Part 19

1. He answered _according to_ the rule. 2. I could not go _on account of_ illness. 3. He won the election _by means of_ fraud. 4. The strike was won _by help of_ all the comrades. 5. You can learn to spell only _by dint of_ memory. 6. We speak incorrectly _by force of_ habit. 7. He went to New York _by way of_ Chicago. 8. Ferrer died _for the sake of_ his ideals. 9. _In consideration of_ this payment, we will send you the set of books. 10. Germany issued her ultimatum _in defiance of_ the world. 11. _In view of_ all the facts, we are convinced of his innocence. 12. He will gladly suffer _in place of_ his comrade. 13. _In conformity with_ the information contained in your letter, I will join you on the 10th.

Exercise 5

Mark the prepositions in the following quotation. In the first three paragraphs the prepositional phrases are printed in italics. Determine whether they are used as adjective phrases or as adverb phrases. Underscore the prepositional phrases in the remainder of the quotation and determine which word is used as the object of the preposition.

THE SUNLIGHT LAY ACROSS MY BED

_In the dark_ one night I lay _upon my bed_. And _in the dark_ I dreamed a dream. I dreamed God took my soul _to Hell_.

And we came where hell opened _into a plain_, and a great house stood there. Marble pillars upheld the roof, and white marble steps led up _to it_. The wind _of heaven_ blew _through it_. Only _at the back_ hung a thick curtain. Fair men and women there feasted _at long tables_. They danced, and I saw the robes _of women_ flutter _in the air_ and heard the laugh _of strong men_. They feasted _with wine_; they drew it _from large jars_ which stood somewhat _in the background_, and I saw the wine sparkle as they drew it.

And I said _to God_, "I should like to go up and drink." And God said, "Wait." And I saw men coming _into the banquet house_; they came in _from the back_ and lifted the corner _of the curtain_ _at the sides_ and crept in quickly; and they let the curtain fall _behind them_; they bore great jars they could hardly carry. And the men and women crowded _round them_, and the newcomers opened their jars and gave them _of the wine_ to drink; and I saw that the women drank even more greedily than the men. And when others had well drunken they set the jars _among the old ones_ _beside the wall_, and took their places _at the table_. And I saw that some _of the jars_ were very old and mildewed and dusty, but others had still drops _of new must_ _on them_ and shone _from the furnace_.

And I said to God, "What is that?" For amid the sounds of the singing, and over the dancing of feet, and over the laughing across the winecups, I heard a cry.

And God said, "Stand away off."

And He took me where I saw both sides of the curtain. Behind the house was a wine-press where the wine was made. I saw the grapes crushed, and I heard them cry. I said, "Do not they on the other side hear it?"

God said, "The curtain is thick; they are feasting."

And I said, "But the men who came in last. They saw?"

God said, "They let the curtain fall behind them--and they forgot!"

I said, "How came they by their jars of wine?"

God said, "In the treading of the press these are they who came to the top; they have climbed out over the edge and filled their jars from below; and have gone into the house."

And I said, "And if they had fallen as they climbed--?"

God said, "They had been wine."

I stood away off watching in the sunshine, and I shivered.

And after a while I looked, and I saw the curtain that hung behind the house moving.

I said to God, "Is it a wind?"

God said, "A wind."

And it seemed to me that against the curtain I saw pressed the forms of men and women. And after a while, the feasters saw it move, and they whispered one to another. Then some rose and gathered the most worn-out cups, and into them they put what was left at the bottom of other vessels. Mothers whispered to their children, "Do not drink all, save a little drop when you have drunk." And when they had collected all the dregs they slipped the cups out under the bottom of the curtain without lifting it. After a while the curtain left off moving.

I said to God, "How is it so quiet?"

He said, "They have gone away to drink it."

I said, "They drink it--their own!"

God said, "It comes from this side of the curtain, and they are very thirsty."

And still the feast went on.

Men and women sat at the tables quaffing great bowls. Some rose, and threw their arms about each other and danced and sang. They pledged each other in the wine, and kissed each other's blood-red lips.

