Grammar: Prepositions show relationships

 

Squawk trembled with rage and shook his fist
in a fit of anger.

The preposition and its object form a phrase.

A prepositional phrase begins with a preposition and ends with its object, which is always a noun or a pronoun

 

Prepositions show relationships

From A New English Grammar for Schools, by Thomas Harvey:

1. A prepositional phrase can relate as an adverb.

                                               

Ships sail on the ocean.

                                                   |___|

In this sentence the phrase “on the ocean” modifies “sail” by telling where the vessels sail. 

The word “on”connects “ocean” with “sail,” and is said to show the relation between them.  

 

2. A prepositional phrase can relate as an adjective.

We reached the summit of the mountain.

                                                           |___|        

In this sentence the phrase “of the mountain” modifies “summit” by telling what kind of summit was reached. 

The word “of”connects “mountain” with “summit,” and is said to show the relation between them.

3. A list of common prepositions:

aboard	among	between	in	over	underneath
about	around	beyond	inside	past	until
above	at	by	into	since	up
across	before	down	like	through	upon
after	behind	during	near	throughout	with
against	below	except	of	to	within
along	beneath	for	off	toward	without
amid	beside	from	on	under

4. A prepositional phrase is diagrammed like one word. 

a. A life of prayer is a life of heaven.

 

b. He came and went like a pleasant thought.

 c. The credulity that has faith in goodness is a sign of goodness.

 

d. The charities that sooth, and heal, and bless,
    Are scattered at the feet of men like flowers.

--William Wordsworth 

Note: A prepositional phrase always begins with a preposition and ends with a noun or pronoun.

Exercise:

Point out the prepositions in the following sentences. Tell their objects and the phrases they introduce.

1. The boy fell over a chair into a tub of water.
2. I traveled from Boston to Cincinnati in my sophomore year.
3. We rested by the roadside.
4. He ran up the road toward the house of his friend.
5. Walk with me in the garden.
6. I went to the doctor for advice, but he was not at home.

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Rhetorical devices: Letter from a Birmingham Jail

Parallelism

is a form of repetition used to emphasize a thought or deepen an impression.

Antithesis

is the union of objects or ideas by their differences.

Alliteration

is a repetition of beginning sounds.

In his letters and speeches, MartinLuther King, Jr. used antithesis, parallelism, and alliteration as effective rhetorical devices.

These devices lend lyrical qualities to prose.

Antithesis, Parallelism, and Alliteration

Excerpted from King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail and Rhetoric:a Text-book, Designed for Use in Schools and Colleges, by Erastus Otis Haven:

1. Antithesis

a. Antithesis is the union of objects by their differences, 

and exhibits that power of mind without which there can be no correct generalization nor accurate analysis. 

b. It is the fruit of accurate observation.

c. It sharpens the outline of the objects, whether material or mental, 

which are at the same time compared and contrasted, and makes an impression of their relative character more vivid than could otherwise be produced.

Upon the degree in which these compared and contrasted points exist, and the vividness with which they are expressed, depend the force and beauty of the antithesis.

2. Parallelism

a. Instead of, or in addition to, the repetition of words, in parallelism there is a repetition of structure.

b. Parallelism is sometimes called “thought-rhythm” because of its lyrical qualities.

3. Alliteration

is the repetition of some letter or sound at the beginning of two or more words in close or immediate succession.

In the paragraph below taken from King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail, examples of parallelism are highlighted in green,  examples of antithesis are highlighted in blue, and examples of alliteration are highlighted in orange.Note that often the devices are combined.

We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have never yet engaged in a direct-action movement that was “well timed” according to the timetable of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word “wait.” It rings in the ear of every Negro with a piercing familiarity. This “wait” has almost always meant “never.” It has been a tranquilizing thalidomide, relieving the emotional stress for a moment, only to give birth to an ill-formed infant of frustration. We must come to see with the distinguished jurist of yesterday that “justice too long delayed is justice denied.” We have waited for more than three hundred and forty years for our God-given and constitutional rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jet-like speed toward the goal of political independence, and we still creep at horse-and-buggy pace toward the gaining of a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. I guess it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say “wait.” But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick, brutalize, and even kill your black brothers and sisters with impunity; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she cannot go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her little eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see the depressing clouds of inferiority begin to form in her little mental sky, and see her begin to distort her little personality by unconsciously developing a bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son asking in agonizing pathos, “Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?”; when you take a cross-country drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading “white” and “colored”; when your first name becomes “nigger” and your middle name becomes “boy” (however old you are) and your last name becomes “John,” and when your wife and mother are never given the respected title “Mrs.”; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never knowing what to expect next, and plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of “nobodyness” — then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over and men are no longer willing to be plunged into an abyss of injustice where they experience the bleakness of corroding despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience.

