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of meaning. Hence the necessity of devising forms that shall give special shades of a general meaning so as to suit special occasions. And these special forms constitute the only attempt at interchangeable equivalents for prepositions.

236. A PREPOSITION PHRASE* consists of a preposition and a noun and a preposition again: the first preposition is very commonly a general one, whose special application or shade of meaning is determined by the noun, and the second preposition is necessary to establish connection with what follows. The combination, as a whole, is practically a new preposition, giving specialized or limited expression to the meaning of the general preposition. For instance, the preposition by' conveys the general meaning of alongside of,' and hence indicates in a very wide sense agency, means; while the more special meanings are given by such compound expressions as the following Preposition Phrases: by means of, by help of, by dint of, by force of, by reason of, by stress of, by virtue of. It may be noted that occasionally the phrases get contracted, or the parts get welded together; as in 'before,' 'beside,' 'because of,' 'instead of,' &c.

The Phrases are employed to give precision, emphasis, and variety. The noun part of the phrase indicates with some exactness the intended shade of the general sense; the greater length combined with superior precision brings increased stress; and the monotony of the recurrence of the simple preposition is relieved when we pass lightly over

* Or whatever it may be called. There ought not, it should seem, to be any difference between a 'repositional Phrase and a Preposition Phrase. But the grammarian that invented and applied the term Prepositional Phrase was probably not troubled with the thought of its being required for such a case as this.

it and rest more particularly on the noun part of the phrase.

In addition to the many examples already given in the Exercises involving prepositional phrases, a few mixed instances are set down here. The pupil will be exercised to advantage in comparing these phrases with single prepositions that may be substituted for them. He may even find that in some cases there is no single preposition that can be satisfactorily substituted.

EXERCISE 200.

1. Learning flourished under the rule of the wise and virtuous Hough. 2. The boy trembled in the presence of his mistress. 3. All intercession on behalf of the condemned was prohibited. 4. He spoke strongly in support of (in favour of ì the bill. 5. He would not venture to reject the tragedy in contradiction to his lordship's opinion. 6. The ancient civilization was slowly fading away under the influence of misgovernment. 7. Such atrocities were suffered by the Saxon at the hand of the Dane. 8. Charles II. returned to England in accordance with the unanimous wish of the nation. 9. These songs are certainly not worthy of preservation on account of their intrinsic merit. 10. There was a large meeting under the presidency of the Lord Provost. 11. The sittings of the Estates of the realm have been, in defiance of precedent and the spirit of the constitution, intermitted during eleven years. 12. The enemy were decidedly superior in point of numbers. 13. He was a dead man, unless, indeed, his friends could, by dint of solicitation, obtain a pardon for him.

EXERCISE 201.

1. He could not understand this lethargy on the eve of a terrible crisis. 2. The language of these men was at variance with all his tastes and feelings. 3. There will be little time for preparation in case of war. 4. These reforms were brought about in obedience to the will of the nation. 5. Neither party wanted strong arguments in justification of the course that it was disposed to take. 6. The Parliament is under the control of public opinion. 7. He got more support in return for his money than any of his predecessors. 8. He established the authority of law through the furthest corners of the island. 9. Walpole had been brought up in the school of toleration, at the feet of Somers and of Burnet. 10. The battle of Nordlingen brought the Protestant cause for the moment to the very brink of ruin. 11. The Britons suffered much at the hands of the Romans. 12. The new King must govern in conformity with their wishes. 13. Since the Revolution, no minister has been able to retain office six months in opposition to the sense of the House of Commons.

EXERCISE 202.

1. These great truths would else have perished for want of a voice to utter them with distinctness. 2. Under the disguise of levity, he was false beyond all example of political falsehood. 3. The Highlands had to be conquered in the midst of a war with France and Spain. 4. It was not to the advantage of the King's service that the Roman Catholics should be conspicuous among his friends. 5. Walpole cancelled Wood's patent in compliance with the absurd outcry of the Irish. 5. Sometimes, in spite of all his caution, his measures caused great agitation. 7. Thus, on the eve of the meeting of the Scottish Parliament, Glencoe was in the mouths of all Scotchmen. 8. Their inclinations are on the side of order and authority. 9. The Sabeans set up graven images in honour of the heavenly bodies. 10. A pension_was procured for him by the interest (through the influence) of the Lord Chancellor. 11. The conduct of Walpole with regard to the Spanish war is the great blemish of his public life. 12. His style, in spite of his mannerism, nay, partly by reason of his mannerism, is well suited for his purpose. 13. Caligula's soldiers filled their helmets with shells by way of plunder. 14. The King found that he must govern either in harmony with the House of Commons or in defiance of all law.

CHAPTER VII.

THE CONJUNCTION.

237. The CONJUNCTIONS, or coupling links between propositions-whether between co-ordinate propositions or between a principal and a subordinate proposition are words of the highest importance.

Not many of the class can be regarded as pure conjunctions. A small number were in earlier use as prepositions. The great body of them are really transferred adverbs; more or less of the adverbial meaning being still associated with the conjunctive meaning in each of such examples.

The Co-ordinating Conjunctions appear in compound sentences; but their main value comes out in the construction of paragraphs, which takes us a long way into the art of composition. The Subordinating Conjunctions almost exclusively introduce adverbial clauses, connecting these with the principal statement modified by them. The special powers of both classes are very well brought out and impressed on the mind by the interchange of independent coordinate sentences with dependent (especially adverbial) clauses.

Not only is it necessary to discriminate the different classes of each of the two main divisions of Conjunctions; nicety of construction and finish of style are largely involved in the accurate discrimination of the particular members of each subdivision. These should be tried in given cases successively; and by such comparison the pupil will gradually arrive at a true feeling of the peculiar properties of each individual conjunction.

The illustration of the Conjunctions may be seen in some detail on reference to the examples of the Co-ordinate Sentence and of the Adverb and the Adverbial Clause.

THE PHRASE.

238. Were we confined to single parts of speech for the expression of all the members of a sentence, we should require an alarmingly extended and practically unworkable vocabulary; indeed, we should not confidently attempt to express difficult meanings without having a list of the vocables of the language permanently at our elbow. It is not merely desirable, but absolutely necessary, to possess recognized forms whereon to build up, out of the narrower list of vocables, expressions that may do the office of single parts of speech. This process in its various forms is one of the most important devices in the construction of language.

The subject and the object of the sentence, and the qualifying members as well, are often required to express a meaning that is more or less complicated or that does not frequently recur. For such occasions, a single word-Noun, Adjective, Adverb -is felt to be inadequate or unmanageable; and we have recourse to equivalent expressions, made up from the single parts of speech according to common and readily understood models. The expressions are designated PHRASES and CLAUSES.

239. In such complicated or rarely recurring meanings, there is often needed a long expression containing a framework of subject and predicate (finite verb) to support the necessary amount of qualification: this form is named the CLAUSE. The

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