Men drank till they could drink no longer, and laid their heads upon the table, sleeping heavily. Women who could dance no more leaned back on the benches with their heads against their lovers' shoulders. Little children, sick with wine, lay down upon the edge of their mothers' robes.

I said, "I cannot see more, I am afraid of Hell. When I see men dancing I hear the time beaten in with sobs; and their wine is living! Oh, I cannot bear Hell!"

God said, "Where will you go?"

I said, "To the earth from which I came; it was better there."

And God laughed at me; and I wondered why He laughed.

--_Olive Schreiner_.

SPELLING

LESSON 18

There are a number of words that are ordinarily followed by a preposition with its phrase. We make a great many mistakes in the use of the proper preposition with these words. Our spelling lesson this week covers a number of these words with examples illustrating the appropriate preposition to be used with each word. Learn to spell these words, look up their meaning in the dictionary and use each word with its proper preposition in sentences of your own construction.

+MONDAY+

+Abhorrence+, of; We have an abhorrence _of_ war. +Abhorrent+, to; War is abhorrent _to_ us. +Acquaint+, with; I will acquaint you _with_ the facts in the case. You will then be acquainted _with_ the facts. +Acquit+, of; The man was acquitted _of_ the charge. +Adequate+, to; Our resources are not adequate _to_ the demand.

+TUESDAY+

+Angry+, with, at; We are angry _with_ persons and angry _at_ things. +Astonished+, at or by; (Never with) I am astonished _at_ you, or _by_ you, not _with_ you. +Confer+; We confer _with_ people, _upon_ or _about_ matters. +Contrary+; A thing is contrary _to_ our ideas, (not _from_ or _than_). +Controversy+; with, between, or about, (not over). I had a controversy _with_ you. There is a controversy _between_ the two _about_ the result.

+WEDNESDAY+

+Convicted+, of (not for). He was convicted _of_ the crime. +Copy+; We copy _after_ people, _from_ things, and _out_ of books. +Deprive+, of, (not from). We are deprived _of_ an education. +Desire+, of and for; We may speak of the desire _of_ a man, meaning man's desire; but we should always say "He has a desire _for_ position, _for_ wealth," etc. +Die+, of, for and from; A person dies _of_, not _from_, a disease. He dies _from_ the effects of an injury. One person may die _with_ another, but never _with_ a disease, for the disease does not die.

+THURSDAY+

+Differ+, from, among, about, concerning, with; Persons or things differ _from_ each other; that is, they are dissimilar in appearance. Two persons may differ _with_ each other; that is, contend or disagree. Several persons differ _among_ themselves _about_ or _concerning_ some matter. +Dissent+, from (not to). There was a general dissent _from_ that idea. +Guilty+, of (not for). He is guilty _of_ the crime. +Incentive+, to (not for). It is a great incentive _to_ action. +Receive+, from, (not of). Received _from_ John Smith, thirty dollars, etc.

+FRIDAY+

+Infer+, from, (not by). I infer this _from_ your remarks, not _by_ your remarks. +Introduce+; A man is introduced _to_ a woman, a speaker _to_ an audience; _into_ society or _into_ new surroundings. We introduce a bill _in_ Congress or a resolution _in_ a committee. +Involved+, in (not with). We are involved _in_ difficulties. +Listen+; We listen +for+ the expected news; we listen +to+ our friends, not _at_. +Married+; One person is married +to+ another, not +with+ another.

+SATURDAY+

+Matter+, with, (not of). What is the matter _with_ this? +Opposition+, to (not against). There is opposition _to_ the motion. +Part+, to part _from_, means to leave. I will part _from_ my friends. To part _with_ means to give up. A fool soon parts _with_ his money. +Remedy+, for; We have a remedy _for_ the disease. +Preventive+, against; We have a preventive _against_ disease.

* * * * *

It is easy to sit in the sunshine And talk to the man in the shade; It is easy to float in a well-trimmed boat, And point out the places to wade.

