ad rather than _we choose to_ follow." In the following
example, there is perhaps an ellipsis of _to_ before _cite_: "I need do
nothing more than _simply cite_ the explicit declarations," &c.--_Gurney's
Peculiarities_, p. 4. So in these: "Nature did no more than _furnish_ the
power and means."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 147.

"To beg, than _work_, he better understands;
Or we perhaps might take him off thy hands."
--_Pope's Odyssey_, xvii, 260.

OBS. 22.--It has been stated, in Obs. 16th on Rule 17th, that good writers
are apt to shun a repetition of any part common to two or more verbs in the
same sentence; and among the examples there cited is this: "They mean _to_,
and will, hear patiently."--_Salem Register_. So one might say, "Can a man
arrive at excellence, who has no desire _to_?"--"I do not wish to go, nor
expect _to_."--"Open the door, if you are going _to_." Answer: "We want
_to_, and try _to_, but can't." Such ellipses of the infinitive after _to_,
are by no means uncommon, especially in conversation; nor do they appear to
me to be always reprehensible, since they prevent repetition, and may
contribute to brevity without obscurity. But Dr. Bullions has lately
thought proper to _condemn_ them; for such is presumed to have been the
design of the following note: "_To_, the sign of the infinitive, should
never be used for the infinitive itself. Thus, 'I have not written, and I
do not intend _to_,' is a colloquial vulgarism for, 'I have not written,
and I do not intend _to write_.'"--_Bullions's Analyt. and Pract. Gram._,
p. 179. His "Exercises to be corrected," here, are these: "Be sure to write
yourself and tell him to. And live as God designed me to."--_Ib._, 1st Ed.,
p. 180. It being manifest, that _to_ cannot "be used _for_"--(that is, _in
place of_--)what is implied _after_ it, this is certainly a very awkward
way of hinting "there should never be an ellipsis of the infinitive after
_to_." But, from the false syntax furnished, this appears to have been the
meaning intended. The examples are severally faulty, but not for the reason
suggested--not because "_to_" is used for "_write_" or "_live_"--not,
indeed, for any one reason common to the three--but because, in the first,
"_to write_" and "_have not written_," have nothing in common which we can
omit; in the second, the mood of "_tell_" is doubtful, and, without a comma
after "yourself," we cannot precisely know the meaning; in the third, the