As regards the use and meaning of the prepositions, it must be noticed that in is very seldom used, its place being supplied by on, the meaning 'on' being in its turn often expressed by ofer, as in the passage just quoted.
When a thing is referred to, þǣr is substituted for hit, the preposition being joined on to the þǣr, so that, for instance, þǣr-tō corresponds to tō him; hīe lǣddon þone cyning tō ānum trēowe, and tīeġdon hine þǣr-tō (they led the king to a tree, and tied him to it). So also hēr-beēastan is equivalent to 'east of this (country).'
Prepositions sometimes follow, instead of preceding the words they modify, sometimes with other words intervening: hīe scuton mid gafelocum him tō (they shot at him with missiles); hīe cwǣdon him be·twēonan (they said among themselves); þǣm Ælmihtigan tō lofe, þe hīe on ġe·līefdon (to the praise of the Almighty, in whom they believed), where on
refers to the indeclinable þe. So also in þæt hūs þe hē inne wunode (the house he dwelt in).
Where the noun modified by such a preposition is not expressed, the preposition becomes an adverb: se cyning sęnde his hęre tō, and for·dyde þā mannslagan (the king sent his army to the place, and destroyed the murderers).
Negation.
The negative particle is ne, which drops its e before some common verbs and pronouns, as in nis = ne is, nān = ne ān. The negative particle is prefixed to every finite verb in a sentence, and to all the words besides which admit the contracted forms:—tō·cwīesed hrēod hē ne for·brīett (he breaks not the bruised reed), hit nā ne fēoll (it did not fall); nān mann nyste nān þing (no man knew anything). So also with ne ... ne = 'neither ... nor': ne flītt hē ne hē ne hrīemþ (he neither disputes nor cries out).
Correlation.
Correlation is often more fully expressed in Old than in Modern English, as in þā þā męnn slēpon, þā cōm his fēonda sum = 'when the men slept, then came one of his enemies.' In þā þā = 'when' the two correlatives are brought immediately together:—þā þā hē sēow, sumu hīe fēollon wiþ weġ = 'then when he sowed, some of them fell by the road.' In the following example the conjunction þæt is correlative with the pronoun þæt:—þæs ic ġe·wilniġe þæt ic āna ne be·līfe æfter mīnum lēofum þeġnum—'that I desire, that I may not remain alone after my dear thanes.' Sometimes a word is used to include both the demonstrative and the relative meaning:—hē ġe·brōhte hine þǣr hē hine ǣr ġe·nam (he brought him to the place where he took him from).