If the preposition is introduced by the substantive verb alone as the first word of the predicate, it will possess the syntax of a participle agreeing with the nominative which precedes. Sub w;11 have the regimen of subjacens or sub junctus. In will approach to the participle habitans or in ciusus, though more general in the idea which it conveys. " Out of," when used in such a sentence as " He is out of town," will also have the power of a participle, though we cannot name any word in that form to which, with respect to generality, it makes any approach. This cannot always be expected. If the office of a preposition were to be performed with equal advantage by the gerund or partici ple of a verb in present use, there would be in some re spects no occasion for the prepositions themselves.
Here we trace the peculiarities of this part of speech. It is usually more general than any other to which it is al lied. It is marked by a peculiar brevity, and by the ab sence of inflexion. Without the formality of significant terminations, prepositions possess all their force. They thus correspond to the rapidity of human thought, and to the subordinate rank of the ideas which they convey. They have been called the pegs and nails of language. This account of them is severely censured by Mr Tooke, and is inaccurate when intended to intimate that they dif fer from other words in not expressing ideas. Yet it is certainly trite that the ideas which they express might of ten be left to be inferred from the other words of the sen tence. They are not the central ideas in discourse. The preposition secundum, to," implies all the ideas expressed by the noun " harmony" or agree ment ;" the word " from" thouc cxpeps&pri by the noon " beginning;" " above" those of the noun " top ;" "below" those of the noun" bottom." But such ideas are never interesting on account of any general properties of their own. We never have occasion to write dissertations on " tops," 44 mediums," " beginnings," " endings," " out sides," or " insidt.s." Yet the frequent recurrence and consequent familiarity of these ideas, together with their subordinate character, render it desirable for us to express them with rapidity, by endowing them with all possible brevity of form. Words possessing this character render language copious and minute without incumbrance. They are the E'vrtot Irreectvrot, the winged words, of discourse. Whether we consider them as always derived from other parts of speech of greater length, which a large propor tion of them undoubtedly is, or suppose it possible that they have occasionally consisted of syllables thrown in at random, and afterwards adhered to as significant, in the same manner as almost all original words must have been produced, we see, in their general form and application, their excellent adaptation to the completion of language.
THE Sentential Preposition is a sort of words generally numbered among conjunctions, and forming in elementary grammars more than one half of that list. But the con junctions, as thus classified, are not susceptible of any com mon definition ; and this proceeds not merely from their coincidence in use with words of a different kind, but from their dissimilarity to one another. That this disadvantage may be diminished, if not entirely remedied, we here give a separate consideration to those words which have the power of introducing subjoined sentences in the same manner as the words called prepositions have with respect to nouns. We denominate them sentential prepositions, in contradistinction to the others, to which we have given the designation of nominal. In some instances the same word serves for a preposition of both kinds. " After" is a no minal preposition in the phrase " after dinner," and a sen tential preposition in the phrase " after we have dined."
In other instances the word employed as a nominal prepo sition undergoes some slight alteration, or receives some addition, to distinguish its application as a sentential pre position. The Latin cum, (" with,") sometimes retains the same form when used for subjoining a sentence, and some times is transformed into quunz. Ante and post arc con verted into antequam and pestquam.
The nature of the general sentential preposition "that" in English, and quod and ut in Latin, has been already dis cussed. Guam is another, like these, of very general meaning. It is sometimes translated " as," sometimes " than." It then performs the part of a relative, and has the same relation to an antecedent adverb which the rela tive noun has to the noun antecedent. Quanz has the same relation to tam as qui has to ille. Tanquam, from tam and quam, may be called a sentential preposition, but it differs from quanz in being more particular, as including the ante cedent adverb. Of this last kind are also the sentential pre positions antequam and postquam. Ante and post are used adverbially, and the Roman authors often disjoin them from the subsequent guam ; as, ANTE autem hue venerat quit sperdssem. It might appear that guam should be considered as giving the subjoined sentence the character of a noun, and the word ante or post as a preposition go verning or introducing it in that state. It is however more agreeable to the analogy of language to consider ante and post as adverbs, and the compound words atztequam and postquam as synonymous with anteaquam and posteaquant, formed from the adverbs antes and postea. Adverbs in general might be resolved into nouns in the ablative case ; and a special sentential preposition, or one which implies the meaning of an antecedent adverb, would, on this prin ciple, be resolved into the ablative of an antecedent noun and that of the relative. ?ntequam is equivalent to tem pore ANTERIORE jilt tempori quo. Ut is also used as a re lative ; sic is often its antecedent when it introduces the indicative mood, and ita when it introduces the subjunctive. Ut has sometimes in itself the force of sicut or of ita ut, and, when no antecedent adverb is expressed, may always be considered as implying by ellipsis the meaning of one. The sentential prepositions dum and quum have the same relatien to tum ; '' when," "while," and where," to the adverbs " then" and " there." The resemblance and near relation subsisting betwixt " when," and the adverb " then," have led many grammarians to give to both the common designation of adverbs. Postquanz, antequam, and other analogous words, have also been denominated adverbs ; and thus the whole of this part of grammar has been in volved in confusion : but we shall sec the difference clear ly if we recollect that the words now mentioned are not attached to verbs to modify their meaning, or exhibit in themselves any concomitant circumstance, but to introduce a subjoined sentence. The word " as" is used both for an antecedent adverb, and a sentential preposition. It is an adverb in the phrases "as good," "as soon," and a sen tential preposition after the adverb "so," " He did not come so soon as I expected." All special sentential pre positions might be resolved by an analysis similar to that which we have given of ut and antequam. We have not antecedents in the form of adverbs for them all, but we may express them by ablatives of nouns or of gerunds. Si," if," implies the meaning of ea conditione, eo casu, or suppozzendo. Quanquam, etiamsi, etsi, " though," " al though," (words of nearly the same meaning with si, and differing slightly in the occasions of their application,) im ply the force of concesso or concedendo.