several groups. As an illustration of this, let us notice some of the relations indicated by the preposition by. We can use it to mark time, 'by day'; or instrument, 'stunned by a blow'; or agency, 'stabbed by Brutus'; or manner, 'hung by the neck'; or measure, 'sold by the pound'; or place, he lives by the river'; or as an appeal, I beg you by whatever you hold dear'; and these are not all of its meanings. 199. We may also classify Prepositions according to their Origin. into. (1) Some are Simple: at, by, to, up, on. (2) Others are Compound: throughout, within, upon, (3) A few are Participles: considering, regarding, concerning, during, pending. 200. The use of considering, or regarding, as a true participle may be seen in such sentences as these: 'Considering the temptation, they let him off,' i.e. 'They, considering the temptation, let him off': 'Regarding your conduct, I am shocked,' i.e. 'I, regarding your conduct, am shocked.' But when we say, 'Considering the temptation, he was allowed to get off,' considering means 'in consideration of' and has become a preposition: when we say, 'Regarding your statement, you have been misinformed,' regarding means 'with regard to' and has become a preposition. The use of concerning as a preposition occurs in the A.V. in the passage, 'Now concerning the collection...even so do ye,' (1 Cor. xvi. 1): its participial origin is seen in such an expression as this; 'Your remarks concerning me are unfounded.' Commercial men are quite needlessly pressing the participle 'referring to' into their service as a preposition, and their letters begin in this objectionable fashion: 'Referring to yours of yesterday lard has gone up.' Here referring to is used as a preposition signifying 'with reference to' and is no longer a participle: if it were, the construction would be 'lard referring to your letter,' which is absurd. Some of these forms may be explained as originally Absolute constructions of the participle: 'during the day' arose from 'the day during,' or 'lasting': 'pending the verdict,' from 'the verdict pending,' or 'being in suspense': 'notwithstanding the storm,' from 'the storm not withstanding,' or 'obstructing.' A similar explanation applies to except, which springs from the Latin past participle: 'all except John' was originally 'all, John having been excepted.' Save, as a preposition, exhibits the same absolute construction: the word is here an adjective equivalent to safe. So, 'all, save one' was 'all, one being safe.' 201. The beginner will find little difficulty in distinguishing between the functions of the same word as Preposition and as Adverb, if he remembers that a Preposition is used with a noun or its substitute and governs it: where there is no noun thus governed, the word in question is not a preposition. A few examples will make this clear: the following words are used as Prepositions He is on the roof. Take it off the table. He is gone down the town. It lies beyond the river. We went along the bank. QUESTIONS. Adverbs Put it on. He is gone down. Go along. I. Give the definition and derivation of (a) pronoun, (b) preposition. Shew how your answers apply to the words printed in italics in the following: 'To be, or not to be,-that is the question.' 'They had nothing to amuse themselves with.' ['Pronoun' from Latin, pro, 'for,' nomen, 'name'. 'Preposition' from prae, in front', positus, 'placed', not because prepositions are usually placed before nouns, for they often come after them, but because in Greek and Latin they were prefixed to verbs to form compounds. The derivation of the name is only a source of embarrassment to beginners, as it suggests order in a sentence, with which it has nothing to do. Remember that the infinitive is equivalent to a noun. can we substitute for 'to be,' 'not to be '?] What nouns 2. Specify the notions expressed by the preposition on in the following examples of its use:- -'It rests on the earth'-'Weston is on the sea''He lectures on medicine'-'We returned on Saturday'-'The dew descended on the parched earth’—‘He made an attack on the enemy'— 'He started on receiving the telegram'-'He gave up business on account of his health.' [See Bain's Higher English Grammar, pp. 90-1.] 3. Construct sentences illustrating some of the principal uses of for and of. 4. In the following quotations from Shakespeare substitute prepositions in accordance with modern idiom1:— 'Have we eaten on the insane root?' 'Steal forth thy father's house.' 