ARTICLE. The omitted after prepositions
The is also omitted after prepositions in adverbial phrases.; T. of Sh. iv. 1. 125.“At door.
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“At palace.
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“At height.
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“Ere I went to wars.
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“To cabin.
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“The grace 'fore meat and the thanks at end.
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i.e. "in the presence-chamber."“You were in presence then.
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“And milk comes frozen home in pail.
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“With spectacles on nose and pouch on side.
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“This day was viewed in open as his queen.
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“He foam'd at mouth.
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“Exeunt in manner as they entered.” Ib. ii. 4. 242.“Sticks me at heart.
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And with adjectives:“Than pard or cat-o'-mountain.
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“In humblest manner.
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"In pail" is as justifiable as "in bed," except that the former, not being so common as the latter, has not the same claim to the adverbial brevity which dispensed with the article. Both are adverbial phrases, one of which has been accepted, the other rejected. Thus in“In first rank.
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"to-west" is as much an adverb as "west-ward." Sometimes a possessive adjective is thus omitted:“Stealing unseen to west with this disgrace.
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So in E. E. "a-knee." Compare our "I have at hand." Perhaps this may explain the omission of "the" after "at" in“Not Priamus and Hecuba on knees.
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where "at first" is not opposed to "afterwards" (as it is with us), but means "at the first," or rather "from the first," "at once." The omission of "the" in“We are familiar at first.
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is in accordance with our idiom, "one another" and "each other." On the other hand, where "the" is emphatic, meaning "that" or "the right," it is sometimes inserted before "one."“On one and other side Trojan and Greek
Sets all on hazard.
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“Morocco. How shall I know if I do choose the right?
Portia. The one of them contains my picture, prince.
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