Commence
Commence (kom*mens") , intransitive verb
[French commencer, Old French comencier, from Latin com- + initiare to begin. See Initiate.]
1.
To have a beginning or origin; to originate; to start; to begin.
Here the anthem doth commence.
His heaven commences ere the world be past.
2.
To begin to be, or to act as. [Archaic]
We commence judges ourselves.
3.
To take a degree at a university. [English]
I question whether the formality of commencing was used in that age.
Commence , transitive verb
To enter upon; to begin; to perform the first act of.
Many a wooer doth commence his suit.
It is the practice of good writers to use the verbal noun (instead of the infinitive with to) after commence; as, he commenced studying, not he commenced to study.