Harvey's Elementary Grammar and Composition · Lesson 106–108 · Part 2: Part II: The parts of speech in full

79. Prepositions in full

Goal: Your child parses prepositions and knows words in the objective case without a preposition ("He left yesterday").

⏱ About 30 minutes · 7 steps

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You'll need

  • The book, open to this lesson
  • Paper and a pencil (or a slate)

What's in the book

Lesson 106 explains nouns of time and distance used without a preposition, complex prepositions, and phrases parsed as one word. Lessons 107 and 108 give the order of parsing, a model and sentences to parse, and a composition on Spruce Gum.

The lesson, step by step

  1. Review

    Ask: What is a preposition? Name ten.

  2. No preposition needed

    The book's examples: "He left yesterday," "He lives south of this town." Read:

    Such words are said to be in the objective case without a governing word.

    Say"Yesterday" works like "on that day," but the preposition is left out.

  3. The order and the rule

    The order of parsing: A preposition, and why? What relation does it show? Then the rule:

    A preposition shows the relation of its object to the word upon which the latter depends.

  4. The model

    Read the model for

    They went aboard the ship.

    Aboard is a preposition; it shows the relation between its object and some other word.

  5. Parse

    Find and parse the prepositions:

    A lark reared her brood amid the corn.

    Emma came from the village, through the woods, to our house.

    I came from beyond Richmond to-day.

  6. Write

    The book asks for a description of Spruce Gum, starting with two sentences whose prepositions are parsed. Any familiar product will do.

  7. Use it today

    Find a time word used without a preposition in today's reading (yesterday, home, last night).

Answers to the book's problems

amid (object corn, relates it to reared); in (throngs), down (valley); from (village), through (woods), to (house); behind (pines); from beyond (complex preposition; object Richmond); to (Detroit). In "I went to Detroit yesterday" and "John came home last night," yesterday, home and night are objective without a governing word. "They allowed themselves no relaxation" has no preposition.

Worked out for this site from the scan. If a number in your copy differs, trust the book.

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