USES OF PREPOSITIONS.

 

Inseparable.

 

310. Prepositions are used in three ways:—

 

(1) Compounded with verbs, adverbs, or conjunctions; as, for example, with verbs, withdraw, understand, overlook, overtake, overflow, undergo, outstay, outnumber, overrun, overgrow, etc.; with adverbs, thereat, therein, therefrom, thereby, therewith, etc.; with conjunctions, whereat, wherein, whereon, wherethrough, whereupon, etc.

 

Separable.

 

(2) Following a verb, and being really a part of the verb. This use needs to be watched closely, to see whether the preposition belongs to the verb or has a separate prepositional function. For example, in the sentences, (a) "He broke a pane from the window," (b) "He broke into the bank," in (a), the verb broke is a predicate, modified by the phrase introduced by from; in (b), the predicate is not broke, modified by into the bank, but broke into—the object, bank.

 

Study carefully the following prepositions with verbs:—

 

Considering the space they took up.—Swift.

 

I loved, laughed at, and pitied him.—Goldsmith.

 

The sun breaks through the darkest clouds.—Shakespeare.

 

They will root up the whole ground.—Swift.

 

A friend prevailed upon one of the interpreters.—Addison

 

My uncle approved of it.—Franklin.

 

The robber who broke into them.—Landor.

 

This period is not obscurely hinted at.—Lamb.

 

The judge winked at the iniquity of the decision.—Id.

 

The pupils' voices, conning over their lessons.—Irving.

 

To help out his maintenance.—Id.

 

With such pomp is Merry Christmas ushered in.—Longfellow.

Ordinary use as connective, relation words.

 

(3) As relation words, introducing phrases,—the most common use, in which the words have their own proper function.

Usefulness of prepositions.

 

311. Prepositions are the subtlest and most useful words in the language for compressing a clear meaning into few words. Each preposition has its proper and general meaning, which, by frequent and exacting use, has expanded and divided into a variety of meanings more or less close to the original one.

 

Take, for example, the word over. It expresses place, with motion, as, "The bird flew over the house;" or rest, as, "Silence broods over the earth." It may also convey the meaning of about, concerning; as, "They quarreled over the booty." Or it may express time: "Stay overnight."

 

The language is made richer and more flexible by there being several meanings to each of many prepositions, as well as by some of them having the same meaning as others.

CLASSES OF PREPOSITIONS.

 

312. It would be useless to attempt to classify all the prepositions, since they are so various in meaning.

 

The largest groups are those of place, time, and exclusion.

PREPOSITIONS OF PLACE.

 

313. The following are the most common to indicate place:—

 

(1) PLACE WHERE: abaft, about, above, across, amid (amidst), among (amongst), at, athwart, below, beneath, beside, between (betwixt), beyond, in, on, over, under (underneath), upon, round or around, without.

 

(2) PLACE WHITHER: into, unto, up, through, throughout, to, towards.

 

(3) PLACE WHENCE: down, from (away from, down from, from out, etc.), off, out of.

 

Abaft is exclusively a sea term, meaning back of.

 

Among (or amongst) and between (or betwixt) have a difference in meaning, and usually a difference in use. Among originally meant in the crowd (on gemong), referring to several objects; between and betwixt were originally made up of the preposition be (meaning by) and twēon or twēonum (modern twain), by two, and be with twīh (or twuh), having the same meaning, by two objects.

 

As to modern use, see "Syntax" (Sec. 459).

PREPOSITIONS OF TIME.

 

314. They are after, during, pending, till or until; also many of the prepositions of place express time when put before words indicating time, such as at, between, by, about, on, within, etc.

 

These are all familiar, and need no special remark.

EXCLUSION OR SEPARATION.

 

315. The chief ones are besides, but, except, save, without. The participle excepting is also used as a preposition.

MISCELLANEOUS PREPOSITIONS.

 

316. Against implies opposition, sometimes place where. In colloquial English it is sometimes used to express time, now and then also in literary English; for example,—

 

She contrived to fit up the baby's cradle for me against night.—Swift

 

About, and the participial prepositions concerning, respecting, regarding, mean with reference to.

Phrase prepositions.

 

317. Many phrases are used as single prepositions: by means of, by virtue of, by help of, by dint of, by force of; out of, on account of, by way of, for the sake of; in consideration of, in spite of, in defiance of, instead of, in view of, in place of; with respect to, with regard to, according to, agreeably to; and some others.

 

318. Besides all these, there are some prepositions that have so many meanings that they require separate and careful treatment: on (upon), at, by, for, from, of, to, with.

 

No attempt will be made to give all the meanings that each one in this list has: the purpose is to stimulate observation, and to show how useful prepositions really are.

