4. In works of art, this kind of grandeur, which consists in multitude, is _to be_ very cautiously _admitted_.--BURKE.
5. That virtue which requires _to be_ ever _guarded_ is scarcely worth the sentinel.--GOLDSMITH.
6. Burke said that such "little arts and devices" were not _to be_ wholly _condemned_.--_The Nation_, No. 1533.
7. I wish the reader _to_ clearly _understand_.--RUSKIN.
8. Transactions which seem _to be_ most widely _separated_ from one another.--DR. BLAIR.
9. Would earnestly advise them for their good to order this paper _to be_ punctually _served up_.--ADDISON.
10. A little sketch of his, in which a cannon ball is supposed _to have_ just _carried off_ the head of an aide-de-camp.--TROLLOPE.
11. The ladies seem _to have been_ expressly _created_ to form helps meet for such gentlemen.--MACAULAY.
12. Sufficient to disgust a people whose manners were beginning _to be_ strongly _tinctured_ with austerity.--_Id._
13. The spirits, therefore, of those opposed to them seemed _to be_ considerably _damped_ by their continued success.--SCOTT.
[Sidenote: _Position of_ only, even, _etc._]
A very careful writer will so place the modifiers of a verb that the reader will not mistake the meaning.
The rigid rule in such a case would be, to put the modifier in such a position that the reader not only can understand the meaning intended, but _cannot misunderstand_ the thought. Now, when such adverbs as _only_, _even_, etc., are used, they are usually placed in a strictly correct position, if they modify single words; but they are often removed from the exact position, if they modify phrases or clauses: for example, from Irving, "The site is _only_ to be traced by fragments of bricks, china, and earthenware." Here _only_ modifies the phrase _by fragments of bricks_, etc., but it is placed before the infinitive. This misplacement of the adverb can be detected only by analysis of the sentence.
Tell what the adverb modifies in each quotation, and see if it is placed in the proper position:--
1. Only the name of one obscure epigrammatist has been embalmed for us in the verses of his rival.--PALGRAVE.
2. Do you remember pea shooters? I think we only had them on going home for holidays.--THACKERAY.