LESSON LIII.

PREPOSITIONS.

What do the prepositions in the following sentences connect, and what relations do they express?—

1.I came during the night.
2.He lives at home.
3.Our friends came by train.
4.The oar of the boat was broken.

Prepositions express a great variety of relations. The most common relations are as follows:—

1. Time; as, The scholars go home after school.

2. Place or direction; as, He sat upon a stone.

3. Agency or means; as, John cut his finger with a knife.

4. Possession; as, The call of the shepherd was heard by his flock.

5. Separation; as, James took the book from his brother.

6. Association; as, A man with an axe in his hand came in.

7. Opposition; as, He is against me.

8. Object; as, The love of pleasure destroys many a life.

9. Cause; as, They did it through ignorance.

Note.—There are many phrases which have the use of prepositions and are treated as such; as, We stood in front of the building. A woman came out of the house. He lived according to his light.

PARSING OF PREPOSITIONS.

Model.—I stood on the bridge at midnight.

On, a preposition, connecting the noun bridge with the verb stood, and showing the relation of place.

At, a preposition, connecting the noun midnight with the verb stood, and showing the relation of time.

EXERCISE.

Parse the prepositions in the following sentences:—

1.The old man was killed by a falling tree.
2.The perfume of the rose is sweet.
3.A child fell into the river.
4.My brother went instead of me.
5.Without a moment’s hesitation, he and his men dashed at the height.
6.Now see him mount once again
Upon his nimble steed,
Full slowly pacing o’er the stones,
With caution and good heed.—Cowper.
7.Richard surveyed the Nubian in silence as he stood before him, his looks bent upon the ground, his arms folded on his bosom, with the appearance of a black marble statue of the most exquisite workmanship, waiting life from the touch of a Prometheus.—Scott.
8.Beside yon straggling fence that skirts the way,
With blossomed furze unprofitably gay,
There, in his noisy mansion, skilled to rule,
The village master taught his little school.—Goldsmith.