First Grammar Lessons: Part II, Lesson X

First Grammar Lessons: Part II, Lesson X

Lesson X

Prepositions and their objects do not always come into a sentence as the friends of the predicate.

Sometimes they belong to the subject:

The house on the hill has green shutters.

Sometimes they belong to the object:

Henry fed the horse with the long tail.

Indeed they are very civil and come into a sentence just where they are wanted, only on one condition: the two must always go together; you cannot have a preposition without its object.

As the name-words that come after prepositions are one kind of object, they are in the objective case.

To be learnt.

All objects are in the objective case.

Exercise X

1. Supply prepositions to complete the following sentences:

Tom came _____ the room.
The road ran _____ the fields.
Birds sing _____ spring.
The books were arranged _____ the table.
Flowers grow _____ the stream.

2. Use the following prepositions in sentences:

through, by, in, under, near, to, for, beyond, with, on.

3. Underline the prepositions in the following sentences, and say whether they belong to the predicate, subject, or object:

The house was built near the river.
Gather your flowers with long stalks.
The bird on the roof is a starling.
Near the mill runs the stream.

4. Make six sentences, using a different preposition in each, and underline it.

5. Make six sentences, two in which the preposition belongs to the predicate, two in which it belongs to the subject, and two in which it belongs to the object.