Page:The grammar of English grammars.djvu/449



OBS. 7.--If a preposition can ever be justly said to take a sentence for its object, it is chiefly in certain ancient expressions, like the following: "For in that he died, he died unto sin once; but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God."--Rom., vi, 10. "My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh."--Gen., vi, 3. "For, after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe."--1 Cor., i, 21. Here, in, for, and after, are all followed by the word that; which Tooke, Webster, Frazee, and some others, will have to be "a substitute," or "pronoun," representing the sentence which follows it, and governed by the preposition. But that, in this sense, is usually, and perhaps more properly, reckoned a conjunction. And if we take it so, ''in, for, and after'', (unless the latter be an adverb,) must either be reckoned conjunctions also, or be supposed to govern sentences. The expressions however are little used; because "in that" is nearly equivalent to as; "for that" can be better expressed by because; and "after that," which is equivalent to [Greek: epeide], postquam, may well be rendered by the term, seeing that, or since. "Before that Philip called thee," is a similar example; but "that" is here needless, and "before" may be parsed as a conjunctive adverb of time. I have one example more: "But, besides that he attempted it formerly with no success, it is certain the Venetians keep too watchful an eye," &c.--Addison. This is good English, but the word "besides" if it be not a conjunction, may as well be called an adverb, as a preposition.

OBS. 8.--There are but few words in the list of prepositions, that are not sometimes used as being of some other part of speech. Thus ''bating, excepting, concerning, touching, respecting, during, pending'', and a part of the compound notwithstanding, are literally participles; and some writers, in opposition to general custom, refer them always to their original class. Unlike most other prepositions, they do not refer to place, but rather to action, state, or duration; for, even as prepositions, they are still allied to participles. Yet to suppose them always participles, as would Dr. Webster and some others, is impracticable. Examples: "They speak concerning virtue."--''Bullions, Prin. of E. Gram.'', p. 69. Here concerning cannot be a participle, because its antecedent term is a verb, and the meaning is, "they speak of virtue." "They are bound during life." that is, durante vitâ, life continuing, or, as long as life lasts. So, "Notwithstanding this," i.e., "hoc non obstante," this not hindering. Here the nature of the construction seems to depend on the order of the words. "Since he had succeeded, notwithstanding them, peaceably to the throne."--Bolingbroke, on Hist., p. 31. "This is a correct English idiom, Dr. Lowth's criticism, to the contrary notwithstanding."--Webster's Improved Gram., p. 85. In the phrase, "notwithstanding them," the former word is clearly a preposition governing the latter; but Dr. Webster doubtless supposed the word "criticism" to be in the nominative case, put absolute with the participle: and so it would have been, had he written not withstanding as two words, like "non obstante;" but the compound word notwithstanding is not a participle, because there is no verb to notwithstand. But notwithstanding, when placed before a nominative, or before the conjunction that, is a conjunction, and, as such, must be rendered in Latin by tamen, yet, quamvis, although, or nihilominus, nevertheless.

OBS. 9.--For, when it signifies because, is a conjunction: as, "Boast not thyself of to-morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth."--Prov., xxvii, 1. For has this meaning, and, according to Dr. Johnson, is a conjunction, when it precedes that; as, "Yet for that the worst men are most ready to remove, I would wish them chosen by discretion of wise men."--Spenser. The phrase, as I have before suggested, is almost obsolete; but Murray, in one place, adopts it from Dr. Beattie: "For that those parts of the verb are not properly called tenses."--Octavo Gram., p. 75. How he would have parsed it, does not appear. But both words are connectives. And, from the analogy of those terms which serve as links to other terms, I should incline to take for that, in that, after that, and besides that, (in which a known conjunction is put last,) as complex conjunctions; and also, to take as for, as to, and because of, (in which a known preposition is put last,) as complex prepositions. But there are other regular and equivalent expressions that ought in general to be preferred to any or all of these.

OBS. 10.--Several words besides those contained in the list above, are (or have been) occasionally employed in English as prepositions: as, A, (chiefly used before participles,) ''abaft, adown, afore, aloft, aloof, alongside, anear, aneath, anent, aslant, aslope, astride, atween, atwixt, besouth, bywest, cross, dehors, despite, inside, left-hand, maugre, minus, onto, opposite, outside, per, plus, sans, spite, thorough, traverse, versus, via, withal, withinside''.

OBS. 11.--Dr. Lowth says, "The particle a before participles, in the phrases a coming, a going, a walking, a shooting, &c. and before nouns, as a-bed, a-board, a-shore, a-foot, &c. seems to be a true and genuine preposition, a little disguised by familiar use and quick pronunciation. Dr. Wallis supposes it to be the preposition at. I rather think it is the preposition on."--Lowth's Gram., p. 65; Churchill's, 268. There is no need of supposing it to be either. It is not from on; for in Saxon it sometimes accompanied on: as in the phrase, "on á weoruld;" that is, "on to ages;" or, as Wickliffe rendered it, "into worldis;" or, as our version has it, "for ever." See Luke, i, 55. This preposition was in use long before either a or an, as an article, appeared in its present form in the language; and, for ought I can discover, it may be as old as either on or at. An, too, is found to have had at times the sense and construction of in or on; and this usage is, beyond doubt, older than that which makes it an article. On, however, was an exceedingly common preposition in Saxon, being used almost always where we now put on, in, into, upon, or among, and sometimes, for with or by; so, sometimes, where a was afterwards used: thus, "What in the Saxon Gospel of John, is, 'Ic wylle gan on fixoth,' is, in the English version, 'I go a fishing.'