Plain English

by Marian Wharton

• The men in the trenches are fighting bravely.
• An uneducated man is easily exploited.
• Our educational system is inadequate.
• The skilled workers must be organized.
• Careless men endanger the lives of others.
• The plans have been carefully laid.
• Ambitious men often trample on the rights of others.
• Shall our education be controlled by wealthy men?
• We want to live courageously.
• We want to face the future fearlessly.
• We want to possess peacefully the fruits of our labor.
• By constant practice we can learn to speak effectively.
• This book will be a valuable addition to your library.
• The number of unemployed men constantly increases.
• The men mastered each step thoroughly as they proceeded.
• In order to express one's self eloquently it is necessary to think clearly.
• We must consecrate ourselves completely to the cause of humanity.
• A kind act is its own reward.
• Experienced workers can more easily secure positions.
• He spoke thoughtlessly but the people listened eagerly.
• The soldier was rewarded for his heroic deed.
• He is an honorable man and I am not surprised at this brave act.
• A prudent man should be chosen to fill that important office.

PREPOSITIONS

303. Have you noticed that all of these phrases, which we have been studying and using as adjectives and adverbs, begin with a little word like of, with, from, in, at or by, which connects the phrase with the word it modifies? We could scarcely express our meaning without these little words. They are connecting words and fill an important function. These words usually come first in the phrase. For this reason, they are called prepositions, which means to place before.

Let us see what a useful place these little words fill in our language. Suppose we were watching the play of some boys outside our windows and were reporting their hiding place. We might say:

• The boys are hiding in the bushes.
• The boys are hiding among the bushes.
• The boys are hiding under the bushes.
• The boys are hiding behind the bushes.
• The boys are hiding beyond the bushes.

These sentences are all alike except the prepositions in, among, under, behind and beyond. If you read the sentences and leave out these prepositions entirely, you will see that nobody could possibly tell what connection the bushes had with the rest of the sentence. The prepositions are necessary to express the relation of the word bushes to the rest of the sentence.

But this is not all. You can readily see that the use of a different preposition changes the meaning of the sentence. It means quite a different thing to say, The boys are hiding in the bushes, and to say, The boys are hiding beyond the bushes. So the preposition has a great deal to do with the true expression of our ideas.

The noun bushes is used as the object of the preposition, and the preposition shows the relation of its object to the word which it modifies. You remember that nouns have the same form whether they are used as subject or as object, but if you are using a pronoun after a preposition, always use the object form of the pronoun. For example:

• I bought the book from him.
• I took the message to them.
• I found the place for her.

In these sentences the pronouns, him, them, and her are used as objects of the prepositions from, to and for. So we have used the object forms of these pronouns.