and pronominal stems is observable in other languages. Comp. Lat. hic this, hic here, huc hither.

=

The (O.E. thý) before comparatives is the ablative or instrumental case of the definite article. Compare nevertheless, i.e. never by thi less.

How (O.E. hú) and why (O.E. hwi) are ablative forms of whe (O.E. hwá).

Not (O.E. nóht, also náht) is a contraction of the pronoun naught (from ne, no, and áht=a wiht, a thing). Comp. not a whit,' a phrase which contains the element whit' twice over.

Nothing, something, somewhat, naught, aught, are all used adverbially, e.g. He was somewhat injured.'

6

He will hold thee, when his passion shall have spent its novel force,

Something better than his dog, a little dearer than his horse. Tennyson. In these cases we may of course regard the words somewhat, something, &c., as pronouns governed by the preposition by' understood.

In virtue of their pronominal character adverbs of time and place are sometimes preceded by prepositions and used as if they were nouns, e.g. 'from then,' till now,' 'since then,' 'since when,' 'from above,' 'from beneath,' &c.

4. From Prepositions, e.g. to and fro, fore and aft, by and by, be-sides (by-sides), be-fore, be-hind, be-neath, be-times, &c., forth (from fore, before), forth-with, for-ward, in, within, underneath, on, onwards, off, adown (O.E. of dúne, from the hill), thoroughly, too, up, upwards, over, out, without.

5. From Numerals, e.g. once, twice, thrice. In addition to our simple adverbs we have a large number of adverbial phrases, e.g. on high, at last, at least, at best, of yore, of old, &c.; we have also many compound forms, e.g. may-be, may-hap, how-beit, albeit, howsoever, wheresoever.

6. From other Adverbs, e.g. nearly, mostly, firstly, lastly.

COMPARISON OF ADVERBS.

102. Some adverbs, as adverbs of manner, duration, space, and degree, admit of comparison, e.g. 'John wrote more rapidly than James, but Henry wrote most rapidly of all; Mary came sooner than Jane, but Harriet came soonest.'

In O.E. the endings of the comparative and superlative degree were respectively -or and -ost. These have now been corrupted into -er and est. In Modern English, adverbs are most commonly compared by the help of more and most. The only exceptions are

those adverbs, like hard, fast, slow, early, &c., that are compared like the cognate adjectives.

The following are instances of irregular comparison.

PARSING OF THE ADVERB.

103. In parsing an adverb we should state-
1. The part of speech to which it belongs.
2. The class and sub-class to which it belongs.
3. Its degree of comparison.

4. Its syntactical relations.

Adverbs of manner are said to qualify; adverbs of time and place are said to limit. Some grammarians use the wider word 'modify' to cover both qualification and limitation,

EXAMPLES.

a. Then he quickly made up his mind to stay there no longer.'

b. He fell where he was shot, and soon after died.'

1. Classify adverbs.

Exercises.

2. How may adverbs be classified according to their derivation? Give instances.

3. Parse the adverbs in the following passages—

a.

Oh 'darkly, deeply, beautifully blue,'

As some one somewhere sings about the sky.-Byron.

b.

They never taste who always drink,

C.

They always talk who never think.-Prior.

To die is landing on some silent shore,

Where billows never break nor tempests roar;

Ere well we feel the friendly stroke 'tis o'er.-Garth.

d. When I said I would die a bachelor, I did not think I should live till I were married.-Much Ado about Nothing.

e. Full fathom five thy father lies.-Tempest.

f. Love me little, love me long.-Marlowe.

I am not now in fortune's power;

He that is down can fall no lower.-Butler.
He knew what's what, and that's as high
As metaphysic wit can fly.-Id.

O yet we trust that somehow good

g.

h.

i.

Will be the final goal of ill.-Tennyson.

To every man upon this earth

Death cometh soon or late.-Macaulay.

Where the sun begins his state.-Milton.

m. I am yours truly.

n. I am entirely of your opinion.

o. Is she not passing fair?—Two Gentlemen of Verona, iv. 4.

