Theocratic Aid To Kingdom Publishers

Lesson 26

PREPOSITIONS, CONJUNCTIONS, AND INTERJECTIONS

It has been learned that a word that limits a verb is an adverb, such as the word after. At Acts 21: 36: "For the multitude of the people followed after." In this sentence the word after is an adverb, because it limits the verb followed. But the word after is not always used to limit verbs, adjectives or other adverbs. Sometimes it is used to limit a noun (name) as, in after years. Since words that limit nouns are called adjectives, here the word after is used as an adjective. One does not have to use the word after alone in order to limit verbs and nouns; he can use after together with other words and make that whole group of words, or phrase, limit a noun or a verb. At Deuteronomy 6: 14 in the command, "Ye shall not go after other gods," the phrase after other gods limits the verb go; therefore

that phrase is used as an adverb. In the sentence, "The LORD hath sought him a man after his own heart" (1 Sam. 13:14), the phrase after his own heart is used to limit the noun man; therefore it is used as an adjective. In both of these phrases the word after is used not only to show the relation of the man David to God's heart and the relation between the Israelites' going and the demon gods, but also to connect the noun heart to the noun man and the noun gods to the verb go. In these two uses the after is a preposition. Therefore prepositions, in addition to denoting relation, also connect a noun (such as gods or heart) to a verb (such as go) or another noun (such as man). Prepositions may denote many different kinds of relations:

1. POSITION. "And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven." (Gen. 1: 14) Here "in the firmament" shows the position of the lights. In is a preposition here.

2. DIRECTION. "And their border went up toward the sea." The phrase "toward the sea" denotes the direction in which the border or boundary of the tribe of Zebulun went. (Josh. 19:10,11) Toward is a preposition here.

3. TIME. "And Samson . . . arose at midnight." (Judg. 16: 3) The phrase "at midnight" denotes the time at which Samson arose. At is a preposition here.

4. ORIGIN. "I saw among the spoil a goodly mantle of Shinar." (Josh. 7:21, A.S.V., margin) The phrase "of Shinar" denotes the origin of the religious mantle which Achan coveted and took. Of is a preposition here.

5. DEPENDENCE. "In him [Jehovah] we live, and move, and exist." The phrase "in him" denotes that we are absolutely dependent upon Jehovah. (Acts 17:28, Emph. Diag.) In is a preposition and connects the pronoun him to the verbs move, live, and exist.

Thus it is seen that prepositions not only connect nouns or pronouns to some other word in the sentence (such as a verb, noun, or almost any other) but they also denote position, direction, time, origin, dependence, or some other

abstract relation (as shown in the first two examples quoted from Deuteronomy 6: 14 and 1 Samuel 13: 14). But the word a preposition may connect to some other word in the sentence is not limited to a noun or a pronoun. A preposition may connect any equivalent of a noun to some other word in the sentence. If instead of saying, "ask for a blessing," one uses an equivalent of the noun blessing, the word for will still be used as a preposition in such a sentence. The words of Jesus to his disciples (John 15: 7, Goodspeed) illustrates this: "Ask for whatever you please and you shall have it." Here the preposition for, in addition to showing the relation of the noun equivalent, whatever you please, to the verb ask, also connects the two. A preposition, therefore, is a word which in addition to denoting some relation, also connects a noun, a pronoun or some other equivalent of a noun (sometimes called a substantive) to some other word in a sentence.

However, prepositions are not the only connecting words. Conjunctions are words used to join words, phrases, clauses, sentences, and paragraphs. "Conjunction" is derived from the Latin word conjunctus, basically meaning "joined with". Conjunctions are of two kinds, coordinating and subordinating. Such coordinating conjunctions as and, but, or, may be distinguished from prepositions because these conjunctions merely connect or join, while prepositions, in addition to that, also show relation. The word after, which we have seen can be used as an adjective, adverb, or preposition, may be used also as a conjunction: "The hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven." (Judg. 16:22) Here the conjunction after connects the clause "he was shaven" to the clause "the hair of his head began to grow". At Ruth 2:3 the conjunction and joins the verbs went, came, and gleaned: "She went, and came, and gleaned." At Zechariah 4: 6 the conjunctions nor and but connect phrases: "Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts." At Isaiah 27: 4, 5 the conjunction or is used to connect two sen-

tences: "Fury is not in me: who would set the briers and thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together. Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me." 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5 contains two paragraphs connected by the conjunction but:

"Now, brothers, pray for us, that the Lord's message may spread rapidly and gloriously as it did among you, and that we may be saved from unjust and wicked men; for not everybody has faith.

"But the Lord is to be relied on, and he will give you strength and protect you from the evil one. We have faith in you through the Lord that you are doing and will keep doing what we direct you to do. May the Lord guide your hearts into a sense of God's love and into a steadfastness like Christ's." —Goodspeed.

A subordinating conjunction joins clauses of unequal rank, that is, a principal clause with a subordinate clause. For example: "We shall live, if we keep integrity." "We shall live" is the principal or independent clause; "if we keep integrity" is the subordinate or dependent clause of condition, performing the function of an adverb, modifying "live". The conjunction "if" does not modify any word, but joins one clause with the other. The principal subordinating conjunctions are if, unless, because, since, for, and as. These introduce clauses of cause, condition and evidence and join them with other clauses.

When a baby says "Goo-goo" or "Da-da" it is uttering an interjection. Interjections do not even have to be real words at all. They can be nothing more than cries indicating some feeling, emotion, or passion, such as pleasure, joy, grief, astonishment, anger. In uttering such interjections one frequently uses sounds that cannot be shown correctly in writing. Some such interjections are: Sh! Pooh! Ah! Ha! Whew! Oh! Bah! Pst! Ouch! Ugh! Imitations of the cries of animals are also interjections: Meow! Mew! Bow-

wow! Interjections may be imitations of noises made by inanimate things: Bang! Wham! Boom! etc.

Interjections have yet another use, that of emphasizing what one says. But some persons use interjections so often in their speaking that the interjections mean practically nothing; they do not even give emphasis to what such persons say. Usually interjections have no grammatical connection with the rest of the sentence (if it is used in a sentence). Their name indicates this. Coming from the Latin word interjectus, meaning "throw between", interjections are literally thrown in anywhere, thrown between any thoughts. As the spirit or impulse moves one, interjections are "interjected", as it were, into the stream of conversation or discourse. Sometimes they are very necessary to the meaning. (See Psalm 81:13) Words that ordinarily are used as verbs, adjectives, etc., may be used as interjections: Behold! Good! An interjection may also be an abbreviation of a phrase or a sentence: Good-bye! (God be with you!) Adieu! (I commend you to God!) Farewell! (Fare you well!) Amen! (So be it!).

Hence interjections are words used to express feeling or emotion or for the sake of emphasis; or they may be mere cries or imitations of cries or noises, uttered emphatically.