i, 287.

OBS. 5.--Many are content to call the word TO a _prefix_, a _particle_, a
_little word_, a _sign of the infinitive_, a _part of the infinitive_, a
_part of the verb_, and the like, without telling us whence it comes, how
it differs from the preposition _to_, or to what part of speech it belongs.
It certainly is not what we usually call a _prefix_, because we never _join
it to_ the verb; yet there are three instances in which it becomes such,
before a noun: viz., _to-day, to-night, to-morrow_. If it is a
"_particle_," so is any other preposition, as well as every small and
invariable word. If it is a "_little word_," the whole bigness of a
preposition is unquestionably found in it; and no "_word_" is so small but
that it must belong to some one of the ten classes called parts of speech.
If it is a "_sign of the infinitive_," because it is used before no other
mood; so is it a _sign of the objective case_, or of what in Latin is
called the dative, because it precedes no other case. If we suppose it to
be a "_part of the infinitive_," or a "_part of the verb_," it is certainly
no _necessary_ part of either; because there is no verb which may not, in
several different ways, be properly used in the infinitive without it. But
if it be a part of the infinitive, it must be a _verb_, and ought to be
classed with the _auxiliaries_. Dr. Ash accordingly placed it among the
auxiliaries; but he says, (inaccurately, however,) "The auxiliary _sign
seems_ to have the nature of _adverbs._"--_Grammatical Institutes_, p. 33.
"The auxiliary [signs] _are, to, do, did, have, had, shall, will, may, can,
must, might_," &c.--_Ib._, p. 31.

OBS. 6.--It is clear, as I have already shown, that the word _to_ may be a
_sign_ of the infinitive, and yet not be a _part_ of it. Dr. Ash supposes,
it may even be a part of the _mood_, and yet not be a part of the _verb_.
How this can be, I see not, unless the mood consists in something else than
either the form or the parts of the verb. This grammarian says, "In
parsing, every word should be considered as a _distinct part of speech_:
for though two or more words may be united to form a mode, a tense, or a
comparison; yet it seems quite improper to unite two or more words to make
a noun, a verb, an adjective, &c."--_Gram. Inst._, p. 28. All the
auxiliaries, therefore, and the particle _to_ among them, he parses
separately; but he follows not his own advice, to make them distinct parts
of speech; for