Note IX.-Two NEGATIVES in English are equivalent to an Affirmative; as, "Nor did he not perceive them" he did perceive them; "His manners are not inelegant" are elegant. When two negatives, as in the last example, are used to express an affirmative, they denote the quality only in a moderate degree. In popular language, two negatives are frequently used for a negation, according to the practice of the ancient Greeks and the modern French. This idiom was primitive, and was retained in the Anglo-Saxon; as, "Oc se Kinning Peada ne rixade nane while."-Saxon Chronicle, p. 33. "And the King Peada did not reign none while." "He did not owe nothing," in vulgar language, is equivalent to "he owed nothing," in the style of the learned.

Note X.-No is sometimes improperly used for Nor; as, "Whether love be natural or no,' replied my friend, gravely, 'it contributes to the happiness of every society into which it is introduced."" No properly never qualifies a verb.

Adverbial phrases are treated generally in the same manner as adverbs; as, "The many letters I receive do not a little encourage me." Here A LITTLE modifies the verb encourage.

In Imperative sentences the verb is sometimes suppressed, and is indicated by an adverb which seems to supply its place; "Down with him!' cried false Sextus, with a smile on his pale face." See § 506.

as,

THE

COLLOCATION OF ADVERBS.

§ 524. 1. They are placed before adjectives and participles, and the adverbs which they modify; as, "He was exceedingly modest;" "greatly beloved;" "not only wisely, but firmly.”

2. They usually follow a verb when single; as, "He spoke eloquently;" and if a verb is transitive, with an object following, the adverb follows the object; as, "John received the present gratefully." To this rule there are many exceptions.

3. When an auxiliary and a participle are used, the adverb is usually placed between them, or it follows the participle; as, “He was graciously received," or, "He was received graciously."

4. When two auxiliaries are used, the adverb is usually after the second; as, "We have been kindly treated." But it may follow the participle; as, "We have been treated kindly;" and

in some instances it may precede the auxiliaries; as, "And certainly you must have known.”

5. An Adverb is sometimes put emphatically at the beginning of a sentence; as, "Never was a man so used."

6. The negative adverb NOT follows, and NEVER, in modern usage, precedes, the principal verb to which it refers. We can not now say "She not denies it," as in Shakspeare.

7. The words ONLY and MERELY sometimes have a wrong location; as, "The first (pestilence) could be only imputed to the just indignation of the gods." It should be, "only to the just indignation of the gods."

8. The adverb ENOUGH is always placed after the adjective which it modifies, and the adjective and the adverb after the substantive; as, "A house large enough.”

9. The adverb How should not be used before the conjunction THAT, nor instead of it; as, "He said how that he should be in

Boston."

"He said how he would be in Boston."

CORRESPONDENT ADVERBS.

§ 525. YEA-NAY; "Did he say yea or nay?"

NOT ONLY-BUT ALSO; "He was not only kind, but also courteous."

Now-Now; "Like leaves on trees the race of man is found:

Now green in youth, now withering on the ground." WHERE THERE; "Where you dwell, there will I dwell." WHEN THEN; "When pride cometh, then cometh shame." "In glittering pomp appear:

THERE-HERE;

There bold Automedon, Patroclus here."

EXERCISES IN THE SYNTAX OF ADVERBS.

RULE XXXVIII.-a. Despair naturally produces indolence.

To warn, to comfort, and command.-WORDSWORTH. C.S. c. So well-educated a boy naturally gives great hopes to his friends.

C. S.

Note I.-a. Use a little wine for thine often infirmities. F. S. b. We should implant in the minds of youth such seeds and principles of piety and virtue as are likely to take soonest and deepest root. C. S.

Sufficeth them, the simple plan,

That they should take who have the power,

And they should keep who can.-WORDSWORTH, C. S.

b. He went to where the accident was committed. C. S.

C.

But an eternal now does ever last.-CowLEY. C. S.

In this example, ever last is tautological.

Note III.-a. In a word, his speech was all excellent good in itself. F. S.

b. He came agreeable to his promise, and conducted himself suitable to the occasion. F. S.

Note IV-a. Come here to me if you will not go there to him. C. S.

b.

Come hither, come hither, by night and by day

We linger in pleasures that never are gone. C. S. Note V-a. He arrived at Liverpool, and from thence he went to London. C. S.

b. He arrived at Liverpool, and thence he went to London, C. S.

