WISE WEDNESDAY GRAMMAR: SYNTAX (PREPOSITIONS)

Part 3.

SYNTAX.

PREPOSITIONS.

458. As to the placing of a preposition after its object in certain cases, see Sec. 305.

459. In the primary meaning of between and among there is a sharp distinction, as already seen in Sec. 313; but in Modern English the difference is not so marked.

Between is used most often with two things only, but still it is frequently used in speaking of several objects, some relation or connection between two at a time being implied.

Among is used in the same way as amid (though not with exactly the same meaning), several objects being spoken of in the aggregate, no separation or division by twos being implied.

Examples of the distinctive use of the two words:-

The contentions that arise between the parson and the squire. -Addison.

We reckoned the improvements of the art of war among the triumphs of science. -Emerson.

Examples of the looser use of between:-

Natural objects affect us by the laws of that connection which Providence has established between certain motions of bodies. -Burke.

Hence the differences between men in natural endowment are insignificant in comparison with their common wealth. -Emerson.

They maintain a good correspondence between those wealthy societies of men that are divided from one another by seas and oceans. -Addison.

Looking up at its deep-pointed porches and the dark places between their pillars where there were statues once. -Ruskin

What have I, a soldier of the Cross, to do with recollections of war betwixtChristian nations? -Scott.

Also between may express relation or connection in speaking of two groups of objects, or one object and a group; as,-

A council of war is going on beside the watch fire, between the three adventurers and the faithful Yeo. -Kingsley.

The great distinction between teachers sacred or literary,- between poets like Herbert and poets like Pope,- between philosophers like Spinoza, Kant, and Coleridge, and philosophers like Locke, Paley, Mackintosh, and Stewart, etc. -Emerson.

460. Certain words are followed by particular prepositions.

Some of these words show by their composition what preposition should follow. Such are absolve, involve, different.

Some of them have, by custom, come to take prepositions not in keeping with the original meaning of the words. Such are derogatory, averse.

Many words take one preposition to express one meaning, and another to convey a different meaning; as, correspond, confer.

And yet others may take several prepositions indifferently to express the same meaning.

461.

LIST I.

• Absolve from.
• Abhorrent to.
• Accord with.
• Acquit of.
• Affinity between.
• Averse to.
• Bestow on (upon).
• Conform to.
• Comply with.
• Conversant with.
• Dependent on (upon).
• Different from.
• Dissent from.
• Derogatory to.
• Deprive of.
• Independent of.
• Involve in.

"Different to" is frequently heard in spoken English in England, and sometimes creeps into standard books, but it is not good usage.

462.

LIST II.

• Agree with (a person).
• Agree to (a proposal).
• Change for (a thing).
• Change with (a person).
• Change to (become).
• Confer with (talk with).
• Confer on (upon) (give to).
• Confide in (trust in).
• Confide to (intrust to).
• Correspond with (write to).
• Correspond to (a thing).
• Differ from (note below).
• Differ with (note below).
• Disappointed in (a thing obtained).
• Disappointed of (a thing not obtained).
• Reconcile to (note below).
• Reconcile with (note below).
• A taste of (food).
• A taste for (art, etc.).

"Correspond with" is sometimes used of things, as meaning to be in keeping with.

"Differ from" is used in speaking of unlikeness between things or persons; "differ from" and "differ with" are both used in speaking of persons disagreeing as to opinions.

"Reconcile to" is used with the meaning of resigned to, as, "The exile became reconciledto his fate;" also of persons, in the sense of making friends with, as, "The king is reconciled to his minister." "Reconcile with" is used with the meaning of make to agree with, as, "The statement must be reconciled with his previous conduct."

List III.: Words taking anyone of several prepositions for the same meaning.

463.

LIST III.

• Die by, die for, die from, die of, die with.
• Expect of, expect from.
• Part from, part with.

Illustrations of "die of," "die from," etc.:-

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

People do not die of trifling little colds. -Austen

Fifteen officers died of fever in a day. -Macaulay.

It would take me long to die of hunger.- G. Eliot.

She died of hard work, privation, and ill treatment. -Burnett.

"Die from."

She saw her husband at last literally die from hunger. -Bulwer.

He died at last without disease, simply from old age. - Athenæum.

No one died from want at Longfeld.- Chambers' Journal.

She would have been ready to die with shame.- G. Eliot .

I am positively dying with hunger. -Scott.

I thought the two Miss Flamboroughs would have died with laughing. -Goldsmith.

I wish that the happiest here may not die with envy. -Pope.

Take thought and die for Cæsar. -Shakespeare.

One of them said he would die for her. -Goldsmith.

It is a man of quality who dies for her. -Addison.

Who, as Cervantes informs us, died for love of the fair Marcella. -Fielding.

Some officers had died for want of a morsel of bread. -Macaulay.

If I meet with any of 'em, they shall die by this hand. -Thackeray.

He must purge himself to the satisfaction of a vigilant tribunal or die by fire. -Macaulay.

