Analyses
Here also the first exercise is to compose sentences analyzed with the colored cards. This grammar box has five compartments, each with a small title card of the color corresponding to the different parts of speech, red for the verb, black for the noun, brown for the adjective, tan for the article and violet for the preposition. In the compartment at the rear of the box are six cards with printed sentences. The colored cards do not correspond exactly to the number of words used in the sentences because the words of one sentence which are repeated in the next are not duplicated in the cards. In this case it is the change in preposition only which alters the meaning of the sentence. Here are the series of sentences, some of which the teacher may have used already in previous lessons (commands).
SERIES A
(Prepositions of space relations)
—Take the box with the colored beads. (con, senza, insieme con).
Take the box without the colored beads.
Take the box together with the colored beads.
—Place the prism under the cylinder. (sotto a, sopra a).
Place the prism upon the cylinder.
—Lay the pen in front of the ink-well. (avanti a, dietro a, a lato di).
Lay the pen behind the ink-well.
Lay the pen beside the ink-well.
—Put the green bead into the box. (in, dentro).
Put the green bead inside the box.
—Arrange a few beads between the red counters. (in mezzo a, tra).
Arrange a few beads among the red counters.