But once we pass into the shadows We murmur and fret and frown; At our length from the bank, we shout for a plank, Or throw up our hands and go down.

It is easy to sit in a carriage And counsel the man on foot; But get down and walk and you'll change your talk, _As_ you feel the peg in your boot.

It is easy to tell the toiler _How_ best he can carry his pack; But not one can rate a burden's weight _Until_ it has been on his back.

The up-curled mouth of pleasure Can preach of sorrow's worth; But give it a sip, and a wryer lip, Was never made on earth.

--_Ella Wheeler Wilcox_.

PLAIN ENGLISH

LESSON 19

Dear Comrade:

In this lesson we are completing our study of the preposition. The preposition is one of the last parts of speech which we take up for study and it is also one of the last parts of speech to be added to our vocabulary. The child does not use the preposition when it first begins to talk. It uses the names of things; words of action; words that describe objects and actions. It does not begin to use prepositions until it begins to relate ideas.

The relation of ideas means that we are thinking; combining ideas into thoughts. Then we begin to need prepositions, which are words of relation, connecting words, expressing the relationship between ideas. The measure of the fullness and richness of our lives is the measure of our understanding of the world about us, of the relationship existing between the different phases of that world and of our relationship to it all.

So words do not mean much to us until we can relate them to our own lives and our own experiences. When you look up a word in the dictionary, do not study the word alone; study also the thing for which it stands. A person with a good memory might acquire a vocabulary by sheer feat of memory; but what good would it do unless each word could be related to practical experience? It is only in this way that words become _alive_ to us. We must have an idea, a concept and knowledge of the thing for which the word stands.

So let us use our dictionary in this way. Do not be satisfied when you have looked up a word simply to know how to spell and pronounce the word and understand somewhat of its meaning. Do not be satisfied until it has become a live word to you. Have a clear image and understanding of just what each word stands for. Use the words in sentences of your own. Use them in your conversation. Make them a part of your every-day life.

Do not pass over any of the words in the lesson without understanding their meaning. Study the poem _Abou Ben Adhem_ in this week's lesson. After you have read it over a number of times, close the book and rewrite the poem in prose in your own language. Then compare your version with the poem. Note where you have used different expressions and decide which is the better, the words used in the poem or your own words. Rewrite it several times until you have a well-written version of this poem.

Exercises such as this will increase your vocabulary and quickly develop the power of expression. No power can come in any department of life without effort having been expended in its acquisition. Our great writers have been careful students. Robert Louis Stevenson says that he has often spent a half a day searching for the particular word which he needed to express precisely the idea in mind. Stevenson is a master of the English and this power came to him by this sort of studious and earnest work.

Yours for Education,

THE PEOPLE'S COLLEGE.

AN IMPORTANT WORD

+309.+ Things are not always to be judged by their size. Sometimes the most important things are very small and unimportant in appearance. A great machine is before you. You see its giant wheels, its huge levers. These may seem to be the most important parts of the machine, but here and there throughout this great machine are little screws and bolts. These bind the giant parts together. Without these connecting links, the great wheels and levers and revolving belts could not work together. Let a little bolt slip out of its place in the mechanism, and the great wheels stop, the throbbing machinery comes to a standstill. No work is possible until this little bolt has been replaced.

So in our sentence building, the _preposition_ is the bolt that joins words together. The importance of the preposition in a language increases just in proportion as the nation learns to think more exactly and express itself more accurately.

We found in our last lesson that by changing a preposition we can change the entire meaning of the sentence. A man's life may depend upon the use of a certain preposition. You may swear his life away by bearing testimony to the fact whether you saw him _within_ the house, or _without_ the house; or _before_ dark, or _after_ dark.

+310.+ The preposition is an important word in the sentence. We can use it to serve our purpose in various ways. We have found, for instance, that we can use it:

_First_, to change an adjective into an adjective phrase. As, for example:

The _fearless_ man demands his rights. The man _without fear_ demands his rights.

