LET'S SPEAK ENGLISH:
Broadcast: Monday, June 12, 1939 at 9:00 PM

Second Talk of New Series - Prepositions

I. Definition of preposition

II. Difference in meaning of somewhat similar prepositions:
a) Since and For
b) Above and Over.

III. The effect of using the same preposition in different places in the same sentence:
a) To look over a letter / To overlook a letter.
b) To tum out a good man / To turn a good man out.

IV.The effect of using different prepositions with the same verb a) To call On, For and To
b) To look For, After, At and Out
c) To live By, For, On and Beyond.

TRANSCRIPT: SECOND TALK - PREPOSITIONS

Prepositions are horrid things, like little dogs, all different breeds and colours. They're always getting between your feet and tripping you up.

A preposition expresses relationship. If you see a girl with blue eyes, the word 'with' is a preposition. It shows the relation between the girl and her blue. eyes. If you go out for a walk with the girl, the word 'with' shows the relation between you and the girl. If you go out with her often enough she may even become your relation.

Let's take the simple prepositions SINCE and FOR. Both are connected with time. I've been in the Broadcasting Studio this evening since half past eight. But I've been in Palestine for twenty years.

'Since' is used when you're talking about a definite point of time. 'Since half past eight'. 'For' is used when you're talking about a period of time. So I say I've been in Palestine for twenty years, not 'since twenty years'.

I've had many jobs in Palestine during these twenty years. The most successful, apparently, has been that of President of the Brighter English League. Probably because you can hear me and not see me. But we're not accustomed yet to hearing people without seeing them. Our brains have not adapted themselves to new inventions like the telephone and the wireless. So when one of the most popular B.B.C. announcers in London was advertised to appear at a public meeting, thousands of people came to see the man whose voice they knew so well. And how disappointed they were when they saw that those rich, soft phrases came from an insignificant little fellow with weak eyes!

Now, another pair of somewhat similar prepositions are OVER and ABOVE. They mean much the same thing, but each has its own use. 'Above' means 'higher than'. For example, you can say, 'a captain's rank is one degree above that of a lieutenant'. You can't say his rank is one degree over that of a lieutenant. And if you don't quite know what is his rank, you'd better call him Major: he won't object.

Sometimes, however, 'above' means the same thing' as 'over'. If you feel hungry when you're out for a walk you look for a pastry cook's or confectioner's. You know, the place all our German friends call a Konditorei, where you can get Baumkuchen and Apfelstrudel. The name of the confectioner is painted above the shop. Or you can say equally correctly that his name is painted over the shop.

But 'over' can also mean going to the other side. For example, 'He climbed over the wall.' It doesn't mean he climbed up and stayed above the wall, like the sign over the pastry cook's. It means he climbed up one side of the wall and down the other side. To climb over the wall is a useful phrase to remember in case you ever find yourself in prison.

The preposition 'over' also has a third meaning, that of authority.

If you say the chairman presided over the meeting, you don't mean he floated about in the air above the meeting, but that he was in charge of the proceedings.

In the same way, you can say that the High Commissioner in Palestine presides over the Executive Council. If you're one of those people who like writing petitions to the High Commissioner, be careful to address him by his correct title. You don't address him as 'His Majesty' which is reserved for the King. Nor should you address him as 'His Highness' which is reserved for foreign princes, like His Highness the Amir of Trans-Jordan. The correct title is His Excellency the High Commissioner. Nevertheless, I once saw a letter addressed to Lord Plumer as The Most Honourable Highness the High Commissioner Esq.

I've also seen the bill sent to the first High Commissioner by the hairdresser who went regularly to Government House to cut his hair. The hairdresser also cut the hair of one of his sons, then quite a young boy. At the end of the month the hairdresser didn't quite know how to write out the bill, so he put, "To cutting the hair of His Majesty; fifty piastres: to cutting the hair of His Small Majesty; twenty-five piastres."

A fourth use of the word 'over' is in the sense of passage. 'He sailed over the sea' . To sail over the sea means to cross from one side of the sea to the other. You can sail over the Atlantic Ocean or over the Pacific Ocean. An American child was once asked what the word 'Specific meant. He said, "The other ocean".

Now, you shouldn't end a sentence with a preposition. So you should say 'A preposition is a word with which you shouldn't end a sentence.' If you say, 'A preposition is a word you shouldn't end a sentence with,' you'll be making the very mistake you're trying to correct.

There are some sentences which have quite different meanings according to the place occupied by the preposition. To OVERLOOK a letter is not at all the same as to LOOK OVER a letter. It's my duty in the office to look over the letters written by our clerks. I have to see that the English is correct before the letters are typed. The trouble with most of the letters is that they're written in commercial English. Some of the phrases almost make me scream. For example: 'Kindly forward same as per following address.' In correct English you should say, 'Please send it to this address'. 'Please' is just as good as 'Kindly'. 'Send' and 'it' are shorter than 'forward' and 'the same'. Similarly, 'as per' and 'following' are not nearly as simple as 'to' and 'this'. Can't you feel how much neater is 'Please send it to this address' than 'Kindly forward same as per following address' ?