Note VI.-a. The Lord is King, be the people never so impotent. C. S.

b. Ask me never so much dowry. C. S.

c. If the opportunities of some persons were ever so favorable, they are too idle to improve them. C. S.

Note VII.-a. The Scriptures are a revelation from God; here we find the truths we need to know. C. S.

Instead of

b. His follies had reduced him to a situation where he has every thing to fear and nothing to hope. C. S. where, many grammarians would say in which.

c. Where the heart has laid down what it most loved, it is desirous of laying itself down. C. S. Where, in this case, is used like what, and contains in itself the antecedent.

Note VIII-Will he, upon examination, confess the truth? No. C. S.

Note IX.-a. I can not by no means admit it to be true. F. S. b. Nobody can never say that none of our family was never guilty of no disunhonestness. F. S.

Note X.-If that be all, there is no need of paying for it, since I am resolved to have that pleasure, whether I am there or no. F. S.

CHAPTER VII.

SYNTAX OF PREPOSITIONS.

§ 526. RULE XXXIX. - PREPOSITIONS govern the objective case; as, "They went out from us, because they were not of us;" "From him that is needy turn not away;" "The face of Raphael's mother blends with the angelic beauty of all his Madonnas."

Prepositions sometimes govern sentences; as, "But before I can venture to lay it before you, it is proper to call your attention to how matters stood at the time of its publication."— ERSKINE in behalf of Stockdale.

The accurate or appropriate use of prepositions can be understood only by carefully keeping in mind the exact relations which they express. It is the remark of Bopp, that at the bottom of every preposition, in its original sense, there exists a relation between two opposite conceptions; thus, before implies behind, and over, under. See § 374.

Note I.-A preposition expresses the relation in which the conception named by a noun substantive stands to that named by another noun substantive, or asserted by a verb, or assumed by an adjective. It should, therefore, be placed as near as possible to each of the words whose relations it expresses: "The ignorance of the age in mechanical arts rendered the progress very slow of the new invention." It should be, "the progress of the new invention very slow."

Note II. The preposition is sometimes separated from its noun, in order to connect different prepositions with the same noun; as, "To suppose the zodiac and the planets to be efficient of and antecedent to themselves." This form, though inelegant, is often convenient, especially in forms of law, where exactness and fullness must take place of every other consideration.

Note III.—The preposition is sometimes separated from the word which it governs; as, "Milton is an author whom I am much delighted with." The form of expression is in some cases idiomatic and expressive, though a violation of a general rule.

Note IV.-Prepositions are sometimes understood; as, "He

=

gave me a book;" "Get me some paper" He gave to me some paper; Get for me some paper. These, as explained elsewhere, are remains of Dative forms existing in the Anglo-Saxon, and may be parsed without the aid of a preposition. See § 486. The prepositions IN, ON, FOR, and FROM, are understood before nouns of time and place; as, "This day," "next month," are used elliptically, for "on this day," "in this month." For a somewhat different view of such sentences, see § 486.

Note V.-The word to which the preposition refers is often omitted, especially before an Imperative; as, "He is a person not fit to converse with." The ellipsis may be supplied by whom it is introduced into the sentence: "He is a person whom it is not fit to converse with."

In those instances in which the preposition is treated as an adverb, there is often a noun understood; as, "The heavens above," "the earth beneath."

Note VI.-Prepositions seem sometimes to be put absolutely after the perfect participle; as, "The man spoken to;” “The subject talked of."

as,

Note VII.-Prepositions are in some cases used for nouns; "The ins are fewer than the outs."

Note VIII. The prepositions UP, ON, OVER, BY, &c., are often subjoined to verbs, so that the verb and preposition can be regarded as a compound word; as, "To get up." Some of these compounds are idiomatic; as, " To get up" to rise; to go on = to proceed.

Note IX.-Grammarians are not agreed as to the syntax of near and nigh, like and unlike, save and except, but and than, and some others. In the phrases "near him," "nigh him," some regard near and nigh as performing the office of prepositions, like the Latin words propior proximus, while others consider the preposition to as understood. In the phrases "except them" and "save them," some consider except and save as prepositions, while others regard them as verbs in the Imperative. They were originally verbal. The words saving, barring, during, touching, concurring, relating to, originally participles, perform the functions of prepositions. Thus we see that words which were adjectives, verbs, or participles, become prepositional in their character.