At.

 

319. The general meaning of at is near, close to, after a verb or expression implying position; and towards after a verb or expression indicating motion. It defines position approximately, while in is exact, meaning within.

 

Its principal uses are as follows:—

 

(1) Place where.

 

They who heard it listened with a curling horror at the heart.—J. F. Cooper.

 

There had been a strike at the neighboring manufacturing village, and there was to be a public meeting, at which he was besought to be present.—T. W. Higginson.

 

(2) Time, more exact, meaning the point of time at which.

 

He wished to attack at daybreak.—Parkman.

 

They buried him darkly, at dead of night.—Wolfe

 

(3) Direction.

 

The mother stood looking wildly down at the unseemly object.—Cooper.

 

You are next invited...to grasp at the opportunity, and take for your subject, "Health."—Higginson.

 

Here belong such expressions as laugh at, look at, wink at, gaze at, stare at, peep at, scowl at, sneer at, frown at, etc.

 

We laugh at the elixir that promises to prolong life to a thousand years.—Johnson.

 

"You never mean to say," pursued Dot, sitting on the floor and shaking her head at him.—Dickens.

 

(4) Source or cause, meaning because of, by reason of.

 

I felt my heart chill at the dismal sound.—T. W. Knox.

 

Delighted at this outburst against the Spaniards.—Parkman.

 

(5) Then the idiomatic phrases at last, at length, at any rate, at the best, at the worst, at least, at most, at first, at once, at all, at one, at naught, at random, etc.; and phrases signifying state or condition of being, as, at work, at play, at peace, at war, at rest, etc.

 

Exercise.—Find sentences with three different uses of at.

By.

 

320. Like at, by means near or close to, but has several other meanings more or less connected with this,—

 

(1) The general meaning of place.

 

Richard was standing by the window.—Aldrich.

 

Provided always the coach had not shed a wheel by the roadside.—Id.

 

(2) Time.

 

But by this time the bell of Old Alloway began tolling.—B. Taylor

 

The angel came by night.—R. H. Stoddard.

 

(3) Agency or means.

 

Menippus knew which were the kings by their howling louder.—M. D. Conway.

 

At St. Helena, the first port made by the ship, he stopped. —Parton.

 

(4) Measure of excess, expressing the degree of difference.

 

At that time [the earth] was richer, by many a million of acres.—De Quincey.

 

He was taller by almost the breadth of my nail.—Swift.

 

(5) It is also used in oaths and adjurations.

 

By my faith, that is a very plump hand for a man of eighty-four!—Parton.

 

They implore us by the long trials of struggling humanity; by the blessed memory of the departed; by the wrecks of time; by the ruins of nations.—Everett.

 

Exercise.—Find sentences with three different meanings of by.

For.

 

321. The chief meanings of for are as follows:—

 

(1) Motion towards a place, or a tendency or action toward the attainment of any object.

 

Pioneers who were opening the way for the march of the nation.—Cooper.

 

She saw the boat headed for her.—Warner.

 

(2) In favor of, for the benefit of, in behalf of, a person or thing.

 

He and they were for immediate attack.—Parkman

 

The people were then against us; they are now for us.—W. L. Garrison.

 

(3) Duration of time, or extent of space.

 

For a long time the disreputable element outshone the virtuous.—H. H. Bancroft.

 

He could overlook all the country for many a mile of rich woodland.—Irving.

 

(4) Substitution or exchange.

 

There are gains for all our losses.—Stoddard.

 

Thus did the Spaniards make bloody atonement for the butchery of Fort Caroline.—Parkman.

 

(5) Reference, meaning with regard to, as to, respecting, etc.

 

For the rest, the Colonna motto would fit you best.—Emerson.

 

For him, poor fellow, he repented of his folly.—E. E. Hale

 

This is very common with as—as for me, etc.

 

(6) Like as, meaning in the character of, as being, etc.

 

"Nay, if your worship can accomplish that," answered Master Brackett, "I shall own you for a man of skill indeed!" —Hawthorne.

 

Wavering whether he should put his son to death for an unnatural monster.—Lamb.

 

(7) Concession, meaning although, considering that etc.

 

"For a fool," said the Lady of Lochleven, "thou hast counseled wisely."—Scott

 

By my faith, that is a very plump hand for a man of eighty-four!—Parton.

 

(8) Meaning notwithstanding, or in spite of.

 

But the Colonel, for all his title, had a forest of poor relations.—Holmes.

Still, for all slips of hers,

One of Eve's family.

—Hood.

 

(9) Motive, cause, reason, incitement to action.

 

The twilight being...hardly more wholesome for its glittering mists of midge companies.—Ruskin.

