b. An adjective: as, good for nothing;

free from dirt;

hoary with age;

c. An adverb (rarely): as,

prized above measure.

sufficiently for my purpose.

d. Another noun or pronoun: as,

a box of wood;

a ring for the finger;

pins without heads;

they of Italy;

the top of the house;

doors with hinges;

souls above deceit;

who among you?

And, as will be pointed out in the Syntax (400 etc.), according to these different offices, the phrase composed of the preposition and its object is called by different names.

322. But a preposition not unfrequently takes for its object an adverb (of place or time): thus,

from above, from behind, since then,

before then, till now, to here, at once,

between now and then, for ever;

and hence also, naturally enough, a prepositional adverb-phrase (402), or a phrase having the value of an adverb, and made up of a preposition and its object: thus,

from under the house;

till after the ball;

since over two weeks.

It has been already pointed out (315) that in certain adverbial phrases a preposition governs an adjective (really used as a noun): thus,

on high, of old, in vain, for good.

323. A preposition, especially in poetry, is sometimes made to follow instead of preceding the word it governs: thus,

to wander earth around;

the fields among;

ties all other ties above;

look the whole world over.

But very frequently, in all styles of English, the object of a preposition is placed before the verb in the sentence, while the preposition comes after it: for example,

your objections we make no account of;

this house I never again show my face in;

what did you come for?

John is the name that he answers to.

Then, if the relative word is omitted, as often happens (184), the preposition still remains in its place after the verb: thus,

John is the name he answers to.

And in other constructions, in which there is no expressed object of the preposition, it remains with the verb, or with an infinitive or participle, having the value of an adverbial adjunct : thus,

a greater blockhead than I took you for ;

your case shall be attended to;

a good horse to ride on;

a place for pitching one's tent in;

people worth speaking with;

a matter often inquired into, but never disposed of.

324. The prepositions do not form a very large class of words; in English they number considerably less than a hundred.

The simple prepositions are:

at, after, against, but, by, down, ere, for, from, in, of, off, over, on (a'), since, through, till, to, under, up, with. 325. Derivative and compound prepositions are made: a. From other prepositional or adverbial elements: thus,

into, unto, until, onto, upon, underneath, before, behind, beyond, above, about, toward, within, without, throughout. b. From nouns and adjectives: thus,

among or amongst, across, beside or besides,

amid or amidst, along, athwart, aslant,

around, below, between or betwixt, despite.

The adverbial adjectives nigh, near, next, like, in some of their uses come very near to a prepositional value (compare 366): thus,

she sat near the lake;

quit yourselves like men.

c. From verbs: thus,

save or saving, during, notwithstanding, touching,
concerning, respecting, except or excepting, past.

Ago (for earlier agone: that is, 'gone by ') may also be regarded as a preposition, always following its object: thus,

he left an hour ago;

or, better, as an adverb of time, qualified by the adverbial objective (390) an hour etc., as in an hour sooner, an hour hence.

326. There are many phrases, combinations of independent words, which are used in a way so like that in which prepositions are used that they are conveniently and properly enough treated as equivalents of prepositions, or PREPOSITION-PHRASES. Such are, for example,

out of, from out, as to, as for, on this (or that etc.) side, along side, in front of, by way of, because of, for the sake of, in stead or in lieu of, in respect or regard to, according to; and not a few others.

PARSING OF PREPOSITIONS.

Neither the kind nor the form of a proposition calls for definition in parsing the word. It needs only to be pointed out what word or phrase is the object of the preposition, to what it is joined by the latter, and for what purposeas was sufficiently illustrated in the exercises on Chapter V. Further examples are deferred until the classification of prepositional phrases is taken up, in Chapter XIII.

CHAPTER XI.

CONJUNCTIONS.

327. A conjunction (47-8), like a preposition, is a connective, a word that joins other words together, at the same time showing something as to their relation to one another. But a conjunction is a very different kind of connective from a preposition.

In the first place, its usual and principal office is to connect two sentences together: thus,

he spoke and they listened;

they listened, but they could not hear;

we piped while they danced;

they went because they could not help it;

he will pay if you wish it;

I see that the way is hard;

he knows whether he did it.

If a preposition is used to join a sentence instead of a word to another, it is no longer a preposition, but becomes a conjunction (331); thus,

you may wait until he comes;

he will come before you have waited long.

In the second place, though some of the conjunctions especially and, or, but often connect words in the same sentence, these words are always CO-ORDINATE (the word means of equal order or rank'): that is to say, they are used alike in the sentence, or have the same construction.

They may be, for example, two or more subjects or objects of the same verb: thus,

he and I ran a race;

I saw the cat and the dog;

or adjectives or adverbs qualifying the same word thus,

an honest but mistaken man; neither well nor truly said; or prepositions governing the same word: thus,

by and with our consent;

either for or against me.

Even two verbs having the same subject are also often connected by these conjunctions: as,

he came and saw it;

we heard but refused the request.

In such a case the question arises whether we shall or shall not consider the sentences as two, the second having its subject omitted: see 487.

328. The most important division of the conjunctions, according to their use, is that into CO-ORDINATING and SUBORDINATING conjunctions.

This distinction cannot be fully understood except in connection with the subject of compound and complex sentences, which will be treated later, in the Syntax (Chapter XIV.).

329. CO-ORDINATING conjunctions are those that join together sentences of equal order or rank.

The commonest conjunctions of this class are

and, or, but, for.

And simply couples or joins on one sentence to another, and hence is called copulative. Others of similar force are

also, likewise, eke, too, besides, moreover.

Or implies an alternative, and is best so called: others like it are

either, else, neither, nor.

Either and or, and their negatives neither and nor, are called correlative (that is, 'having a mutual relation'), because they occur generally together, introducing the two alternatives, and the former of them is always followed by the latter: thus, either he must leave, or I shall go;

neither this man sinned, nor his parents.

There are also correlative copulative conjunctions: thus, both .. and; at once (or alike). . . and; not only ... but also; as well.. as; what. . . what.