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Grammar: Conjunctions connect

The singing hippo twittered and twilled for his jubilant fans.

A conjunction connects words, groups of words, or propositions.

Conjunctions connect

From A New English Grammar for Schools, by Thomas Harvey:

1. Conjunctions may connect words.

 

The singing hippo twittered and twilled.

In this sentence “and” joins, or connects, the two verbs “twittered” and “twilled”.

 

2. Conjunctions may connect groups of words called phrases.

The hippo lilted up the scale and down the scale.

In this sentence “and” connects the two prepositional phrases “up the scale” and “down the scale”.

3. Conjunctions may connect propositions called clauses. 

The hippo sang off-tune, yet the crowd roared its approval.

In this sentence “yet” connects two clauses: “The hippo sang off tune” and “the crowd roared its approval”.

 4. Words used as conjunctions in one sentence may be used as a different part of speech in another.

a.  “For” and “but” may be used as conjunctions.

The singing hippo twittered and twilled, for his heart was buoyant.

In this sentence “for” is a conjunction connecting the clauses “the singing hippo twittered and twilled” and “his heart was buoyant”.

b.  “For” and “but” may be used as prepositions.

The singing hippo twittered and twilled for his jubilant fans.

In this sentence “for” is a preposition beginning the phrase “for his jubilant fans”.

4. The list of connecting conjunctions creates the acronym FANBOYS:

For   And   Nor   But   Or   Yet   So

Connecting conjunctions are also called coordinating conjunctions.

5. When diagramming, a conjunction is placed with the elements it connects.

In the diagrams below, the conjunction are printed in italics. They can be underlined in written diagrams.

a. Diagramming conjunctions connecting subjective nouns: 

b. Diagramming conjunctions connecting adjectives:

c. Diagramming conjunctions connecting direct objects:

 

d. Diagramming conjunctions connecting adverbs:

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Writing: Compound-complex sentences

 Compound-complex sentences

From A New English Grammar for Schools, by Thomas Harvey:

1. I will go when the spring comes, but I will return soon.

How many principal propositions are there in this sentence?
Two: “I will go when the spring comes” and “I will return soon.”

Which of them is a complex proposition? 

“I will go when the spring comes”
   (main clause)              (dependent clause) 

Which is simple?

“I will return soon.”
            (main clause)

This sentence contains a complex proposition that consists of two clauses: one dependent clause within a main clause, and one simple proposition (main clause).

Therefore, this is a compound-complex sentence. 

2. The train which we had desired to take had started, and we were left behind.

How many principal propositions are there in this sentence?
Two: “The train which we had desired to take had started”
and “we were left behind”

One is a complex proposition:

“The train which we had desired to take had started”
  (main clause a)                 (dependent clause)                      (main clause b)

One is simple:

“we were left behind”
              (main clause)

This sentence consists of two or more main clauses and one or more dependent clauses, therefore it is a compound-complex sentence.

3. The simple or complex propositions of which compound-complex sentences are composed are called members.

They are numbered according to their place in the sentence.

Ex. — “The rain fell in torrents, and the river, which received it, became swollen.” In this sentence, “The rail fell in torrents” is the first member, and “the river, which received it, became swollen” is the second member.

Exercise:

Analyze each of the following sentences.

Model: The rain fell in torrents, and the river, which received it, became swollen.
This is a compound sentence with two members. The first member is the simple proposition, “The rain fell in torrents,” and the second member is the complex proposition, “the river, which received it, became swollen.” The main clause in the second member is “the river became swollen,” and the dependent clause is “which received it.”

1. We ran to the station when the whistle blew, but we were too late.
2. She entered the room, or I thought that she did.
3. The wind blew a gale, the rain fell in torrents, and the pupils could not go home when school was over.
5. The boys played games, then the girls recited some poems, and finally the teacher read to us until the rain ceased.
6. The invitation came on Monday, on Tuesday we accepted, and on Wednesday the picnic occurred.

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