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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.
(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. |