 

An Arab woman, but a few sunsets since, ate her child, for famine.—Id.

 

Here Satouriona forgot his dignity, and leaped for joy.—Parkman.

 

(10) For with its object preceding the infinitive, and having the same meaning as a noun clause, as shown by this sentence:—

 

It is by no means necessary that he should devote his whole school existence to physical science; nay, more, it is not necessary for him to give up more than a moderate share of his time to such studies.—Huxley.

 

Exercise.—Find sentences with five meanings of for.

From.

 

322. The general idea in from is separation or source. It may be with regard to—

 

(1) Place.

 

Like boys escaped from school.—H. H. Bancroft

 

Thus they drifted from snow-clad ranges to burning plain.—Id.

 

(2) Origin.

 

Coming from a race of day-dreamers, Ayrault had inherited the faculty of dreaming also by night.—Higginson.

From harmony, from heavenly harmony

This universal frame began.

—Dryden.

 

(3) Time.

 

A distrustful, if not a desperate man, did he become from the night of that fearful dream—Hawthorne.

 

(4) Motive, cause, or reason.

 

It was from no fault of Nolan's.—Hale.

 

The young cavaliers, from a desire of seeming valiant, ceased to be merciful.—Bancroft.

 

Exercise.—Find sentences with three meanings of from.

Of.

 

323. The original meaning of of was separation or source, like from. The various uses are shown in the following examples:—

I. The From Relation.

 

(1) Origin or source.

 

The king holds his authority of the people.—Milton.

 

Thomas à Becket was born of reputable parents in the city of London.—Hume.

 

(2) Separation: (a) After certain verbs, such as ease, demand, rob, divest, free, clear, purge, disarm, deprive, relieve, cure, rid, beg, ask, etc.

 

Two old Indians cleared the spot of brambles, weeds, and grass.—Parkman.

 

Asked no odds of, acquitted them of, etc.—Aldrich.

 

(b) After some adjectives,—clear of, free of, wide of, bare of, etc.; especially adjectives and adverbs of direction, as north of, south of, etc.

 

The hills were bare of trees.—Bayard Taylor.

 

Back of that tree, he had raised a little Gothic chapel. —Gavarre.

 

(c) After nouns expressing lack, deprivation, etc.

 

A singular want of all human relation.—Higginson.

 

(d) With words expressing distance.

 

Until he had come within a staff's length of the old dame. —Hawthorne

 

Within a few yards of the young man's hiding place.—Id.

 

(3) With expressions of material, especially out of.

 

White shirt with diamond studs, or breastpin of native gold.—Bancroft.

 

Sandals, bound with thongs of boar's hide.—Scott

 

Who formed, out of the most unpromising materials, the finest army that Europe had yet seen.—Macaulay

 

(4) Expressing cause, reason, motive.

 

The author died of a fit of apoplexy.—Boswell.

 

More than one altar was richer of his vows.—Lew Wallace.

 

"Good for him!" cried Nolan. "I am glad of that."—E. E. Hale.

 

(5) Expressing agency.

 

You cannot make a boy know, of his own knowledge, that Cromwell once ruled England.—Huxley.

 

He is away of his own free will.—Dickens

 

II. Other Relations expressed by Of.

 

(6) Partitive, expressing a part of a number or quantity.

 

Of the Forty, there were only twenty-one members present. —Parton.

 

He washed out some of the dirt, separating thereby as much of the dust as a ten-cent piece would hold.—Bancroft.

See also Sec. 309.

 

(7) Possessive, standing, with its object, for the possessive, or being used with the possessive case to form the double possessive.

 

Not even woman's love, and the dignity of a queen, could give shelter from his contumely.—W. E. Channing.

 

And the mighty secret of the Sierra stood revealed.—Bancroft.

 

(8) Appositional, which may be in the case of—

 

(a) Nouns.

 

Such a book as that of Job.—Froude.

 

The fair city of Mexico.—Prescott.

 

The nation of Lilliput.—Swift.

 

(b) Noun and gerund, being equivalent to an infinitive.

 

In the vain hope of appeasing the savages.—Cooper.

 

Few people take the trouble of finding out what democracy really is.—Lowell.

 

(c) Two nouns, when the first is descriptive of the second.

 

This crampfish of a Socrates has so bewitched him.—Emerson

 

A sorry antediluvian makeshift of a building you may think it.—Lamb.

 

An inexhaustible bottle of a shop.—Aldrich.

 

(9) Of time. Besides the phrases of old, of late, of a sudden, etc., of is used in the sense of during.

 

I used often to linger of a morning by the high gate.—Aldrich

 

I delighted to loll over the quarter railing of a calm day. —Irving.

 

(10) Of reference, equal to about, concerning, with regard to.

