(2) It was not intended for him.

(3) The boys were punished for leaving school.

(b) Noun clauses as objects of prepositions:

(1) He sold it for what it was worth.

(2) We did not know with whom we had spoken.

The preposition may have a compound object, just as a verb may have a compound object (see 17).

EXAMPLES:

(1) He is fond of bugs and flies.

(2) It was intended for neither you nor me.
(3) They are very expert with bow and arrows.

210. Compound Prepositions.-In some instances two prepositions have united so closely that they are written together as a single word, as, e. g., into, within, without, beside, because, before, etc. Others have not developed quite so far and are still written apart, although functionally they are used as single words and should be so parsed. The following are a few of the more common instances: out of, out in, next to, aside from, according to, in spite of, because of, up to, on to, on top (written together as atop),

etc.

EXAMPLES:

(1) He came up to me with a smile.

(2) He fell out of the boat into the water.
(3) They left him out in the cold.

(4) The boat lay alongside of the dock.

211. Prepositional Adverbs.-Prepositions are sometimes used without objects with the value of adverbs. These adverbs, however, do not readily fall under the classes of adverbs of time, place, manner, and degree, and it is better to speak of them as prepositional adverbs.

The difference between the pure preposition and the prepositional adverb is illustrated by the following two sentences:

He ran up the stairs.
He ran up a bill.

In the first sentence stairs is the object of up, and the whole phrase up the stairs is an adverbial prepositional phrase modifying the verb ran. In the second sentence bill is not the object of up, nor is up a bill a prepositional phrase modifying the verb. It is best to regard up as an adverb modifying ran and bill as the noun object of ran.

EXAMPLES:

(1) The men fell to and ate silently but heartily.

(2) The boat came about quickly.

(3) We hailed them as we passed by.

(4) They haven't much to live on.

(5) Night came on suddenly.

NOTE. It will be observed that adverbial prepositions of this sort are very closely joined in meaning to the verbs, and they may therefore be regarded as parts of compound verbs which are not written together as compounds. In earlier stages of the language they would actually have been written together, the prepositions serving as prefixes in compound verbs, as is still done in words like undergo, overtax, inclose, infix, etc.

212. Prepositions in Relative Clauses.-The regular order of words in relative clauses containing a relative pronoun which is the object of a preposition is to place the relative pronoun immediately after the preposition, as in I know the house in which he lives. But the preposition may also stand at the end of the relative clause, as I know the house which he lives in; or the relative may be omitted altogether and the preposition be retained at the end of the clause without an object, as in I know the house he lives in. The retained preposition in sentences of this

kind is to be regarded as a prepositional adverb. The compounds wherein, whereby, whereat, etc., which are equivalent in meaning to in which, by which, at which, are used as substitutes for a preposition followed by a relative pronoun object, as in That is the point wherein he has fallen short, equivalent to That is the boint in which he has fallen short.

213. Some Special Uses of Prepositions.-Among the special uses of the preposition the following should be noted:

(1) Adjective Prepositions.-These are words like near, nearer, nearest, next; like, more like, most like, which in their origin are adjectives, and which retain the adjective characteristic of comparison, but which are used with the function of prepositions in sentences like the following, and should be therefore parsed as prepositions: (1) He was sitting near the door.

(2) The building next the postoffice is the high school.

(3) He looks like his father.

(4) He looks more like his father than his brother does.

(2) Conjunctive Prepositions.-A few words like but, except, save, notwithstanding, which are generally used as conjunctions, sometimes have the value of prepositions. The following sentences illustrate this use:

(1) He saw no one but me, or He saw no one save, or except me. (2) Notwithstanding his promise, he left school before the hour

of dismissal.

(3) "Than" as Preposition.-The adverbial conjunction than following an adjective in the comparative degree has a strong tendency to be used as a preposition and is then followed by the objective case. This is the

rule when than is followed by the relative pronoun whom, as in the sentence The winner of the prize was a student than whom none was more deserving. One frequently hears, also, in colloquial speech, such sentences as He is older than me. It is better, however, to say He is older than I, since the sentence is an elliptical form of He is older than I am old, and structurally is exactly parallel to the sentence in which the adjective is in the positive degree, as in He is as old as I (am old).

(4) The Partitive Preposition.-After words denoting a part of an object or group of objects, the preposition of is used, followed by the noun or pronoun denoting the whole. This is called the Partitive use of the preposition of, and corresponds to the Latin and Greek partitive genitive: EXAMPLES:

(1) Ten of the men were discovered.

(2) Many of us heard his speech.

(3) Most of the building was consumed by the fire.

Even when both nouns connected by the preposition name the whole, the construction remains the same, as in All of the speakers were interesting.

(5) "As" as Preposition.-The word as is sometimes used in the sense of like, for, in the manner of, with the value of a preposition, as in the sentence, We used the building as a depot, in which as a depot is an adverbial prepositional phrase modifying used.

EXAMPLES:

(1) We took our blankets as protection against the cold.

(2) He served as president for three years.

(3) The officers regarded this expedient as a makeshift.
(4) We went as guests of the owner.

214. Parsing the Preposition.-In parsing the preposition state:

(1) Whether it is a simple or compound preposition;

(2) what its object is;

(3) what word the prepositional phrase modifies, and whether it modifies it as an adjective or adverbial modifier or has some more special characteristic.

The prepositions in the sentence, We all of us complain of the shortness of time and yet have much more than we know what to do with, are parsed as follows:

Of is a simple partitive preposition, its object is us, and it unites the phrase of us to the word all.

Of in of the shortness is a simple preposition, its object is shortness, and it unites the phrase of the shortness as an adverbial modifier to the verb complain.

Of in of time is a simple preposition, its object is time, and it unites the phrase of time as an adjective modifier to the noun shortness.

With is an adverbial preposition, it has no object, and it modifies the infinitive to do.

EXERCISE.

Parse all the words of prepositional function in the following sentences:

(1) He built a cottage on the bank of the river.

(2) Nowhere in this country are such care and industry to be

seen.

(3) It exploded with a report that was heard for miles around.
(4) He came in spite of all his protestations to the contrary.
(5) He lost all his property but a single house in the suburbs.
(6) He declares that he has nothing to live for.

(7) We spent two hours looking for the little cove in which we
had landed.

(8) Time and tide wait for no man.