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

"For man to tell how human life began, Is hard; for who himself beginning knew?"—Milton. OBSERVATIONS ON RULE XXIII.

OBS. 1.—In parsing any ordinary preposition, the learner should name the two terms of the relation, and apply the foregoing rule, after the manner prescribed in Praxis 12th of this work. The principle is simple and etymological, being implied in the very definition of a preposition, yet not the less necessary to be given as a rule of syntax. Among tolerable writers, the prepositions exhibit more errors than any other equal number of words. This is probably owing to the careless manner in which they are usually slurred over in parsing. But the parsers, in general, have at least this excuse, that their text-books have taught them no better; they therefore call the preposition a preposition, and leave its use and meaning unexplained.

OBS. 2.—If the learner be at any loss to discover the true terms of relation, let him ask and answer two questions: first, with the interrogative what before the preposition, to find the antecedent; and then, with the same pronoun after the preposition, to find the subsequent term. These questions answered according to the sense, will always give the true terms. For example: "They dashed that rapid torrent through."—Scott. Ques. What through? Ans. "Dashed through." Ques. Through what? Ans. "Through that torrent." For the meaning is—"They dashed through that rapid torrent." If one term is perfectly obvious, (as it almost always is,) find the other in this way; as, "Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge."—Psal., xix, 2. Ques. What unto day? Ans. "Uttereth unto day." Ques. What unto night? Ans. "Showeth unto night" For the meaning is—"Day uttereth speech unto day, and night showeth knowledge unto night." To parse rightly, is, to understand rightly; and what is well expressed, it is a shame to misunderstand or misinterpret. But sometimes the position of the two nouns is such, that it may require some reflection to find either; as,

   "Or that choice plant, so grateful to the nose,
    Which in I know not what far country grows."—Churchill, p. 18.

OBS. 3.—When a preposition begins or ends a sentence or clause, the terms of relation, if both are given, are transposed; as, "To a studious man, action is a relief."—Burgh. That is, "Action is a relief to a studious man." "Science they [the ladies] do not pretend TO."—Id. That is, "They do not pretend to science." "Until I have done that which I have spoken to thee OF."—Gen., xxviii, 15. The word governed by the preposition is always the subsequent term of the relation, however it may be placed; and if this be a relative pronoun, the transposition is permanent. The preposition, however, may be put before any relative, except that and as; and this is commonly thought to be its most appropriate place: as, "Until I have done that of which I have spoken to thee," Of the placing of it last, Lowth says, "This is an idiom which our language is strongly inclined to;" Murray and others, "This is an idiom to which our language is strongly inclined:" while they all add, "it prevails in common conversation, and suits very well with the familiar style in writing; but the placing of the preposition before the relative, is more graceful, as well as more perspicuous, and agrees much better with the solemn and elevated style."—Lowth's Gram., p. 95; Murray's, 8vo, p. 200; Fisk's, 141; R. C. Smiths, 167; Ingersoll's, 227; Churchill's. 150.

OBS. 4.—The terms of relation between which a preposition may be used, are very various. The former or antecedent term may be a noun, an adjective, a pronoun, a verb, a participle, or an adverb: and, in some instances, we find not only one preposition put before an other, but even a conjunction or an interjection used on this side; as, "Because OF offences."—"Alas FOR him!"—The latter or subsequent term, which is the word governed by the preposition, may be a noun, a pronoun, a pronominal adjective, an infinitive verb, or an imperfect or preperfect participle: and, in some instances, prepositions appear to govern adverbs, or even whole phrases. See the observations in the tenth chapter of Etymology.

OBS. 5.—Both terms of the relation are usually expressed; though either of them may, in some instances, be left out, the other being given: as, (1.) THE FORMER—"All shall know me, [reckoning] FROM the least to the greatest."—Heb., viii, 11. [I say] "IN a word, it would entirely defeat the purpose."—Blair. "When I speak of reputation, I mean not only [reputation] IN regard to knowledge, but [reputation] IN regard to the talent of communicating knowledge."—Campbell's Rhet., p. 163; Murray's Gram., i, 360. (2.) THE LATTER—"Opinions and ceremonies [which] they would die FOR."—Locke. "IN [those] who obtain defence, or [in those] who defend."—Pope. "Others are more modest than [what] this comes TO."—Collier's Antoninus, p. 66.

OBS. 6.—The only proper exceptions to the foregoing rule, are those which are inserted above, unless the abstract infinitive used as a predicate is also to be excepted; as, "In both, to reason right, is to submit."—Pope. But here most if not all grammarians would say, the verb "is" is the antecedent term, or what their syntax takes to govern the infinitive. The relation, however, is not such as when we say, "He is to submit;" that is, "He must submit, or ought to submit;" but, perhaps, to insist on a different mode of parsing the more separable infinitive or its preposition, would be a needless refinement. Yet some regard ought to be paid to the different relations which the infinitive may bear to this finite verb. For want of a due estimate of this difference, the following sentence is, I think, very faulty: "The great business of this life is to prepare, and qualify us, for the enjoyment of a better."—Murray's Gram., Vol. i, p. 373. If the author meant to tell what our great business in this life is, he should rather have said: "The great business of this life is, to prepare and qualify ourselves for the enjoyment of a better."

