The Orangeburg democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1879-1881, 1879-10-10
EDUCATIONAL COLUMN.
All communications intended for this column
ehnnh' " addressed To J. Il. on. HOLLOWAY,
Esq, who has kindly consented to edit it.
M. Editor /:

Can worth be considered II prcr-
fosition? Yes, by considerable
stretch Of the Imagination but not
otherwise. The sentence is clliplical.
The only proper way to deal with
snch is to supply the omissions.
Then We have, "That knife is Of the
value Of one dollar Substitute
"worth" for "of the value Of" and we
,have, "That knife is worth one dol
lar" Now, because worth seems to-
he substituted for phrase lcginn ne
and ending with proposition, some
grammarians, taking the very broad
est view Of the subject, have consider
ell it 4 proposition. But perhaps in
juliciously. "lIc is of q well. thought
of family" In this sent cnce, "ol Il
,wcll-thought off, may, it is true, b'
considered q proposition; but it
would be considered very injnhicions
to do so, except in The highest d.
partmcnts Of parsing, in which, hay.
ing ourself for yeaIs practiccd ii, W,
are prepared highly to recommend il
as finishing touch to, but only in con
neXion with, the analytical method.
The same may be said Of all suc|.
phrases, OF which there are thousands.
Ave should not, however, derive tic
impression, that every prcpositional
phrase ending with 4 proposition
makes its substitute n proposition.
1t is only when the whole phrase has.
by q long and Uniform usage bccomr
single word, as it were, that this
becomes the case. sp;tc-or' wilt
substitute "maugrc," will Illustrate our
meaning. In the phrase, "Uf the valUc
Of" this is certainly not the case. In
all such, Two clements reside,
one, an abdominal &and The Ctllcr, a
prcpositional. If then, VIC are unwll-
ing to supply the omissions, and We
cannot avoid their supplying in many
cases that need not be mentioned, We
should endcavor to discover which
one of these elements plcdominatc>
in the phrase, and parse the subsli
tute accordingly. Now, clearly and
beyond all discussion, the adnomnal
element prevails in the phrase, sol
the value Of" This appears from
the fact, that the latter SCI" may DC
omitted without the slightest modiG-
cation Of, or injury TO the meaning ;
as we'll as from various other facts
deemed unnecessary to be mentioned.
"Worth" should, therefore, be parsed
ordinarily as an adjective.
And now, with your permission, in
concluding, which shall We use "Thc
rat is eating, (or being caten?''
d. 3. B.,
Pomaiia, S. G.
IT is owing altogether whether VIC
are seating the rat," or the ''rat is
ealing" us rs to which expression
we would use. Our correspondent
knows that grammarians differ in the
use Of this "Progrcssivc Form Of the
verb, and the parlicip c i'll Sing" used
in a passive sense. Some OF the vcry
best authorities, and numerous wri-
tcrs and orators Of the best rcputa-
lion favor such expressions rs "Thc
house is building" ''An attempt is
naking," and the like. We oursclr
incline that way, hut IN sentences
where an ambiguity or awkwardncsa
is likely 10 arise, We prefer using
some equivalent expression chat will
clearly indicate our meaning. What
does I'D. 3. B." think?
A NDEf. thnsr u hn yrcn;,pl fret