How to parse. ...

Par. 488-491.] CONJUNCTI ONS.

275

488 There seems to be a different use of " as," still current
in some parts of England, e.g., Derbyshire, where the word
implies that a time mentioned is not vouched as accurate by
the speaker, but is merely mentioned by another:(6) " He says lie wilt come as to-morrow."
489 " As" is generally used in the sense of limitation
before "for " and " to ":(7) " As to your affairs, you must decide; but as for
myself, I shall remain neutral."
490 "The " is not the ordinary Adjective, but a form
of the Demonstrative and Relative Pronoun, meaning " by how much," " by so much," in -
(1) " The sooner he comes, the better it will be," i.e.,
"by how much the sooner he comes, by so much
the better it will be."
"The " is to be parsed in the same way in "the
more," " the less," &c. See Pars. 344, 571.
49I " More than," from its ordinary use in "more
than man," came to be used as part of a Compound
Verb in(1) " Ie more-than-hesitated, he refused."
Beware of supposing that you can supply a Verb
before "more than," e.g. " He refused more than
hesitated;" that is not the meaning here: the
meaning is "H e did something-more-than-hesitate."
In the same way, "more than" is part of a Compound Adjective in -
(2) " This is more than ridiculous, it is immoral."