e. " Be kind to the
extent of excusing me; " and this idiom is actually
found, only with " enough " added: —
(18) " Be kind enough to excuse me."
In Early English "so" was added in the sense
of " to that extent: " " Be so kind to excuse me."
Afterwards, to join together the two parts of the
sentence, the Relative form of " so," viz. " as " (see
Par. 203), was inserted.
1 This Infinitive appears to describe the " honor," " pleasure,'
&c., and therefore rather to be Adjectival than Adverbial.