The Grammar of English Grammars by Goold Brown (free ebook reader .txt) 📕

id="id03833">OBS. 13.—In some instances, two prepositions come directly together, so as jointly to express a sort of compound relation between what precedes the one and what follows the other: as, "And they shall sever the wicked from among the just."—Matt., xiii, 49. "Moses brought out all the rods from before the Lord."—Numb., xvii, 9. "Come out from among them."—2 Cor., vi, 17. "From Judea, and from beyond Jordan."—Matt. iv, 25. "Nor a lawgiver from between his feet."—Gen., xlix, 10. Thus the preposition from, being itself adapted to the ideas of motion and separation, easily coincides with any preposition of place, to express this sort of relation; the terms however have a limited application, being used only between a verb and a noun, because the relation itself is between motion and the place of its beginning: as, "The sand slided from beneath my feet."—Dr. Johnson. In this manner, we may form complex prepositions beginning with from, to the number of about thirty; as, from amidst, from around, from before, from behind, &c. Besides these, there are several others, of a more questionable character, which are sometimes referred to the same class; as, according to, as to, as for, because of, instead of, off of, out of, over against, and round about. Most or all of these are sometimes resolved in a different way, upon the assumption that the former word is an adverb; yet we occasionally find some of them compounded by the hyphen: as, "Pompey's lieutenants, Afranius and Petreius, who lay over-against him, decamp suddenly."—Rowe's Lucan, Argument to B. iv. But the common fashion is, to write them separately; as, "One thing is set over against an other."—Bible.

OBS. 14.—It is not easy to fix a principle by which prepositions may in all cases be distinguished from adverbs. The latter, we say, do not govern the objective case; and if we add, that the former do severally require some object after them, it is clear that any word which precedes a preposition, must needs be something else than a preposition. But this destroys all the doctrine of the preceding paragraph, and admits of no such thing as a complex preposition; whereas that doctrine is acknowledged, to some extent or other, by every one of our grammarians, not excepting even those whose counter-assertions leave no room for it. Under these circumstances, I see no better way, than to refer the student to the definitions of these parts of speech, to exhibit examples in all needful variety, and then let him judge for himself what disposition ought to be made of those words which different grammarians parse differently.

OBS. 15.—If our prepositions were to be divided into classes, the most useful distinction would be, to divide them into Single and Double. The distinction which some writers make, who divide them into "Separable and Inseparable," is of no use at all in parsing, because the latter are mere syllables; and the idea of S. R. Hall, who divides them into "Possessive and Relative," is positively absurd; for he can show us only one of the former kind, and that one, (the word of,) is not always such. A Double Preposition, if such a thing is admissible, is one that consists of two words which in syntactical parsing must be taken together, because they jointly express the relation between two other terms; as, "The waters were dried up from off the earth."—Gen., viii, 13. "The clergy kept this charge from off us."—Leslie, on Tithes, p. 221. "Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble, is like a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint."—Prov., xxv, 19. "The beam out of the timber shall answer it."—Hab., ii, 11. Off and out are most commonly adverbs, but neither of them can be called an adverb here.

OBS. 16.—Again, if according to or as to is a preposition, then is according or as a preposition also, although it does not of itself govern the objective case. As, thus used, is called a conjunction by some, an adverb by others. Dr. Webster considers according to be always a participle, and expressly says, "It is never a preposition."—Octavo Dict. The following is an instance in which, if it is not a preposition, it is a participle: "This is a construction not according to the rules of grammar."—Murray's Gram., Vol. ii, p. 22. But according to and contrary to are expressed in Latin and Greek by single prepositions; and if to alone is the preposition in English, then both according and contrary must, in many instances, be adverbs. Example: "For dost thou sit as judging me according to the law, and contrary to law command me to be smitten?" (See the Greek of Acts, xxiii, 3.) Contrary, though literally an adjective, is often made either an adverb, or a part of a complex preposition, unless the grammarians are generally in error respecting it: as, "Ha dares not act contrary to his instructions."— Murray's Key, p. 179.

OBS. 17.—J. W. Wright, with some appearance of analogy on his side, but none of usage, everywhere adds ly to the questionable word according; as, "We are usually estimated accordingly to our company."— Philosophical Gram., p. 127. "Accordingly to the forms in which they are employed."—Ib., p. 137. "Accordingly to the above principles, the adjective ACCORDING (or agreeable) is frequently, but improperly, substituted for the adverb ACCORDINGLY (or agreeably.)"—Ib., p. 145. The word contrary he does not notice; but, on the same principle, he would doubtless say, "He dares not act contrarily to his instructions." We say indeed, "He acted agreeably to his instructions;"—and not, "He acted agreeable to his instructions." It must also be admitted, that the adverbs accordingly and contrarily are both of them good English words. If these were adopted, where the character of according and contrary is disputable, there would indeed be no longer any occasion to call these latter either adverbs or prepositions. But the fact is, that no good writers have yet preferred them, in such phrases; and the adverbial ending ly gives an additional syllable to a word that seems already quite too long.