OBS. 7.—In relation to the infinitive, Dr. Adam remarks, that, "To in English is often taken absolutely; as, To confess the truth; To proceed; To conclude."—Latin and Eng. Gram., p. 182. But the assertion is not entirely true; nor are his examples appropriate; for what he and many other grammarians call the infinitive absolute, evidently depends on something understood; and the preposition is, surely, in no instance independent of what follows it, and is therefore never entirely absolute. Prepositions are not to be supposed to have no antecedent term, merely because they stand at the head of a phrase or sentence which is made the subject of a verb; for the phrase or sentence itself often contains that term, as in the following example: "In what way mind acts upon matter, is unknown." Here in shows the relation between acts and way; because the expression suggests, that mind acts IN some way upon matter.

OBS. 8.—The second exception above, wherever it is found applicable, cancels the first; because it introduces an antecedent term before the preposition to, as may be seen by the examples given. It is questionable too, whether both of them may not also be cancelled in an other way; that is, by transposition and the introduction of the pronoun it for the nominative: as, "It is a great affliction, TO be reduced to poverty."—"It is hard FOR man to tell how human life began."—"Nevertheless it is more needful for you, THAT I should abide in the flesh." We cannot so well say, "It is more needful for you, FOR me to abide in the flesh;" but we may say, "It is, on your account, more needful FOR me to abide in the flesh." If these, and other similar examples, are not to be accounted additional instances in which to and for, and also the conjunction that, are without any proper antecedent terms, we must suppose these particles to show the relation between what precedes and what follows them.

OBS. 9.—The preposition (as its name implies) precedes the word which it governs. Yet there are some exceptions. In the familiar style, a preposition governing a relative or an interrogative pronoun, is often separated from its object, and connected with the other term of relation; as, "Whom did he speak to?" But it is more dignified, and in general more graceful, to place the preposition before the pronoun; as, "To whom did he speak?" The relatives that and as, if governed by a preposition, must always precede it. In some instances, the pronoun must be supplied in parsing; as, "To set off the banquet [that or which] he gives notice of."—Philological Museum, i, 454. Sometimes the objective word is put first because it is emphatical; as, "This the great understand, this they pique themselves upon."—Art of Thinking, p. 66. Prepositions of more than one syllable, are sometimes put immediately after their objects, especially in poetry; as, "Known all the world over."—Walker's Particles p. 291. "The thing is known all Lesbos over."—Ibid.

"Wild Carron's lonely woods among."—Langhorne.

"Thy deep ravines and dells along."—Sir W. Scott.

OBS. 10.—Two prepositions sometimes come together; as, "Lambeth is over against Westminster abbey."—Murray's Gram., i, 118. "And from before the lustre of her face, White break the clouds away."—Thomson. "And the meagre fiend Blows mildew from between his shrivell'd lips."—Cowper. These, in most instances, though they are not usually written as compounds, appear naturally to coalesce in their syntax, as was observed in the tenth chapter of Etymology, and to express a sort of compound relation between the other terms with which they are connected. When such is their character, they ought to be taken together in parsing; for, if we parse them separately, we must either call the first an adverb, or suppose some very awkward ellipsis. Some instances however occur, in which an object may easily be supplied to the former word, and perhaps ought to be; as, "He is at liberty to sell it at [a price] above a fair remuneration."— Wayland's Moral Science, p. 258. "And I wish they had been at the bottom of the ditch I pulled you out of, instead of [being] upon my back."—Sandford and Merton, p. 29. In such examples as the following, the first preposition, of, appears to me to govern the plural noun which ends the sentence; and the intermediate ones, from and to, to have both terms of their relation understood: "Iambic verse consists of from two to six feet; that is, of from four to twelve syllables."—Blair's Gram., p. 119. "Trochaic verse consists of from one to three feet."—Ibid. The meaning is—"Iambic verse consists of feet varying in number from two to six; or (it consists) of syllables varying from four to twelve."—"Trochaic verse consists of feet varying from one foot to three feet."

OBS. 11.—One antecedent term may have several prepositions depending on it, with one object after each, or more than one after any, or only one after both or all; as, "A declaration for virtue and against vice."—Butler's Anal., p. 157. "A positive law against all fraud, falsehood, and violence, and for, or in favour of, all justice and truth." "For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things."—Bible. In fact, not only may the relation be simple in regard to all or any of the words, but it may also be complex in regard to all or any of them. Hence several different prepositions, whether they have different antecedent terms or only one and the same, may refer either jointly or severally to one object or to more. This follows, because not only may either antecedents or objects be connected by conjunctions, but prepositions also admit of this construction, with or without a connecting of their antecedents. Examples: "They are capable of, and placed in, different stations in the society of mankind."—Butler's Anal., p. 115. "Our perception of vice and ill desert arises from, and is the result of, a comparison of actions with the nature and capacities of the agent."—Ib., p. 279. "And the design of this chapter is, to inquire how far this is the case; how far, over and above the moral nature which God has given us, and our natural notion of him, as righteous governor of those his creatures to whom he has given this nature; I say, how far, besides this, the principles and beginnings of a moral government over the world may be discerned, notwithstanding and amidst all the confusion and disorder of it."—Ib., p. 85.

OBS. 12.—The preposition into, expresses a relation produced by motion or change; and in, the same relation, without reference to motion as having produced it: hence, "to walk into the garden," and, "to walk in the garden," are very different in meaning. "It is disagreeable to find a word