objective (or object) case when it is construed with a preposition. We might often more fittingly speak of the consequent than of the object of an English preposition. In one respect, indeed, the English usage of a noun with a preposition approximates to the Latin construction, viz.: in rendering the words less dependent upon position. For instance, in the sentence "Brutus killed Cæsar," the dependence of the meaning upon the order of the words is absolute. If we say "Cæsar killed Brutus" we have reversed the statement. If we say "Cæsar Brutus killed," or "Brutus Cæsar killed," the statement is hopelessly ambiguous, and no one by reading it could determine which was the slayer and which the slain. But in the Latin the meaning is not thus dependent upon the position of the words. Since the noun which is in the accusative case (corresponding to the English objective) really undergoes change of form, the words may be placed in any order which emphasis or euphony may require, and "Cæsarem Brutus interfecit," ," "Cæsarem interfecit Brutus," "Interfecit Brutus Cæsarem," etc., would all have the unvarying meaning "Brutus killed Cæsar." By the use of the preposition in English, we approach the Latin freedom of construction. If the preposition directly precedes the noun or pronoun which is its object, then the phrase so constructed may be transposed to any position in the sentence without changing its essential meaning. The statements "Cæsar was killed by Brutus," "Cæsar by Brutus was killed,” “By Brutus was Cæsar killed," are identical in signification. The same is true if any modifier, as one or more adjectives or a noun in apposition, intervene between the preposition and its object, so long as the whole phrase is kept together. We may say "by the perfidious Brutus," "by his professed friend Brutus," etc., and we shall find that the entire phrase may be transposed to any position in the sentence as freely as the preposition with the unmodified noun. Thus the use of prepositions is especially important in English as contributing to a freedom and variety of construction that in our language could not be otherwise attained, since we have sacrificed the case-endings which form so important an element of the construction in the Latin, the Greek, and various other languages. The freedom of transposition of an English prepositional phrase referred to above is, however, subject to an important limitation. When such prepositional phrase directly limits a noun or adjective, it can not in many cases be separated from that noun or adjective without change of meaning. As Goold Brown observes, the statement "He rose heavy at heart" can not be made to read "At heart he rose heavy." "The man of learning spoke" is not the same as "The man spoke of learning." The preposition is a word that looks backward as well as forward, and does not exhaust its effect upon the word that immediately follows it. The phrase "to John" conveys no intelligible idea. The mind instantly asks, "What happened to John?" To what act or fact does the "to" refer back? So of the phrase "to Richmond" we ask at once, 'What to Richmond?" Is it "the train to Richmond," "the distance to Richmond," or did some one send or go "to Richmond"? If we say “by Henry,” the question is, "What was done by Henry?" If we say "of the city." "in the house," "against the wind," the mind instantly inquires what is of, in, or against; and so in every other possible case. Thus it appears that its antecedent is as necessary to a preposition as its object or consequent, in order to express any completeness of thought. The preposition is as truly a connective as the conjunction. Its least office is to limit the use and relation of the word that follows it. Its chief value is in the connecting of that word with some preceding term, thus binding words together into that unity of thought which makes possible the coherent sentence. "In one respect, the preposition is the simplest of all the parts of speech in our common schemes of grammar, it has neither classes nor modifications. Every connective word that governs an object after it, is called a preposition, because it does so; and in etymological parsing, to name the preposition as such, and define the name, is, perhaps, all that is necessary. But in syntactical parsing, in which we are to omit the definitions, and state the construction, we ought to explain what terms the preposition connects, and to give a rule adapted to this office of the particle. It is a palpable defect in nearly all our grammars, that their syntax contains no such rule. 'Prepositions govern the objective case,' is a rule for the objective case, and not for the syntax of prepositions. Prepositions show the relations of words, and of the things or thoughts expressed by them,' is the principle for the latter; a principle which we cannot neglect without a shameful lameness in our interpretation—that is, when we pretend to parse syntactically."