OBS. 9.—­The following sentence is a literal imitation of the Latin accusative before the infinitive, and for that reason it is not good English:  “But experience teacheth us, both these opinions to be alike ridiculous.”—­Barclay’s Works, Vol. i, p. 262.  It should be, “But experience teaches us, that both these opinions are alike ridiculous.”  The verbs believe, think, imagine, and others expressing mental action, I suppose to be capable of governing nouns or pronouns in the objective case, and consequently of being interpreted transitively.  Hence I deny the correctness of the following explanation:  “RULE XXIV.  The objective case precedes the infinitive mode; [as,] ’I believe your brother to be a good man.’  Here believe does not govern brother, in the objective case, because it is not the object after it. Brother, in the objective case, third person singular, precedes the neuter verb to be, in the infinitive mode, present time, third person singular.”—­S.  Barrett’s Gram., p. 135.  This author teaches that, “The infinitive mode agrees with the objective case in number and person.”—­Ibid. Which doctrine is denied; because the infinitive has no number or person, in any language.  Nor do I see why the noun brother, in the foregoing example, may not be both the object of the active verb believe, and the subject of the neuter infinitive to be, at the same time; for the subject of the infinitive, if the infinitive can be said to have a subject, is not necessarily in the nominative case, or necessarily independent of what precedes.

OBS. 10.—­There are many teachers of English grammar, who still adhere to the principle of the Latin and Greek grammarians, which refers the accusative or objective to the latter verb, and supposes the former to be intransitive, or to govern only the infinitive.  Thus Nixon:  “The objective case is frequently put before the infinitive mood, as its subject; as, ‘Suffer me to depart.’” [340]—­English Parser, p. 34.  “When an objective case stands before an infinitive mood, as ’I understood it to be him,’ ‘Suffer me to depart,’ such objective should be parsed, not as governed by the preceding verb, but as the objective case before the infinitive; that is, the subject of it.  The reason of this is—­the former verb can govern one object only, and that is (in such sentences) the infinitive mood; the intervening objective being the subject of the infinitive following, and not governed by the former verb; as, in that instance, it would be governing two objects.”—­Ib., Note.[341]