Plain English. Marian Wharton
The words which are used to show this relation are called prepositions. The groups of words introduced by the preposition, like on the box and in the box, and so on, are called prepositional phrases. The noun which follows a preposition as box follows the prepositions in, on, beside, beyond, etc., is called the object of the preposition.
Preposition is a word which comes into our language from the Latin. It is formed from the Latin pre, which means before, and the Latin verb which means to place, so preposition means literally to place before. It is given this name because it is placed before the noun or pronoun which is its object. Therefore our definition of a preposition is as follows:
47. A preposition is a word that shows the relation of its object to some other word.
48. Either a noun or a pronoun may be the object of a preposition. Notice the following sentences:
Bring the book to me.
Lay the book on the table.
He will speak to you.
I will speak to the man.
In these sentences the noun table is the object of the preposition on; the pronoun me is the object of the preposition to; and in the last two sentences the pronoun you and the noun man are the objects of the preposition to.
49. There are not many prepositions in the language and they are easily learned and easily distinguished. Here is a list of the most common and the most important prepositions. Use each one in a sentence.
at
across
around
about
among
above
against
along
behind
beside
between
below
beyond
by
before
beneath
down
for
from
in
into
off
on
over
to
toward
under
up
upon
with
within
without
Exercise 4
Underscore the prepositions in the following sentences:
He went to the door and looked out upon the field.
Over the river and through the woods, to Grandfather's house we go.
He saw them in the distance as they were coming toward him.
They went along the road, across the bridge, and hid among the trees at the foot of the hill.
They came from Minneapolis down the river by boat.
The war between the classes is a struggle against exploitation.
The army was intrenched behind the barricades before dawn.
His claim was within the law but without justice.
CONJUNCTIONS
50. We have found that the preposition is a very important connective word. It connects two words and shows what one of them has to do with the other, but the preposition is not the only connective word which we use in English. We have another part of speech which performs an important function as a connective word. Notice the following sentence:
Men and women struggle for their rights.
Can you find a word in this sentence which is a connective word besides the preposition for? Did you notice that little word and? The noun men and the noun women are both subjects of the verb struggle, and they are joined by this little connective word and. If we did not have this word we would have to use two sentences to express our thought, thus:
Men struggle for their rights.
Women struggle for their rights.
But with the use of this connective word and we can combine these two sentences and express it all in one sentence:
Men and women struggle for their rights.
This word is used in a different manner from the preposition. The preposition connects two words and makes one modify the other. When we say, Get the book on the table, the phrase on the table designates the book just as much as if we had said, Get the green book. So the use of the preposition enables us to show the relation between two words and to make one word describe or modify the other.
51. This little word and in the sentence, Men and women struggle for their rights, is a connective word also, but it connects two words that are used in the same way, so it is a different sort of connective word from the preposition. Words used in this way are called conjunctions. Conjunction is a word which is taken from the Latin, being made up of the Latin word con, which means together, and the Latin verb juncto, which means to join. So conjunction means literally to join together.
52. A conjunction is a word that connects sentences or parts of sentences.
Notice the following sentence:
The class struggle is waged on the political field and on the industrial field.
Here we have the conjunction and connecting the two phrases on the political field and on the industrial field. Without the use of this connective word, we would have to use two sentences to express these two thoughts:
The class struggle is waged on the political field.
The class struggle is waged on the industrial field.
53. So a conjunction may be used to connect phrases as well as words.
Now notice the following sentences:
He will speak. I will listen.
He will speak, and I will listen.
He will speak, but I will listen.
He will speak, if I will listen.
He will speak, therefore I will listen.
He will speak, because I will listen.
He will speak, until I will listen.
54. These sentences are joined by different conjunctions, and the conjunction used alters the meaning of the sentence.
The conjunction is a very useful part of speech. Without it we would have many disconnected sentences requiring tiresome repetition of the same words. Like prepositions, there are not many conjunctions in English and they are readily recognized.
55. We will study about these conjunctions at length in later lessons. If you consult the following list of those most commonly used, you can easily pick out the conjunctions in your reading:
and
as
as if
after
although
as soon as
because
besides
before
but
either
for
hence
in