372. "To be sure there is a possibility of some
ignorant _reader's confounding the two vowels_ in pronunciation."--_Ib._,
p. 375. It is much better to avoid all such English as this. Say, rather,
"_His enmity with Caesar_ was the cause of perpetual discord."--"An other
fault is _the allowing of_ it to _supersede_ the use of a point."--"To be
sure, there is a possibility _that_ some ignorant _reader may confound_ the
two vowels, in pronunciation."

OBS. 23.--In French, the infinitive is governed by several different
prepositions, and the gerundive by one only, the preposition _en_,--which,
however, is sometimes suppressed; as, "_en passant, en faisant,--il alloit
courant_."--_Traite des Participes_, p. 2. In English, the gerundive is
governed by several different prepositions, and the infinitive by one only,
the preposition _to_,--which, in like manner, is sometimes suppressed; as,
"_to pass, to do,--I saw him run_." The difficulties in the syntax of the
French participle in _ant_, which corresponds to ours in _ing_, are
apparently as great in themselves, as those which the syntax of the English
word presents; but they result from entirely different causes, and chiefly
from the liability there is of confounding the participle with the verbal
adjective, which is formed from it. The confounding of it with the
gerundive is now, in either language, of little or no consequence, since in
modern French, as well as in English, both are indeclinable. For this
reason, I have framed the syntactical rule for participles so as to include
under that name the gerund, or gerundive, which is a participle governed by
a preposition. The great difficulty with us, is, to determine whether the
participle ought, or ought not, to be allowed to assume _other_
characteristics of a noun, without dropping those of a participle, and
without becoming wholly a noun. The liability of confounding the English
participle with the verbal or participial adjective, amounts to nothing
more than the occasional misnaming of a word in parsing; or perhaps an
occasional ambiguity in the style of some writer, as in the following
citation: "I am resolved, 'let the newspapers say what they please of
_canvassing_ beauties, _haranguing_ toasts, and _mobbing_ demireps,' not to
believe one syllable."--_Jane West's Letters to a Young Lady_, p. 74. From
these words, it is scarcely possible to find out, even with the help of the
context whether these three sorts of ladies ar