A negative sentence is the reverse of the corresponding affirmation. Yet there is no general difference of charac ter betwixt affirmations and negations. Affirmations are often as directly opposite to each other as to negations. e' He is without," and "he is within," are directly con trary. Many assei wins can be made equally well in the negative and in the affirmative form. " He is at home" is an affirmative sentence, and the same idea is expressed by these negations, " He is not from home," and " He is no where but at home," Of Prepositions.
of opinion have been entertained on the nature of Prepositions. it is easy to give a character which will apply to them all ; but it has been found diffi cult to give one which will apply to them exclusively. Mr Tooke has been considered by some as solving every diffi culty, by pronouncing them abbreviations of nouns or verbs. This author shews that many of them are of the same na ture with some of those words which are called conjunc tions, and considers that circumstance as proving the in accuracy of this instance of grammatical distinction. In
so far as the idea expressed has been represented as a ground of distinction, this author is correct. But when we abandon that system, and take the circumstances of syntax as the foundation of our classifications of words, we shall find that some distinctions which were formerly im properly accounted for are referable to satisfactory data.
The classification of the short words called particles appears to us defective, and we shall in the present in stance introduce a slight variation from the common usages of grammarians. We shall apply the term preposition to a more extensive genus than our predecessors have done, by including under it some words hitherto called conjunc tions. Those words which are usually called prepositions, we distinguish by the appellation of Nominal prepositions, because they are introductory to nouns ; and the others by that of Sentential prepositions, because they are introduc tory to sentences.