 

The Turk lay dreaming of the hour.—Halleck.

 

Boasted of his prowess as a scalp hunter and duelist.—Bancroft.

 

Sank into reverie of home and boyhood scenes.—Id.

Idiomatic use with verbs.

 

Of is also used as an appendage of certain verbs, such as admit, accept, allow, approve, disapprove, permit, without adding to their meaning. It also accompanies the verbs tire, complain, repent, consist, avail (one's self), and others.

 

Exercise.—Find sentences with six uses of of.

On, Upon.

 

324. The general meaning of on is position or direction. On and upon are interchangeable in almost all of their applications, as shown by the sentences below:—

 

(1) Place: (a) Where.

 

Cannon were heard close on the left.—Parkman.

The Earl of Huntley ranged his host

Upon their native strand.

—Mrs. Sigourney.

 

(b) With motion.

 

It was the battery at Samos firing on the boats.—Parkman.

 

Thou didst look down upon the naked earth.—Bryant.

 

(2) Time.

 

The demonstration of joy or sorrow on reading their letters. —Bancroft.

 

On Monday evening he sent forward the Indians.—Parkman.

 

Upon is seldom used to express time.

 

(3) Reference, equal to about, concerning, etc.

 

I think that one abstains from writing on the immortality of the soul.—Emerson.

 

He pronounced a very flattering opinion upon my brother's promise of excellence.—De Quincey.

 

(4) In adjurations.

 

On my life, you are eighteen, and not a day more.—Aldrich.

 

Upon my reputation and credit.—Shakespeare

 

(5) Idiomatic phrases: on fire, on board, on high, on the wing, on the alert, on a sudden, on view, on trial, etc.

 

Exercise.—Find sentences with three uses of on or upon.

To.

 

325. Some uses of to are the following:—

 

(1) Expressing motion: (a) To a place.

 

Come to the bridal chamber, Death!—Halleck.

 

Rip had scrambled to one of the highest peaks.—Irving.

 

(b) Referring to time.

 

Full of schemes and speculations to the last.—Parton.

 

Revolutions, whose influence is felt to this hour.—Parkman.

 

(2) Expressing result.

 

He usually gave his draft to an aid...to be written over,—often to the loss of vigor.—Benton

 

To our great delight, Ben Lomond was unshrouded.—B. Taylor

 

(3) Expressing comparison.

But when, unmasked, gay Comedy appears,

'Tis ten to one you find the girl in tears.

—Aldrich

 

They are arrant rogues: Cacus was nothing to them.—Bulwer.

 

Bolingbroke and the wicked Lord Littleton were saints to him.—Webster

 

(4) Expressing concern, interest.

 

To the few, it may be genuine poetry.—Bryant.

 

His brother had died, had ceased to be, to him.—Hale.

 

Little mattered to them occasional privations—Bancroft.

 

(5) Equivalent to according to.

 

Nor, to my taste, does the mere music...of your style fall far below the highest efforts of poetry.—Lang.

 

We cook the dish to our own appetite.—Goldsmith.

 

(6) With the infinitive (see Sec. 268).

 

Exercise.—Find sentences containing three uses of to.

With.

 

326. With expresses the idea of accompaniment, and hardly any of its applications vary from this general signification.

 

In Old English, mid meant in company with, while wið meant against: both meanings are included in the modern with.

 

The following meanings are expressed by with:—

 

(1) Personal accompaniment.

 

The advance, with Heyward at its head, had already reached the defile.—Cooper.

 

For many weeks I had walked with this poor friendless girl.—De Quincey.

 

(2) Instrumentality.

 

With my crossbow I shot the albatross.—Coleridge.

 

Either with the swingle-bar, or with the haunch of our near leader, we had struck the off-wheel of the little gig.—De Quincey.

 

(3) Cause, reason, motive.

 

He was wild with delight about Texas.—Hale.

 

She seemed pleased with the accident.—Howells.

 

(4) Estimation, opinion.

 

How can a writer's verses be numerous if with him, as with you, "poetry is not a pursuit, but a pleasure"?—Lang.

 

It seemed a supreme moment with him.—Howells.

 

(5) Opposition.

 

After battling with terrific hurricanes and typhoons on every known sea.—Aldrich.

 

The quarrel of the sentimentalists is not with life, but with you.—Lang.

 

(6) The equivalent of notwithstanding, in spite of.

 

With all his sensibility, he gave millions to the sword.—Channing.

 

Messala, with all his boldness, felt it unsafe to trifle further.—Wallace

 

(7) Time.

 

He expired with these words.—Scott.

 

With each new mind a new secret of nature transpires.—Emerson.

 

Exercise.—Find sentences with four uses of with.