Some people add a superfluous preposition at the end of a sentence,—"More than you think for." This, however, is an awkwardness rarely committed by persons of decent education.
XXX.
That "prepositions govern the objective case" is a golden rule of grammar; and if it were only well remembered, it would effectually correct that mistake of substituting the nominative for the objective pronoun, which has been complained of in the preceding pages. In using a relative pronoun in the objective case, it is more elegant to put the preposition before than after it, thus, "To whom was the order given?" instead of, "Whom was the order given to?" Indeed, if this practice were to be invariably adopted, it would obviate the possibility of confounding the nominative with the objective case, because no man would ever find himself able to utter such a sentence as, "To who was this proposal made?" though he might very unconsciously say, "Who was this proposal made to?" and the error would be equally flagrant in both instances.
XXXI.
There is a great inaccuracy connected with the use of the disjunctive conjunctions or and nor, which seem to be either not clearly understood, or treated with undue contempt by persons who speak in the following manner: "Henry or John are to go there to-night," "His son or his nephew have since put in their claim," "Neither one nor the other have the least chance of success." The conjunctions disjunctive "or" and "nor" separate the objects in sense, as the conjunction copulative unites them; and as, by the use of the former, the things stand forth separately and singly to the comprehension, the verb or pronoun must be rendered in the singular number also; as, "Henry or John is to go there to-night," "His son or his nephew has since put in his claim," &c. If you look over the sentence, you will perceive that only one is to do the act, therefore only one can be the nominative to the verb.
XXXII.
Many people improperly substitute the disjunctive "but" for the comparative "than," as, "The mind no sooner entertains any proposition, but it presently hastens to some hypothesis to bottom it on."—Locke. "No other resource but this was allowed him." "My behavior," says she, "has, I fear, been the death of a man who had no other fault but that of loving me too much."—Spectator.
XXXIII.
Sometimes a relative pronoun is used instead of a conjunction, in such sentences as the following: "I don't know but what I shall go to Brighton to-morrow," instead of, "I don't know but that," &c.
XXXIV.