“REM. 6.—­The passive voice of a verb is sometimes used in connection with a preposition, forming a compound passive verb; as ’He was listened to.’—­’Nor is this to be scoffed at.’—­’This is a tendency to be guarded against.’—­’A bitter persecution was carried on.’—­Hallam.”—­ Ib., p. 155, Sec. 215.  The words here called “prepositions,” are adverbs.  Prepositions they cannot be; because they have no subsequent term.  Nor is it either necessary or proper, to call them parts of the verb:  “was carried on,” is no more a “compound verb,” than “was carried off,” or “was carried forward,” and the like.

“REM. 7.—­Idiomatic expressions sometimes occur in which a noun in the objective is preceded by a passive verb, and followed by a preposition used adverbially.  EXAMPLES:  ’Vocal and instrumental music were made use of.’—­Addison.  ’The third, fourth, and fifth, were taken possession of at half past eight.”—­Southey.  ’The Pinta was soon lost sight of in the darkness of the night.’—­Irving.”—­Ib., p. 155, Sec. 215.  As it is by the manner of their use, that we distinguish prepositions and adverbs, it seems no more proper to speak of “a preposition used adverbially,” than of “an adverb used prepositionally.”  But even if the former phrase is right and the thing conceivable, here is no instance of it; for “of” here modifies no verb, adjective, or adverb.  The construction is an unparsable synchysis, a vile snarl, which no grammarian should hesitate to condemn.  These examples may each be corrected in several ways:  1.  Say—­“were used;”—­“were taken into possession;”—­“was soon lost from sight.” 2.  Say—­“They made use of music, both vocal and instrumental.”—­“Of the third, the fourth, and the fifth, they took possession at half past eight.”—­“Of the Pinta they soon list sight,” &c. 3.  Say—­“Use was also made of both vocal and instrumental music.”—­“Possession of the third, the fourth, and the fifth, was taken at half past eight.”—­“The Pinta soon disappeared in the darkness of the night.”  Here again, Wells puzzles his pupil, with a note which half justifies and half condemns the awkward usage in question.  See School Gram., 1st Ed., p. 147; 3d Ed., 156; late Ed., Sec. 215.

“REM. 8.—­There are some verbs which may be used either transitively or intransitively; as, ‘He will return in a week,’ ’He will return the book.’”—­Ib., p. 147; 156; &c.  According to Dr. Johnson, this is true of “most verbs,” and Lindley Murray asserts it of “many.”  There are, I think, but few which may not, in some phraseology or other, be used both ways.  Hence the rule, “Transitive verbs govern the objective case,” or, as Wells now has it, “Transitive verbs, in the active voice, govern the objective case,” (Sec. 215,) rests only upon a distinction which itself creates, between transitives and intransitives; and therefore it amounts to little.