That's what I have to correct when I look over letters. But if I overlook letters, it means just the opposite: that I pay no attention to them and neglect them. If I overlook letters I'm being careless instead of careful.

Of course, there are lots of letters that ought to be overlooked : those unimportant, uninteresting or complicated letters that you feel you really can't be bothered with and would prefer to answer tomorrow when you're feeling a little stronger. I have a special way of dealing with such letters. I first put them in a drawer, unanswered. Six months later, I pull them out, and you'd be surprised to see how many have already answered themselves. The questions they raised have all been settled by someone else long ago. Oh ! It's a great art knowing how to overlook letters,much greater than knowing how to look over letters.

There's a difference, too, between to TURN OUT a good man and to TURN a good man OUT.

To turn out a good man means to produce a fine type of man, a useful man, not necessarily a moral man. The old public schools of England, like Eton and Harrow, try to turn out good men. Do you know the story of the Jewish father from New York who sent his son to one of these schools in England ? The headmaster said, in a very aristocratic voice, "I can assure you, my dear Sir, that at the end of six months, your son will have a perfect English accent." So when the father came back after six months and asked, "How goes it by de English of my boy? ", the Headmaster said, "Joost poifect ! " So as far as English was concerned, the school didn't succeed in this case in turning out a good man.

They didn't go, however, as far as dismissing the young man. That would have been turning a good man out.

I sometimes have to turn a good man out of my office. Once an old Arab came to see me and begged me to give him some money because he was so poor. I said the Government couldn't help him. Then he said he had five children and twenty grand-children: I said the Government still couldn't help him. He stroked his white beard and then said perhaps I would take pity on him because he was a lonely orphan.

Now there are several verbs in English each of which can be used with a number of different prepositions. For example, you can CALL ON a lady, FOR a lady or TO a lady.

You start by calling on a lady at tea time. That means you ring the bell and are told by the maid that the lady's out. Nevertheless you know she's at home because you can see her on the balcony in a kimono. So you leave your visiting card like a perfect gentleman and go home hot and tired and thirsty.

But she, being a perfect lady, returns your call and rings the bell just when you're having a bath and can't go and open the front door.

Still, you do meet her at last and arrange to take her to the movies. So you call for her. You're so afraid of being late that you arrive at her house much too early and get to the cinema while they're still sweeping up the dust from the afternoon performance.

Nevertheless she forgives you and you're allowed to call for her again. This time, you're not so formal, so you sit in your car and call to her. As she doesn't come immediately, you play her a serenade on the hooter. That's just what all the neighbours love. You don't mind, for you're getting on well: you're already advanced from calling on her, to calling for her and, now, calling to her. Soon you'll just be calling her. What ? Well, perhaps 'darling'. Who knows? But you don't need me to teach you that.

Then there's the verb 'to look'. This can also be used with different prepositions. You can look FOR, look AFTER, look AT and look OUT.

If you look for someone, it means you're searching for him. I know you are looking for a handsome young man. You want to find one. And why do you look for a handsome young man ? Because you want someone to look after you. To look after you means to care for you, protect you, pay your bills and admire your new hats. And what if the handsome young man should look at some other girl's new hats? Perhaps he'll like them better than yours. But he'd better not. He'd better look out. That means he ought to be very careful. For if he admires anyone else's hats, you'll just tear his eyes out. I know you.

To look out can also mean to put your head out. It's important not to confuse the two meanings, especially when you're in a ship on a stormy sea. If you're in the lower berth and the man in the upper berth is feeling sick and says, "Look out!" don't put your head out.

Now we come to the verb 'to live'. You can live BY, live FOR, live ON and live BEYOND. Mr. Live does see life, doesn't he? He's a very popular verb and takes out a different preposition every evening. You see how romantic life can be among the prepositions?

You can say you live by giving Hebrew lessons. That's what all the Palestinian students do when they're studying at the London University. There are so many of them that the whole population of London now speaks Hebrew fluently.

Perhaps it would have been better if some of those Hebrew lessons were given in Palestine. There are many German immigrants who still don't know the difference between the world adonai meaning 'God'; and the word adoni, meaning 'mister'. One German immigrant even went as far as to say, "Don't call me Doctor; don't call me Professor; just call me plain Adonai."

Some people live by working : others live for art. That means that they're idealists who devote their whole life to music and painting. To live for art is not a very profitable profession. As a matter of fact, you may, as well admit that an artist often has to live on nothing at all. If you try to live on nothing abroad, you'll soon be dead. But in Palestine if you have nothing to live on, you can still live very comfortably. Here, every-one always lives beyond his means. If you earn two hundred pounds a year and spend three hundred you're living beyond your means.

In Palestine, if you're bankrupt, the first thing you do is to go to buy a new wireless set. The wireless dealer knows you can't pay. But think how pleased the butcher is, and the baker, to see you becoming so prosperous again. They begin to hope you may soon pay their bills.

So you needn't worry if you're living beyond your means in Palestine. You're just being a true Palestinian. If you've been two years in the country and speak Hebrew, you can become a Palestinian citizen - provided you've got a deficit. No-one with any self respect can ever do without one. I can't, nor can you. So good night.