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!
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.' Chap, xxi, ver. 3." See Lowth's Gram., p. 65; Churchill's, 269. And a is now sometimes equivalent to on; as, "He would have a learned University make Barbarisms a purpose."—Bentley, Diss. on Phalaris, p. 223. That is,—"on purpose." How absurdly then do some grammarians interpret the foregoing text!—"I go on a fishing."—Alden's Gram., p. 117. "I go on a fishing voyage or business."—Murray's Gram., p. 221; Merchant's, 101. "It may not be improper," says Churchill in another place, "to observe here, that the preposition on, is too frequently pronounced as if it were the vowel a, in ordinary conversation; and this corruption is [has] become so prevalent, that I have even met with 'laid it a oneside' in a periodical publication. It should have been 'on one side,' if the expression were meant to be particular; 'aside,' if general."—New Gram., p. 345. By these writers, a is also supposed to be sometimes a corruption of of: as, "Much in the same manner, Thomas of Becket, by very frequent and familiar use, became Thomas à Becket; and one of the clock, or perhaps on the clock, is written one o'clock, but pronounced one a clock. The phrases with a before a participle are out of use in the solemn style; but still prevail in familiar discourse. They are established by long usage, and good authority; and there seems to be no reason, why they should be utterly rejected."—Lowth's Gram., p. 66. "Much in the same manner, John of Nokes, and John of Styles, become John a Nokes, and John a Styles: and one of the clock, or rather on the clock, is written one o'clock, but pronounced one a clock. The phrases with a before participles, are out of use in the solemn style; but still prevail in familiar discourse."—Churchill's New Gram., p. 269.
OBS. 12.—The following are examples of the less usual prepositions, a, and others that begin with a: "And he set—three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work."—2 Chron., ii, 18. "Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges?"—1 Cor., ix, 7. "And the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting."—Num., xi, 4.
"And sweet Billy Dimond, a patting his hair up."
—Feast of the Poets, p. 17.