The 3d, 4th, and 5th examples, are generally
considered anomalies; but if we supply, as we are, perhaps, warranted in
doing, the associated words which modern refinement has dropped, they
will cease to be anomalies; thus, "My knife is _of the_ worth _of_ a
shilling;" "--_of the_ worth _of_ him," &c. "He has been there _for_
three times;" as we say, "I was unwell _for_ three days, after I
arrived;" or, "I was unwell three days." Thus it appears, that by
tracing back, _for_ a few centuries, what the merely modern English
scholar supposes to be an anomaly, an ellipsis will frequently be
discovered, which, when supplied, destroys the anomaly.
On extreme points, and peculiar and varying constructions in a living
language, the most able philologists can never be agreed; because many
usages will always be unsettled and fluctuating, and will, consequently,
be disposed of according to the caprice of the grammarian. By some, a
sentence may be treated as an anomaly; by others who contend for, and
supply, an ellipsis, the same sentence may be analyzed according to the
ellipsis supplied; whilst others, who deny both the elliptical and
anomalous character of the sentence, construct a rule by which to
analyze it, which rule has for its foundation the principle contained in
that sentence only.
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