* Preposition Ending Sentence Simply stated, a preposition is a word that shows the relation between an antecedent and a consequent in the same sentence. Oddly enough, the very name preposition is a misnomer in English, since an English preposition may follow the noun or pronoun which it is said to " govern"; and, in fact, the preposition or "word placed before" may be the very last word in the sentence, placed after everything else, while yet the meaning is perfectly clear; as, this is the gun that he was shot with. Many grammarians have undertaken to fight this thoroughly live and vernacular idiom, and force the preposition into conforming to its name by always standing before its object. But the idiom is stronger than the grammarians. The schoolboys have invented the rebellious paraphrase, “Never use a preposition to end a sentence with." The people go on using the prohibited idiom in conversation every day, and an examination of our literature shows that this idiom has the indorsement of the foremost writers of our language. Ford. There is no better way than that they spoke of. Of such contents as you will wonder at. SHAKESPEARE Merry Wives of Windsor act iii, sc. 6, l. 13. * GOOLD BROWN Grammar of English Grammars pt. iii, ch. 10, p. 435. What a taking was he in when your husband asked what was in the basket! SHAKESPEARE Merry Wives of Windsor act iii, sc. 3, l. 183. All is but toys; renown and grace is dead; SHAKESPEARE Macbeth act ii, sc. 3, 1. 99. O melancholy! Who ever yet could sound thy bottom? find SHAKESPEARE Cymbeline act iv, sc. 2, 1. 205. Such kindness as he knows he regards her with, I believe. DICKENS Nicholas Nickleby vol. ii, p. 220. Hanging was the worst use a man could be put to. SIR HENRY WOTTON The Disparity between Buckingham and Essex. Dost thou love life? the stuff life is made of. Then do not squander time, for that is Three things are men most likely to be cheated in-a horse, a wig, and a wife. FRANKLIN Poor Richard's Almanac. The soil out of which such men as he are made is good to be born on, good to live on, good to die for and to be buried in. LOWELL Among My Books, Second Series, Garfield. Oh, for boyhood's time of June, Me, their master, waited for. WHITTIER The Barefoot Boy st. 3. I count life just a stuff To try the soul's strength on, educe the man. Faliero. ROBERT BROWNING In a Balcony 1. 642. Ay If that which is not be, and that which is Be not, I shall be: this I doubt not of. SWINBURNE Marino Faliero act iii, sc. 1. The eternal fire hath no such pang to smite As this their jests make nought of. SWINBURNE Marino Faliero act ii, sc. 1. The virility and vigor of our language are shown in the obstinate persistence of this forceful idiom. "The worst use a man could be put to" brings use and man, the two important terms, closely together, in a prominent place in the sentence, leaving the note of connection to be lightly appended at the end. "The worst use to which a man could be put" separates the important words by the uncared-for particles to and which. The mind hurries past the preposition and relative to reach the important thing referred to, finding the impediments of formal correctness very much in its way. Unfettered and vigorous speech brushes these formalities aside, gives first place to the words expressing the important thought, and then pays its grammatical scot at the end of the sentence. It is an element of power in the English language that it can thus march across technicalities to attain the great purpose of speech-the expression of thought-securing directness and emphasis without sacrifice of clearness. The limitation to be put upon such use applies not to the preposition as such, but to the use of any small and unaccented word at the end of a sentence where special dignity, formality, or rhetorical fulness and resonance may be required. The question is one of style rather than of grammar, of emphasis rather than of correctness. See THAT under RELATIVE PRONOUNS, p. 277. "When a preposition begins or ends a sentence or clause, the terms of relation, if both are given, are transposed; as, 'To a studious man action is a relief.'-Burgh. That is, 'Action is a relief to a studious man.' 'Science they (the ladies) do not pretend to.' -Id. That is, 'They do not pretend to science.' 'Until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.'-Gen. xxviii, 15. The word governed by the preposition is always the subsequent term of the relation, however it may be placed; and if this be a relative pronoun the transposition is permanent. The preposition, however, may be put before any relative, except that and as; and |