'From out the fiery portal of the East.' 'I stay here on my bond.' 'The lady Beatrice hath a quarrel to you.' 5. Express with the aid of a preposition the idea represented by the first part of these compound nouns :-gravy-spoon, steam-ship, warship, land-breeze, sea-captain, Convalescent-Home, ground-swell, playground, life-preserver, wheel-barrow. 6. What idea was originally represented by prepositions in English? [Relations in space. These purely local meanings were then extended to express relations of time and of cause. So, of and off were once the same word; by meant 'close to'; for meant 'before.' See Mason's English Grammar, pp. 116—9.] 7. In the following phrases, is the use of the preposition inconsistent with its definition?—(a) in short, after all, at last, for better, for worse: (b) till now, for ever, since then, from here. [In (a) the preposition is joined to adjectives which are used without the noun which they limit. In (6) the preposition is joined to adverbs employed as nouns: now is equivalent to 'the present time,' ever, to 'all time.' When these words are parsed, the adjectives should be described as adjectives used for nouns, or as adjectives with the ellipsis of nouns, and the adverbs as adverbs used for nouns.] 8. Write down the prepositions in the following lines and make short sentences to illustrate different uses of each: 'As when upon a tranced summer night, Those green-robed senators of mighty woods, 1 Selected from Abbott's Shakespearian Grammar. CHAPTER XX. CONJUNCTIONS AND INTERJECTIONS. 202. A Conjunction is a word, other than a relative pronoun or conjunctive adverb, which joins words and sentences. All conjunctions can join sentences together, but all words which join sentences are not conjunctions. 'This is the man who stole the money' contains two clauses, 'This is the man: (he) stole the money'; the two clauses are united by the relative pronoun who and form one complex sentence. The reader will remember that the distinguishing mark of a relative pronoun is this, that it has the force of a conjunction. But it is not itself a conjunction. Again, 'I know where he lives' contains two clauses, 'I know (the fact): he lives there'; the two clauses are united by the conjunctive adverb where and form one complex sentence. 203. What do Conjunctions join,—Sentences, or Words, or both? Conjunctions usually connect sentences even when they appear to connect only words. 'John and Mary are good players' is an elliptical or abbreviated way of saying 'John is a good player,' 'Mary is a good player.' But in some cases and connects words only, and there is no contraction or abridgement of two separate sentences. 'John and Mary are a handsome couple' cannot be resolved into 'John is a handsome couple,' 'Mary is a handsome couple.' 'Two and two make four' is not a compact way of saying 'Two makes four,' 'Two makes four.' With the exception however of the occasional use of and to join words, conjunctions join sentences. contains two statements; 'He is neither a knave knave: he is not a fool.' Thus 'He was poor but honest' 'He was poor: he was honest.' nor a fool' means 'He is not a 'He is either a knave or a fool' means 'He is either a knave, or he is a fool.' 204. Conjunctions are classified as (1) Coordinating and (2) Subordinating. (1) Co-ordinating Conjunctions join co-ordinate or independent clauses: e.g. and, but, either...or, neither... nor. (2) Subordinating Conjunctions join a dependent clause to the principal clause: e.g. that, after, till, because, though, if. 205. The reader must now prepare himself to grapple with a part of the subject which will present greater difficulties and call for the exercise of more intelligence than any of the problems which he has hitherto encountered in the study of grammar. Before going further, we must explain the meaning of the terms co-ordinate, dependent, clause, which have been introduced into the definitions of conjunctions and classes of conjunctions. The discussion of these words belongs indeed to syntax rather than to etymology. But we have reached the threshold of syntax and may cross the threshold without straying far beyond the strict limits of our present subject; for it is only by saying now some of the things which would more properly be said in the concluding chapters of the book, that we can hope to make the treatment of conjunctions intelligible. A Sentence is a collection of words by which we say something about a thing. The word which stands for the |