Object of the preposition

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Guest

#45908 Thu, 16 Sep 04 11:14 PM

My sixth grade son needs to name each part of this sentence and is confused as to what to label the word Topeka. He thinks that Kansas is the object of the preposition so he has labelled Topeka as an adjective. On the other hand, perhaps he should label Topeka, