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45. Notice the following sentences:

I want the book on the box.

I want the book under the box.

I want the book in the box.

I want the book beside the box.

I want the book behind the box.

I want the book beyond the box.

Do you notice any word in these sentences which does not belong to any of the classes of words which we have studied? I is a pronoun, want is a verb, the is an adjective, book is a noun, the is an adjective, box is a noun; but the words, on, under, in, beside, behind and beyond are not nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs or pronouns.

Yet would it be possible to express the meaning in these sentences without these words? Read the sentences without them, and you will see that no one could tell the relation which you wish to express between the book and the box. And you will notice too that each word expresses a different relation, for it means one thing to say on the box and another thing to say in the box, and so through the list.

46. 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.