I am reading Frankenstein and came across this sentence,
I cleared their path from snow.
and I think it should be
I cleared the snow from their path.
So please, which one is it?
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2Your edition may have a typo. The Gutenberg copy of Frankenstein has "I cleared their path from the snow," which is marginally more grammatically than the version in the OP.– Peter ShorCommented Aug 8 at 15:52
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3This seems like an archaic construction to me. Now we would say "cleared their path of snow."– BarmarCommented Aug 8 at 16:04
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I only found one online copy without the article as flagged up by @PeterShor. I can't easily describe why including the makes from less "unusual" - it may just be because including the article makes the text seem more "dated", and thus we might expect the older style of preposition choice.– FumbleFingersCommented Aug 8 at 17:43
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I've found 'an attempt to rid it from bugs' (for 'an attempt to rid it of bugs'), but this sense is rare. Usually 'rid X from Y' means 'get all traces of X out of Y', so 'rid bugs from the system'. // With 'clear I'd say this is unidiomatic nowadays. Your suggestion is correct.– Edwin AshworthCommented Aug 8 at 18:06
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From: used as a function word to indicate physical separation or an act or condition of removal, abstention, exclusion, release, subtraction, or differentiation. But note that Frankenstein is not written in modern English: what's idiomatic 200 years ago may not be idiomatic now.– Stuart FCommented Aug 9 at 9:25
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2 Answers
As this usage chart shows, a couple of centuries ago the preposition from was often used in contexts where today we usually use of...
Another chart, specifically for cleared of/from [unwanted thing]...
Obviously at the time the cited text was written, from was far more common than of in such contexts. Language changes over time, and that is especially true of English prepositions, which are often almost arbitrarily chosen until some particular form becomes firmly established.
answered Aug 8 at 17:38
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Prepositions are notoriously context dependent, so looking at a different verb is suspect. But you're probably right here. Commented Aug 8 at 18:08
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2Well, it's not so much a matter of me being "right" - it's about the cited author being right (at the time). The question is essentially predicated on the idea that a non-native Anglophone could reasonably question Mary Shelley's command of English, which is quite frankly ridiculous. I originally closevoted, but changed my mind when I realized just how stark the changeover was for absolved + blame. Commented Aug 8 at 19:06
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@Zan700: Confession is good for the soul! I fully expected to find a usage shift with absolved + [culpability], and I soon thought of cleansed + [sin] (also switched from from to of, but that's a bit of a religious fixed phrase, so I didn't want to use it). I couldn't easily find a clear-cut crossover with cleared + [defect] so I just stuck with absolved. But I've gone the extra mile now, and found another relevant "crossover" chart, for cleared + dirt.. Commented Aug 8 at 21:32
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Not gonna say that editing Shelley's English is quite ridiculous. But it's a waste of time and maybe brash to conclude that we are right and a classic needs improvement. For example, we might be following a textbook when she's the one creating something new. Commented Aug 8 at 23:03
A lot of verbs related to cleaning have the ability to take semantically divers objects -
Clean off the table, or clean off the crumbs (from the table).
Vacuum the rug, or vacuum the dust (from the rug).
Scrape the table, or scrape the grime (off of the table).
Rake the yard, or rake the leaves.
Sometimes the verb gets tweaked -
Mop the floor, or mop up the spill.
Wipe off the counter, or wipe up the milk.
Frequently, we want to include more information, so an object compliment is tacked on to the end. In many cases, you can make similar sentences where the semantic role of object and compliment is reversed.
The preposition from has a bit of a restricted connotation now. Notice what happens with the pair below -
I cleared the mud from the truck.
I cleared the truck from the mud.
The preposition object forms the reference from which the direct object is removed. That apparently wasn't the case in Shelly's day. To modern readers, it sounds as if the path is being taken away from the snow.
