proper_."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 183. I
imagine, there cannot be any proper ellipsis of _to_ before the infinitive,
except in some forms of comparison; because, wherever else it is necessary,
either to the sense or to the construction, it ought to be inserted. And
wherever the _to_ is rightly used, it is properly the governing word; but
where it cannot be inserted without _impropriety_, it is absurd to say,
that it is "_understood_." The infinitive that is put after such a verb or
participle as excludes the preposition _to_, is governed by this verb or
participle, if it is governed by any thing: as,

"To make them _do, undo, eat, drink, stand, move,
Talk, think_, and _feel_, exactly as he chose."--_Pollok_, p. 69.

OBS. 2.--Ingersoll, who converted Murray's Grammar into "_Conversations_,"
says, "I will just remark to you that the verbs in the infinitive mood,
that follow _make, need, see, bid, dare, feel, hear, let_, and their
participles, are _always_ GOVERNED by them."--_Conv. on Eng. Gram._, p.
120. Kirkham, who pretended to turn the same book into "_Familiar
Lectures_," says, "_To_, the sign of the infinitive mood, is _often
understood_ before the verb; as, 'Let me proceed;' that is, Let me _to_
proceed."--_Gram. in Fam. Lect._, p. 137. The lecturer, however, does not
suppose the infinitive to be here governed by the preposition _to_, or the
verb _let_, but rather by the pronoun _me_. For, in an other place, he
avers, that the infinitive may be governed by a noun or a pronoun; as, "Let
_him do_ it."--_Ib._, p. 187. Now if the government of the infinitive is to
be referred to the objective noun or pronoun that intervenes, none of those
verbs that take the infinitive after them without the preposition, will
usually be found to govern it, except _dare_ and _need_; and if _need_, in
such a case, is an _auxiliary_, no government pertains to that. R. C.
Smith, an other modifier of Murray, having the same false notion of
ellipsis, says, "_To_, the usual sign of this mood, is _sometimes
understood_; as, 'Let me go,' instead of, 'Let me _to_ go.'"--_Smith's New
Gram._, p. 65. According to Murray, whom these men profess to follow,
_let_, in all these examples, is _an auxiliary_, and the verb that follows
it, is not in the _infinitive_ mood, but in the _imperative_. So they
severally contradict their oracle, and all are wrong, both he and they! The
disciples pretend to correct their master, by supposing "_Let me to go_,"