23.In several phrases, not yet to be accounted obsolete, this old preposition à still retains its place as a separate word; and none have been more perplexing to superficial grammarians, than those which are formed by using it before participles in ing; in which instances, the participles are in fact governed by it: for nothing is more common in our language, than for participles of this form to be governed by prepositions.

And Vossius derives the correspondent Latin preposition AD from the same source.

" That is to say, the German preposition auf was employed instead of an.

But in syntactical parsing, in which we are to omit the definitions, and state the construction, we ought to explain what terms the preposition connects, and to give a rule adapted to this office of the particle.

Adam simply remarks, "The plural is sometimes used after the preposition cum put for et; as, Remo cum fratre Quirinus jura dabunt.

A peculiar use of the preposition de, allied to, and possibly derived from, the partitive after a negative:

Is every thing that a preposition governs, necessarily supposed to have cases, and to be in the objective?

From these names, the term Preter, (which is from the Latin preposition præter, meaning beside, beyond, or past,) has been well dropped for the sake of brevity.

5.In some instances, prepositions precede adverbs; as, at once, at unawares, from thence, from above, till now, till very lately, for once, for ever.

This is as much as to say, it is etymologically the old Saxon preposition towhich, truly, it isthe very same word that, for a thousand years or more, has been used before nouns and pronouns to govern the objective case.