2. They shall go in and out and find pasture.-Psalms.

q. How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank.--M. of V.

r. He goes to and fro, twice a day, every other week.
8. Honour pricks me on.
when I come on? how then?
IV. Part I. v. 1.

Yea, but how if honour prick me off
Can honour set to a leg? No.-Henry

PREPOSITIONS.

104. Prepositions (from præ, before, and positus, placed) are so called because they are generally placed before a noun

1

The preposition is often placed at the end of adjective clauses and interrogative sentences, e.g.

This is the book that you were talking of.
Whom were you talking to?

or pronoun. They express some relation between a thing, or an action or an attribute, and some other thing, e.g.— The book on the table is yours.

I wrote on the table.

Hallam is good on constitutional history.

The preposition was originally prefixed to the verb, which it limited adverbially; it then came to be used independently; finally it was used with nouns and pronouns.

105. Prepositions may be classified according to the relations which they denote, as of time, place, reason, purpose, cause, &c., or according to their form, as into Simple and Compound.

The Simple Prepositions are at, by (O.E. be, bi=about), for, from, in, of, off (O.E. of=from, comp. Lat. ab), out (O.E. ût, comp. utter), on, through (O.E. thurh: comp. thyrel, a hole, drill; nostril-nose-thyrel, nose-hole), till, to, up, with.

The Compound Prepositions may be subdivided into

a. Those formed from comparatives, e.g. after (from af=of=from), over (from of), under (from in).

b. Those formed from other prepositions, e.g. abaft, about (from a=on+be+out), afore, before, behind, beneath, but (from be and out), into, throughout, underneath, until, unto, within, without, &c.

c. Those formed from nouns and adjectives, e.g. aboard (=on board), across (=on the cross), adown (=off the down=from the hill), among (=in the multitude, from O.E. gemang, an assembly), abreast, against (=on the opposite, O.E. gean=opposite), along (O.E. andlang), amid (=in the mid), anent (O.E. ongean, opposite; the g was probably sounded like y), around (=on the round), aslant (on the slant), astride (=on the stride), athwart (O.E. thweort, cross, oblique), below, beside, between (=by the two, comp. twain, twin, &c.), betwixt, since (M.E. sithens, from Ō.E. síth=late), ere (O.E. úr early), inside, outside.

d. Those formed from verbs, e.g. except, notwith

་

1 Comp. the Duke of Sutherland's motto, Touch not the cat but (i.e. without) the glove.'

standing, concerning, during, respecting, touching, saving,

save.

=

These may still be regarded as participles. Thus 'There was no one there save' John' There was no one there, John being saved or excepted. Notwithstanding my expostulation, he went home' = My expostulation not withstanding, he went home. During the fortnight he was very ill' The fortnight during (i.e. enduring, lasting) he was very ill. 'Saving your reverence, there was no one there'= I, saving your reverence, may say that no one, &c.

=

106. In addition to prepositions expressed by a single word we have a considerable number of prepositional phrases, e.g. abreast of, ahead of, in spite of, in place of, instead of, in lieu of, in behalf of, by dint of, for the sake of. These prepositional phrases may be parsed as such or resolved into their constituent parts.

When we come to inquire into the meaning of the prepositions, we find that they were almost invariably used to express first space, then time, then other relations. Comp. John stood by James (place).

I shall be there by six (time).
It was done by James (cause).

PARSING OF PREPOSITIONS.

107. In parsing a preposition it is enough to state-
1. The part of speech to which it belongs.

2. The syntactical relations between it and the rest of the sentence.

EXAMPLE.

The doctor whom you heard me speak of came with me to town.'

'Save' is used participally in the following passages, in which, it will be observed, it does not govern the following word :-There was no stranger in the house save we two' (i.e. we two being saved) (1 Kings iii. 18); When all slept sound save she' (i.e. she being saved) (Rogers, Italy, 108).