He died by suicide before he completed his eighteenth year. -Shaw.

464. Illustrations of "expect of," "expect from:"-

What do I expect of Dublin?- Punch.

That is more than I expected of you. -Scott.

Of Doctor P. nothing better was to be expected. -Poe.

Not knowing what might be expected of men in general.-G. ELIOT.

She will expect more attention from you, as my friend. -Walpole.

There was a certain grace and decorum hardly to be expected from a man. -Macaulay.

I have long expected something remarkable from you.- G. Eliot.

465. "Part with" is used with both persons and things, but "part from" is less often found in speaking of things.

Illustrations of "part with," "part from:"-

He was fond of everybody that he was used to, and hated to part with them. -Austen.

Cleveland was sorry to part with him. -Bulwer.

I can part with my children for their good. -Dickens.

I part with all that grew so near my heart. -Waller.

To part from you would be misery. -Marryat.

I have just seen her, just parted from her. -Bulwer.

Burke parted from him with deep emotion. -Macaulay.

His precious bag, which he would by no means part from. -G. ELIOT.

466. With words implying behavior or disposition, either of or in is used indifferently, as shown in the following quotations:-

Of

It was a little bad of you. -Trollope.

How cruel of me! -Collins.

He did not think it handsome of you. -Bulwer.

But this is idle of you. -Tennyson.

In

Very natural in Mr. Hampden. -Carlyle.

It will be anything but shrewd in you. -Dickens.

That is very unreasonable in a person so young. -Beaconsfield.

I am wasting your whole morning-too bad in me. -Bulwer.

Miscellaneous Examples for Correction.

1. Can you imagine Indians or a semi-civilized people engaged on a work like the canal connecting the Mediterranean and the Red seas?

2. In the friction between an employer and workman, it is commonly said that his profits are high.

3. None of them are in any wise willing to give his life for the life of his chief.

4. That which can be done with perfect convenience and without loss, is not always the thing that most needs to be done, or which we are most imperatively required to do.

5. Art is neither to be achieved by effort of thinking, nor explained by accuracy of speaking.

6. To such as thee the fathers owe their fame.

7. We tread upon the ancient granite that first divided the waters into a northern and southern ocean.

8. Thou tread'st, with seraphims, the vast abyss.

9. Eustace had slipped off his long cloak, thrown it over Amyas's head, and ran up the alley.

10. This narrative, tedious perhaps, but which the story renders necessary, may serve to explain the state of intelligence betwixt the lovers.

11. To the shame and eternal infamy of whomsoever shall turn back from the plow on which he hath laid his hand!

12. The noise of vast cataracts, raging storms, thunder, or artillery, awake a great and awful sensation in the mind.

13. The materials and ornaments ought neither to be white, nor green, nor yellow, nor blue, nor of a pale red.

14. This does not prove that an idea of use and beauty are the same thing, or that they are any way dependent on each other.

15. And were I anything but what I am,
I would wish me only he.

16. But every man may know, and most of us do know, what is a just and unjust act.

17. You have seen Cassio and she together.

18. We shall shortly see which is the fittest object of scorn, you or me.

19. Richard glared round him with an eye that seemed to seek an enemy, and from which the angry nobles shrunk appalled.

20. It comes to whomsoever will put off what is foreign and proud.

21. The difference between the just and unjust procedure does not lie in the number of men hired, but in the price paid to them.

22. The effect of proportion and fitness, so far at least as they proceed from a mere consideration of the work itself, produce approbation, the acquiescence of the understanding.

23. When the glass or liquor are transparent, the light is sometimes softened in the passage.

24. For there nor yew nor cypress spread their gloom.

25. Every one of these letters are in my name.

26. Neither of them are remarkable for precision.

27. Squares, triangles, and other angular figures, are neither beautiful to the sight nor feeling.

28. There is not one in a thousand of these human souls that cares to think where this estate is, or how beautiful it is, or what kind of life they are to lead in it.

29. Dryden and Rowe's manner are quite out of fashion.

30. We were only permitted to stop for refreshment once.

31. The sight of the manner in which the meals were served were enough to turn our stomach.

32. The moody and savage state of mind of the sullen and ambitious man are admirably drawn.

33. Surely none of our readers are so unfortunate as not to know some man or woman who carry this atmosphere of peace and good-will about with them. (Sec. 411.)

34. Friday, whom he thinks would be better than a dog, and almost as good as a pony.

35. That night every man of the boat's crew, save Amyas, were down with raging fever.

36. These kind of books fill up the long tapestry of history with little bits of detail which give human interest to it.

37. I never remember the heather so rich and abundant.

38. These are scattered along the coast for several hundred miles, in conditions of life that seem forbidding enough, but which are accepted without complaint by the inhabitants themselves.

39. Between each was an interval where lay a musket.

40. He had four children, and it was confidently expected that they would receive a fortune of at least $200,000 between them.

Reference

An English Grammar 1896 by W. M. Baskervill & J. W. Sewell

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