We
do below all that we think it prudent or profitable to do with them. He
should he a man of wide and careful reading who assumes to teach pupils
that such prepositions, and such only, should be used with certain words.
Nowhere in grammar is dogmatism more dangerous than here. That grammarian
exceeds his commission who marks out for the pupils' feet a path narrower
than the highway which the usage of the best writers and speakers has cast
up. [Footnote: Take a single illustration. Grammarians, in general, teach
that _between_ and _betwixt_ "refer to two," are used "only when two things
or sets of things are referred to." Ordinarily, and while clinging to their
derivation, they are so used, but are they always, and must they be? "There
was a hunting match agreed upon betwixt a lion, an ass, and a fox."--
_L'Estrange_. "A Triple Alliance between England, Holland, and Sweden."--
_J. B. Green_. "In the vacant space between Persia, Syria, Egypt, and
Ethiopia."--_Gibbon_. "His flight between the several worlds."--_Addison_.
"The identity of form between the nominative, accusative, and vocative
cases in the neuter." --_G. P. Marsh_. "The distinction between these three
orders has been well expressed by Prof. Max Mueller."--_W. D. Whitney_.
Pages:
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278