PREPOSITIONS

Prepositions were less standardized in Elizabethan English than they are today and so we find several uses in Romeo and Juliet that would have to be modified in contemporary speech. Among these are: 'of' for 'in' in:

Fantasy Which is as thin of substance as the air (I, iv, 99) 'in' for 'into' in:

...if you should lead her in a fool's paradise (II, iv, 163) 'by' for 'because of': So the remembrance of my former love Is by a newer object quite forgotten (II, iv, 194) and 'against' for 'for' in:

Prepare her, wife, against this wedding day.(III, iv, 32)

MULTIPLE NEGATION

Contemporary English requires only one negative per statement and regards such utterances as: "I haven't none" as nonstandard. Shakespeare often used two or more negatives for emphasis, as when Mercutio describes his wound:

No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door, but 'tis enough... (III, i, 97) and when Romeo tries to convince Juliet that it is still early:

Nor that is not the lark whose notes do beat (III, v, 21)

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