MISCELLANEOUS PREPOSITIONS
316. Against implies opposition, sometimes place where. In
colloquial English it is sometimes used to express time, now and then
also in literary English; for example,--
She contrived to fit up the baby's cradle for me _against_
night.--SWIFT
About, and the participial prepositions concerning, respecting,
regarding, mean _with reference to_.
[Sidenote: _Phrase prepositions._]
317. Many phrases are used as single prepositions:
_by means of_,
_by virtue of_,
_by help of_,
_by dint of_,
_by force of_;
_out of_,
_on account of_,
_by way of_,
_for the sake of_;
_in consideration of_,
_in spite of_,
_in defiance of_,
_instead of_,
_in view of_,
_in place of_;
_with respect to_,
_with regard to_, _according to_,
_agreeably to_; and some others.
318. Besides all these, there are some prepositions that have so
many meanings that they require separate and careful treatment:
_on_(_upon_),
_at_,
_by_,
_for_,
_from_,
_of_,
_to_,
_with_.
No attempt will be made to give _all_ the meanings that each one in
this list has: the purpose is to stimulate observation, and to show
how useful prepositions really are.
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