Page:The grammar of English grammars.djvu/448

 s, Prin. of E. Gram.'', p. 69. In opposition to this, I suppose that the preposition to may take an infinitive verb after it; that about also may be a preposition, in the phrase, "about to write;" that about, above, after, against, by, for, from, in, of, and some other prepositions, may govern participles, as such; (i. e. without making them nouns, or cases;) and, lastly, that after a preposition an adverb is sometimes construed substantively, and yet is indeclinable; as, for once, from afar, from above, at unawares.

OBS. 2.--The writers just quoted, proceed to say: "When a preposition does not govern an objective case, it becomes an adverb; as, 'He rides about.' But in such phrases as, cast up, hold out, fall on, the words up, out, and on, must be considered as a part of the verb, rather than as prepositions or adverbs."--''Lennie's Prin. of E. Gram.'', p. 50; Bullions's, p. 59; ''his Analyt. and P. Gram.'', p. 109. Both these sentences are erroneous: the one, more particularly so, in expression; the other, in doctrine. As the preposition is chiefly distinguished by its regimen, it is absurd to speak of it as governing nothing; yet it does not always govern the objective case, for participles and infinitives have no cases. About, up, out, and on, as here cited, are all of them adverbs; and so are all other particles that thus qualify verbs, without governing any thing. L. Murray grossly errs when ha assumes that, "The distinct component parts of such phrases as, to cast up, to fall on, to bear oat, to give over, &c., are no guide to the sense of the whole." Surely, "to cast up" is to cast somehow, though the meaning of the phrase may be "to compute." By this author, and some others, all ''such adverbs are absurdly called prepositions'', and are also as absurdly declared to be parts of the preceding verbs! See Murray's Gram., p. 117; W. Allen's, 179; Kirkham's, 95; R. G. Smith's, 93; Fisk's, 86; Butler's, 63; Wells's, 146.

OBS. 3--In comparing the different English grammars now in use, we often find the primary distinction of the parts of speech, and every thing that depends upon it, greatly perplexed by the fancied ellipses, and ''forced constructions'', to which their authors resort. Thus Kirkham: "Prepositions are sometimes erroneously called adverbs, when their nouns are understood. 'He rides about;' that is, about the town, country, or something else. 'She was near [the act or misfortune of] falling;' 'But do not after [that time or event] lay the blame on me.' 'He came down [the ascent] from the hill;' 'They lifted him up [the ascent] out of the pit.' 'The angels above;'--above us--'Above these lower heavens, to us invisible, or dimly seen.'"--Gram., p. 89. The errors of this passage are almost as numerous as the words; and those to which the doctrine leads are absolutely innumerable. That up and down, with verbs of motion, imply ascent and descent, as wisely and foolishly imply wisdom and folly, is not to be denied; but the grammatical bathos of coming "down [the ascent] from the hill" of science, should startle those whose faces are directed upward! Downward ascent is a movement worthy only of Kirkham, and his Irish rival, Joseph W. Wright. The brackets here used are Kirkham's, not mine.

OBS. 4.--"Some of the prepositions," says L. Murray, "have the appearance and effect of conjunctions: as, After their prisons were thrown open,' &c. Before I die;' 'They made haste to be prepared against their friends arrived:' but if the noun time, which is understood, be added, they will lose their conjunctive form: as, 'After [the time when] their prisons,' &c."--Octavo Gram., p. 119. Here, after, before, and against, are neither conjunctions nor prepositions, but conjunctive adverbs of time, referring to the verbs which follow them, and also, when the sentences are completed, to others antecedent. The awkward addition of "the time when," is a sheer perversion. If ''after, before'', and the like, can ever be adverbs, they are so here, and not conjunctions, or prepositions.

OBS. 5.--But the great Compiler proceeds: "The prepositions, after, before, above, beneath, and several others, sometimes appear to be adverbs, and may be so considered: as, 'They had their reward soon after;' 'He died not long before;' 'He dwells above;' but if the nouns time and place be added, they will lose their adverbial form: as, 'He died not long before that time,' &c."--Ib. Now, I say, when any of the foregoing words "appear to be adverbs," they are adverbs, and, if adverbs, then not prepositions. But to consider prepositions to be adverbs, as Murray here does, or seems to do; and to suppose "the NOUNS time AND place" to be understood in the several examples here cited, as he also does, or seems to do; are singly such absurdities as no grammarian should fail to detect, and together such a knot of blunders, as ought to be wondered at, even in the Compiler's humblest copyist. In the following text, there is neither preposition nor ellipsis:

"Above, below, without, within, around,   Confus'd, unnumber'd multitudes are found."--Pope, on Fame.

OBS. 6.--It comports with the name and design of this work, which is a broad synopsis of grammatical criticism, to notice here one other absurdity; namely, the doctrine of "sentential nouns." There is something of this in several late grammars: as, "The prepositions, after, before, ere, since, till, and until, frequently govern sentential nouns; and after, before, since, notwithstanding, and some others, frequently govern a noun or pronoun understood. A preposition governing a sentential noun, is, by Murray and others, considered a conjunction; and a preposition governing a noun understood, an adverb."--J. L. PARKHURST: in Sanborn's Gram., p. 123. "Example: 'He will, before he dies, sway the sceptre.' He dies is a sentential noun, third person, singular number; and is governed by before; before he dies, being equivalent in meaning to before his death."--Sanborn, Gram., p. 176. "'After they had waited a long time, they departed.' After waiting."--Ib. This last solution supposes the phrase, "waiting a long time," or at least the participle waiting, to be a noun; for, upon the author's principle of equivalence, "they had waited," will otherwise be a "sentential" participle--a thing however as good and as classical as the other!