_Second_, to change an adverb into an adverb phrase. As, for example:

We want to possess _peacefully_ the fruits of our labor. We want to possess _in peace_ the fruits of our labor.

_Third_, to express a meaning which we can express in no other way; as, for example, _They are fighting for their country_. There is no single word which we can use to express the meaning which we express in the phrase, _for their country_.

+311.+ So the preposition has given us a new means of expression, _the prepositional phrase_. We can, by its help, use a phrase in place of an adjective to modify a noun or a pronoun, and in place of an adverb to modify a verb or an adjective. And we can also use the prepositional phrase to express relationship which we cannot express by a single adjective or adverb.

If I want to tell you that I see a bird in yonder tree, such an expression would be impossible without that little preposition _in_. By the use of various prepositions, I can express to you the relationship between the bird and the tree. I can tell you whether it is _under_ the tree, or _in_ the tree, or _over_ the tree, or flying _around_ the tree, or _near_ the tree. By the use of the various prepositions, I can express accurately the relationship that exists between the _bird_ and the _tree_.

Exercise 1

Look up the list of prepositions in Section 306, on page 184. Use the following pairs of words in sentences and use as many different prepositions as you can to express the different relationships which may be expressed between these words. For example, take the two words, _man_ and _house_. You may say:

The man went _around_ the house. The man went _about_ the house. The man went _over_ the house. The man went _under_ the house. The man went _without_ the house. The man went _into_ the house. The man went _by_ the house. The man went _beyond_ the house. The man went _to_ the house.

enemy city soldiers cannon man machine woman factory children school government people

A GOVERNING WORD

+312.+ The preposition shows the relation between two words. In this way it enables us to use a noun or a pronoun as a modifying word. For example, in the sentence given above, _I see the bird in the tree_, the preposition _in_ shows the relationship between _bird_ and _tree_, and makes of _tree_ a modifying word. It expresses a different meaning than if we used the word _tree_ as an adjective. For we do not mean that we see a tree bird, but a bird in a tree. So with the help of the preposition _in_, we have used _tree_ as a modifying word.

But the preposition _in_ also governs the form of the word that follows it. Since nouns have the same form whether they are used as subject or object, this does not mean any change in the form of the nouns. But pronouns have different forms for the subject and object, so when we use a pronoun with a preposition, we must use the object form. There are seven object forms of the personal pronouns, and after a preposition, always use one of these object forms.

He gave it to _me_. Give it to _him_. Give it to _her_. Add this to _it_. Bring it to _us_. I will give it to _you_. He gave it to _them_.

+313.+ Be careful to always use the object form of the pronoun following a preposition. Observe this also in the use of the relative and interrogative pronoun "who." The object form is "whom." For example:

To whom will you go? This is the man to whom I wrote. For whom are you looking? Where is the woman for whom you would make such a sacrifice?

Where to Put the Preposition

+314.+ The preposition generally precedes its object. This is the reason it was given its name, _preposition_, meaning _to place before_. Sometimes, however, the preposition is separated from its object. This is often true when it is used with an interrogative or relative pronoun. With these pronouns, the preposition is often thrown to the end of the sentence. For example:

This is the book about which I was speaking; _or_, This is the book which I was speaking about. To whom shall I give this letter; _or_, Who shall I give this letter to?

The sentence, _To whom shall I give this letter_, is grammatically correct; but in ordinary usage we use the form, _Who shall I give this letter to?_

While the rule calls for the object form of the relative pronoun after a preposition--so that the use of _to whom_ is grammatically correct--in common usage we use the subject form of the pronoun when it is used so far away from the preposition which governs it. So we find this use common. For example, instead of saying, _For whom is this letter?_ we say, _Who is this letter for?_

+315.+ In poetry also, we often find the object coming before the preposition. For example:

"The interlacing boughs between Shadows dark and sunlight sheen, Alternate, come and go."

_Boughs_ is here the object of the preposition _between_, but in this poetic expression the object is placed before the preposition. Note also in the following:

"The unseen mermaid's pearly song, Comes bubbling up the weeds _among_."

"Forever panting and forever young, All breathing human passion far _beyond_."

+316.+ After an interrogative adjective, the preposition is also often thrown to the end of the sentence. As, for example:

What men are the people talking _about_? Which person did you write _to_?

With these few exceptions, however, the preposition usually precedes its object, as:

We were astonished _at_ the news. He arose _from_ his sleep.

POSSESSIVE PHRASES

+317.+ Review Lesson 4, in which we studied the possessive use of nouns. You will recall that we make the possessive form of the nouns by the use of the apostrophe and _s_. But instead of using the possessive forms of the name of inanimate things; that is, things without life, we generally denote possession by the use of a phrase. Thus we would say, _The arm of the chair_, instead of, _The chair's arm_; or, _The roof of the house_, instead of, _The house's roof_.

+318.+ We also use a possessive phrase when the use of a possessive form would give an awkward construction. As, for example: _Jesus' sayings_. So many hissing sounds are not pleasant to the ear and so, we say instead, _The sayings of Jesus_.

+319.+ We use a phrase also where both nouns are in the plural form. In many words, there is no difference in the sound between a single noun in the possessive form and a plural noun in the possessive form. We can readily tell the meaning when it is written, because the place of the apostrophe indicates the meaning, but when it is spoken the sound is exactly the same. As, for example:

The lady's hats. The ladies' hats.

Written out in this way, you know that in the first instance I am speaking of the hats belonging to one lady, but in the second instance of the hats belonging to two or more ladies. But when it is spoken, you can not tell whether I mean one lady or a number of ladies. So we use a phrase and say, _The hats of the lady_; or, _The hats of the ladies_. Then the meaning is entirely clear.

+320.+ Sometimes we want to use two possessives together, and in this case it is better to change one of them into a phrase; for example, _This is my comrade's father's book_. This is an awkward construction. Say instead, _This is the book belonging to my comrade's father_.

+321.+ Do not overlook the fact, however, that the phrase beginning with _of_ does not always mean possession. Consider the following examples and see if there is not a difference in meaning:

The history of Wilson is interesting. Wilson's history is interesting.

In the first instance, I mean the history of Wilson's life is interesting; in the second instance I mean the history belongs to or written by Wilson is interesting. So there is quite a difference in the meaning. The phrase _of Wilson_ used in the first example does not indicate possession.

Note the difference in meaning between the following sentences:

The picture of Millet is good. Millet's picture is good.

The statue of Rodin stands in the park. Rodin's statue stands in the park.

Would you say:

The invention of gunpowder, or gunpowder's invention? The destruction of Louvain, or Louvain's destruction? The siege of Antwerp, or Antwerp's siege? The boat's keel, or the keel of the boat?

COMMON ERRORS

+322.+ Prepositions are usually very small and seemingly unimportant words, yet we make a great many mistakes in their use. It is these little mistakes that are most difficult to avoid.

Notice carefully in your own speech this week, and in the conversation which you overhear, the use of the prepositions. Notice especially the following cautions:

+1. Do not use prepositions needlessly.+ We often throw a preposition in at the close of a sentence which we have already used in the sentence, and which we should not use again. The little preposition _at_ is most frequently used in this way. See how many times this week you hear people use such phrases as:

At which store do you trade at? At what corner did you stop at?

The last _at_ is entirely unnecessary. It has already been used once and that is enough. We also use _at_ and _to_ at the close of sentences beginning with an interrogative adverb, where they are not necessary. For example, we say:

Where did you go to? Where did you stop at? Where am I at?

The correct form of these sentences is:

Where did you go? Where did you stop? Where am I?

Do not use _at_ and _to_ in this way, they are entirely superfluous and give a most disagreeable sound to the sentence. Do not close a sentence with a preposition in this way.

+2. Do not omit the preposition where it properly belongs.+ For example, we often say:

The idea is no use to me.

We should say, _The idea is of no use to me_.