n
to this, I suppose that the preposition _to_ may take an _infinitive verb_
after it; that _about_ also may be a preposition, in the phrase, "_about to
write_;" that _about, above, after, against, by, for, from, in, of_, and
some other prepositions, may govern _participles_, as such; (i. e. without
making them nouns, or cases;) and, lastly, that after a preposition an
_adverb_ is sometimes construed substantively, and yet is indeclinable; as,
_for once, from afar, from above, at unawares_.

OBS. 2.--The writers just quoted, proceed to say: "When a _preposition does
not govern_ an objective case, it becomes an adverb; as, 'He rides
_about_.' But in such phrases as, _cast up, hold out, fall on_, the words
_up, out_, and _on_, must be considered as _a part_ of the _verb_, rather
than as prepositions or adverbs."--_Lennie's Prin. of E. Gram._, p. 50;
_Bullions's_, p. 59; _his Analyt. and P. Gram._, p. 109. Both these
sentences are erroneous: the one, more particularly so, in expression; the
other, in doctrine. As the preposition is chiefly distinguished by its
regimen, it is absurd to speak of it as governing nothing; yet it does not
always govern the objective case, for participles and infinitives have no
cases. _About, up, out_, and _on_, as here cited, are all of them
_adverbs_; and so are all other particles that thus qualify verbs, without
governing any thing. L. Murray grossly errs when ha assumes that, "The
distinct component parts of such phrases as, _to cast up, to fall on, to
bear oat, to give over, &c._, are _no guide_ to the sense of the whole."
Surely, "to cast _up_" is to cast _somehow_, though the meaning of the
phrase may be "_to compute_." By this author, and some others, all _such
adverbs_ are absurdly called _prepositions_, and are also as absurdly
declared to be _parts_ of the preceding verbs! See _Murray's Gram._, p.
117; _W. Allen's_, 179; _Kirkham's_, 95; _R. G. Smith's_, 93; _Fisk's_, 86;
_Butler's_, 63; _Wells's_, 146.

OBS. 3--In comparing the different English grammars now in use, we often
find the primary distinction of the parts of speech, and every thing that
depends upon it, greatly perplexed by the _fancied ellipses_, and _forced
constructions_, to which their authors resort. Thus Kirkham: "Prepositions
are sometimes erroneously called adverbs, when their nouns are understood.
'He rides _about_;' that is, about the _town, country_, or _something_
else. 'She was _near_ [the _act_ or _misfortu