Higher Lessons in English Part 50

25. He boards to the hotel.

26. I board in the hotel.

27. She stays at the North.

28. I have other reasons beside these. [Footnote: Beside = _by the side of_; besides = _in addition to_.]

29. You make no use with your talents.

30. He threw himself onto the bed.

31. The boys are hard to work.

32. He distributed the apples between his four brothers.

33. He went in the park.

34. You can confide on him.

35. He arrived to Toronto.

36. I agree with that plan.

37. The evening was spent by reading.

38. Can you accommodate me in one of those?

39. What a change a century has produced upon our country!

40. He stays to school late.

41. The year of the Restoration plunged Milton in bitter poverty.

42. The Colonies declared themselves independent from England.

43. I spent my Sat.u.r.days by going in the country, and enjoying myself by fishing.

LESSON 99.

CONSTRUCTION OF PREPOSITIONS--CONTINUED.[Footnote: "A preposition is a feeble word to end a sentence _with_," we are told. Sentences (10) and (13), Lesson 59, (2), Lesson 60, and many in succeeding Lessons violate the rule so carelessly expressed.

Of this rule, laid down without regard to usage and thoughtlessly repeated, Prof. Austin Phelps says, "A preposition as such is by no means a feeble word;" and he quotes a burst of feeling from Rufus Choate which ends thus: "Never, so long as there is left of Plymouth Rock a piece large enough to make a gunflint _of_!" "This," Professor Phelps says, "is purest idiomatic English." He adds, "The old Scotch interrogative, 'What _for_?' is as pure English in written as in colloquial speech."

Sentences containing two prepositions before a noun are exceedingly common in English--"The language itself is inseparable _from_, or essentially a part _of_, the _thoughts_." Such sentences have been condemned, but the worst that can be urged against them is, that they lack smoothness. But smoothness is not always desirable.

Sentences containing a transitive verb and a preposition before a noun are very common--"Powerless to _affect_, or to be affected _by_, the _times_."]

CAUTION.--Do not use prepositions needlessly.

DIRECTION.--_Correct these errors_:--

1. I went there at about noon.

2. In what lat.i.tude is Boston in?

3. He came in for to have a talk.

4. I started a week ago from last Sat.u.r.day.

5. He was born August 15, in 1834.

6. A good place to see a play is at Wallack's.

7. He went to home.

8. I was leading of a horse about.

9. By what states is Kentucky bounded by?

10. His servants ye are to whom ye obey.

11. Where are you going to?

12. They admitted of the fact.

13. Raise your book off of the table.

14. He took the poker from out of the fire.

15. Of what is the air composed of?

16. You can tell by trying of it.

17. Where have you been to?

18. The boy is like to his father.

19. They offered to him a chair.

20. This is the subject of which I intend to write about.

21. b.u.t.ter brings twenty cents for a pound.

22. Give to me a knife.

23. I have a brother of five years old.

24. To what may Italy be likened to?

25. In about April the farmer puts in his seed.

26. Jack's favorite sport was in robbing orchards.

27. Before answering of you, I must think.

28. He lives near to the river.

29. Keep off of the gra.s.s.

+Caution+.--Do not omit prepositions when they are needed.

+Direction+.--_Correct these errors_:--

1. There is no use going there.

2. He is worthy our help.

3. I was prevented going.

4. He was banished the country.

5. He is unworthy our charity.

6. What use is this to him?

7. He was born on the 15th August, 1834.

8. Adam and Eve were expelled the garden.

9. It was the size of a pea.

10. Egypt is the west side of the Red Sea.

11. His efforts were not for the great, but the lowly.

12. He received dispatches from England and Russia.

+Direction+.--_Point out the prepositions in Lessons_ 80 _and_ 81, _and name the words between which, in sense, they show the relation_.

LESSON 100.

CLa.s.sES OF CONJUNCTIONS AND OTHER CONNECTIVES.

+Introductory Hints+.--The stars look down upon the roofs of the living _and_ upon the graves of the dead, _but neither_ the living _nor_ the dead are conscious of their gaze. Here _and_, _but_, _neither_, and _nor_ connect words, phrases, and clauses of equal rank, or order, and so are called +Co-ordinate Conjunctions+. Both clauses may be independent, or both dependent but of equal rank.

At the burning of Moscow, it seemed _as_ [it would seem] _if_ the heavens were lighted up _that_ the nations might behold the scene. Here _as_, _if_, and _that_ connect each a lower, or subordinate, clause to a clause of higher rank, and hence are called +Subordinate Conjunctions+. One clause may be independent and the other dependent, or both dependent but of unequal rank.

+DEFINITIONS.+

+A _Conjunction_ is a word used to connect words, phrases, or clauses+.

[Footnote: Some of the co-ordinate conjunctions, as _and_ and _but_, connect, in thought, sentences separated by the period, and even connect paragraphs. In a.n.a.lysis and parsing, we regard only the individual sentence and treat such connectives as introductory.]