hould not be used where the infinitive mood, the
verbal noun, a common substantive, or a phrase equivalent, will better
express the meaning. Examples: 1. "But _placing_ an accent on the second
syllable of these words, would entirely derange them."--_Murray's Gram._,
Vol. i, p. 239. Say rather, "But, _to place_ an accent--But _the_ placing
_of_ an accent--or, But an _accent placed_ on the second syllable of these
words, would entirely derange them." 2. "To require _their being_ in that
case."--_Ib._, Vol. ii, p. 21. Say, "To require _them_ to be in that case."
3. "She regrets not having read it."--_West's Letters_, p. 216. Say, "She
regrets _that she has not_ read it." Or, "She _does not regret that she
has_ read it." For the text is equivocal, and admits either of these
senses.

NOTE VIII.--A participle used for a nominative after _be, is, was_, &c.,
produces a construction which is more naturally understood to be a compound
form of the verb; and which is therefore not well adapted to the sense
intended, when one tells what something is, was, or may be. Examples: 1.
"Whose business _is shoeing_ animals."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 365.
Say, "Whose business _it_ is, _to shoe_ animals;"--or, "Whose business is
_the_ shoeing _of_ animals." 2. "This _was in fact converting_ the deposite
to his own use."--_Murray's Key_, ii, p. 200. Say rather, "This was in fact
_a_ converting _of_ the deposite to his own use."--_Ib._

NOTE IX.--Verbs of _preventing_ should be made to govern, not the
participle in _ing_, nor what are called substantive phrases, but the
objective case of a noun or pronoun; and if a participle follow, it ought
to be governed by the preposition _from_: as, "But the admiration due to so
eminent a poet, must not _prevent us from remarking_ some other particulars
in which he has failed."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 438. Examples of error: 1. "I
endeavoured to prevent _letting him_ escape"--_Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 150.
Say,--"to prevent _his escape_." 2. "To prevent _its being connected_ with
the nearest noun."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 367. Say, "To prevent _it from_
being connected," &c. 3. "To prevent _it bursting_ out with open
violence."--_Robertson's America_, Vol. ii, p. 146. Say, "To prevent it
_from_ bursting out," &c. 4. "To prevent _their injuring or murdering of_
others."--_Brown's Divinity_, p. 26. Say rather, "To prevent _them from_
injuring or murdering _others_."

NOTE X.--In the use of participles and of