becomes their proper object, when taken as English prepositions; and in this also they appear to be alike. Worth, then, when it signifies value, is a common noun; but when it signifies equal in value to, it governs an objective, and has the usual characteristics of a preposition.  Instances may perhaps be found in which worth is an adjective, meaning valuable or useful, as in the following lines: 

   “They glow’d, and grew more intimate with God,
    More worth to men, more joyous to themselves.”
        —­Young, N. ix, l. 988.

In one instance, the poet Campbell appears to have used the word worthless as a preposition: 

   “Eyes a mutual soul confessing,
    Soon you’ll make them grow
    Dim, and worthless your possessing,
    Not with age, but woe!”

OBS. 10.—­After verbs of giving, paying, procuring, and some others, there is usually an ellipsis of to or for before the objective of the person; as, “Give [to] him water to drink.”—­“Buy [for] me a knife.”—­“Pay [to] them their wages.”  So in the exclamation, “Wo is me!” meaning, “Wo is to me!” This ellipsis occurs chiefly before the personal pronouns, and before such nouns as come between the verb and its direct object; as, “Whosoever killeth you, will think that he doeth [to] God service.”—­John, xvi, 2.  “Who brought [to] her masters much gain by soothsaying.”—­Acts, xvi, 16.  “Because he gave not [to] God the glory.”—­Ib., xii, 23.  “Give [to] me leave to allow [to] myself no respite from labour.”—­Spect., No. 454.  “And the sons of Joseph, which were born [to] him in Egypt, were two souls.”—­Gen., xlvi, 27.  This elliptical construction of a few objectives, is what remains to us of the ancient Saxon dative case.  If the order of the words be changed, the preposition must be inserted; as, “Pray do my service to his majesty.”—­Shak.  The doctrine inculcated by several of our grammarians, that, “Verbs of asking, giving, teaching, and some others, are often employed to govern two objectives,” (Wells, Sec.215,) I have, under a preceding rule, discountenanced; preferring the supposition, which appears to have greater weight of authority, as well as stronger support from reason, that, in the instances cited in proof of such government, a preposition is, in fact, understood.  Upon this question of ellipsis, depends, in all such instances, our manner of parsing one of the objective words.

OBS. 11.—­In dates, as they are usually written, there is much abbreviation; and several nouns of place and time are set down in the objective case, without the prepositions which govern them:  as, “New York, Wednesday, 20th October, 1830.”—­Journal of Literary Convention.  That is, “At New York, on Wednesday, the 20th day of October, in the year 1830.”