§ 500. _From whence_, _from thence_.--This is an expression which, if it have not taken root in our language, is likely to do so. It is an instance of excess of expression in the way of syntax; the -ce denoting direction _from_ a place, and the preposition doing the same. It is not so important to determine what this construction _is_, as to suggest what it is _not_. It is _not_ an instance of an adverb governed by a preposition. If the two words be dealt with as logically separate, _whence_ (or _thence_) must be a noun = _which place_ (or _that place_); just as _from then till now_ = _from that time to this_. But if (which is the better view) the two words be dealt with as one (i.e., as an improper compound) the preposition _from_ has lost its natural power, and become the element of an adverb. * * * * * CHAPTER XXV. ON PREPOSITIONS. § 501. All prepositions govern an oblique case. If a word ceases to do this, it ceases to be a preposition. In the first of the two following sentences the word _up_ is a preposition, in the second an adverb. 1. _I climbed up the tree._ 2. _I climbed up._ All prepositions in English, precede the noun which they govern. _I climbed up the tree_, never _I climbed the tree up_. This is a matter not of government, but of collocation. It is the case in most languages; and, from the frequency of its occurrence, the term _pre-position_ (or _pre-fix_) has originated. Nevertheless, it is by no means a philological necessity. In many languages the prepositions are_ post-positive_, following their noun. § 502. No preposition, in the present English, governs a genitive case. This remark is made, because expressions like the _part of the body = pars corporis,--a piece of the bread = portio panis_, make it appear as if the preposition _of_ did so. The true expression is, that the preposition _of_ followed by an objective case is equivalent in many instances, to the genitive case of the classical languages. * * * * * CHAPTER XXVI. ON CONJUNCTIONS. § 503. A conjunction is a part of speech which connects _propositions_,--_the day is bright_, is one proposition. _The sun shines_, is another. _The day is bright_ because _the sun shines_ is a pair of propositions connected by the conjunction, _because_. From this it follows, that whenever there is a conjunction, there are two subjects, two copulas, and two predicates: i.e., two propositions in all their parts. But this may be expressed compendiously. _The sun shines, and the moon shines_ may be expressed by the _sun and moon shine_. Nevertheless, however compendious may be the expression, there are always two propositions wherever there is one conjunction. A part of speech that merely combines two words is a preposition,--_the sun along with the moon shines_. It is highly important to remember that conjunctions connect propositions.