OBS. 18.—Instead is reckoned an adverb by some, a preposition by others; and a few write instead-of with a needless hyphen. The best way of settling the grammatical question respecting this term, is, to write the noun stead as a separate word, governed by in. Bating the respect that is due to anomalous usage, there would be more propriety in compounding in quest of, in lieu of, and many similar phrases. For stead is not always followed by of, nor always preceded by in, nor always made part of a compound. We say, in our stead, in your stead, in their stead, &c.; but lieu, which has the same meaning as stead, is much more limited in construction. Examples: "In the stead of sinners, He, a divine and human person, suffered."—Barnes's Notes. "Christ suffered in the place and stead of sinners."—Ib. "For, in its primary sense, is pro, loco alterius, in the stead or place of another."—Lowth's Gram., p. 65.

   "If it may stand him more in stead to lie."
        —Milt., P. L., B. i, l. 473.

    "But here thy sword can do thee little stead."
        —Id., Comus, l. 611.

OBS. 19.—From forth and from out are two poetical phrases, apparently synonymous, in which there is a fanciful transposition of the terms, and perhaps a change of forth and out from adverbs to prepositions. Each phrase is equivalent in meaning to out of or out from. Forth, under other circumstances, is never a preposition; though out, perhaps, may be. We speak as familiarly of going out doors, as of going up stairs, or down cellar. Hence from out may be parsed as a complex preposition, though the other phrase should seem to be a mere example of hyperbaton:

"I saw from out the wave her structures rise."—Byron.

"Peeping from forth their alleys green."—Collins.

OBS. 20.—"Out of and as to," says one grammarian, "are properly prepositions, although they are double words. They may be called compound prepositions."—Cooper's Gram., p. 103. I have called the complex prepositions double rather than compound, because several of the single prepositions are compound words; as, into, notwithstanding, overthwart, throughout, upon, within, without. And even some of these may follow the preposition from; as, "If he shall have removed from within the limits of this state." But in and to, up and on, with and in, are not always compounded when they come together, because the sense may positively demand that the former be taken as an adverb, and the latter only as a preposition: as, "I will come in to him, and will sup with him."—Rev., iii, 20. "A statue of Venus was set up on Mount Calvary."—M'Ilvaine's Lectures, p. 332. "The troubles which we meet with in the world."—Blair. And even two prepositions may be brought together without union or coalescence; because the object of the first one may be expressed or understood before it: as, "The man whom you spoke within the street;"—"The treatment you complain of on this occasion;"—"The house that you live in in the summer;"—"Such a dress as she had on in the evening."

OBS. 21.—Some grammarians assume, that, "Two prepositions in immediate succession require a noun to be understood between them; as, 'Hard by, a cottage chimney smokes, From betwixt two aged oaks.'—'The mingling notes came softened from below.'"—Nutting's Gram., p. 105. This author would probably understand here—"From the space betwixt two aged oaks;"—"came softened from the region below us." But he did not consider all the examples that are included in his proposition; nor did he rightly regard even those which he cites. The doctrine will be found a very awkward one in practice; and an other objection to it is, that most of the ellipses which it supposes, are entirely imaginary. If there were truth in his assumption, the compounding of prepositions would be positively precluded. The terms over-against and round-about are sometimes written with the hyphen, and perhaps it would be well if all the complex prepositions were regularly compounded; but, as I before suggested, such is not the present fashion of writing them, and the general usage is not to be controlled by what any individual may think.

OBS. 22.—Instances may, doubtless, occur, in which the object of a preposition is suppressed by ellipsis, when an other preposition follows, so as to bring together two that do not denote a compound relation, and do not, in any wise, form one complex preposition. Of such suppression, the following is an example; and, I think, a double one: "They take pronouns after instead of before them."—Fowler, E. Gram., §521. This may be interpreted to mean, and probably does mean—"They take pronouns after them in stead of taking them before them."

OBS. 23.—In some instances, the words in, on, of, for, to, with, and others commonly reckoned prepositions, are used after infinitives or participles, in a sort of adverbial construction, because they do not govern any objective; yet not exactly in the usual sense of adverbs, because they evidently express the relation between the verb or participle and a nominative or objective going before. Examples: "Houses are built to live in, and not to look on; therefore let use be preferred before uniformity, except where both may be had."—Ld. Kames. "These are not mysteries for ordinary readers to be let into."—ADDISON: Joh. Dict., w. Let. "Heaven is worth dying for, though earth is not worth living for."—R. Hall. "What! have ye not houses to eat and to drink in?"—1 Cor., xi, 22. This is a very peculiar idiom of our language; and if we say, "Have ye not houses in which to eat and to drink?" we form an other which is not much less so. Greek: "[Greek: Mæ gar oikias ouk echete eis to esthiein kai pinein];" Latin: "Num enim domos non habetis ad manducandum et bibendum?"—Leusden. "N'avez vous pas des maisons pour manger et pour boire?"—French Bible.[315]

OBS. 24.—In OBS. 10th, of Chapter Fourth, on Adjectives, it was shown that words of place, (such as, above, below, beneath, under, and the like,) are sometimes set before nouns in the character of adjectives, and not of prepositions: as, "In the above list,"—"From the above list."—Bullions', E. Gram., p. 70. To the class of adjectives also, rather than to that of adverbs, may some such words be referred, when, without governing the objective case, they are put after nouns to signify place: as, "The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath."—Prov., xv, 24. "Of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath."—Exod., xx, 4.

   "Say first, of God above or man below,
    What can we reason but from what we know?"—Pope.

LIST OF THE PREPOSITIONS.

The following are the principal prepositions, arranged alphabetically: Aboard, about, above, across, after, against, along, amid or amidst, among or amongst, around, at, athwart;—Bating, before, behind,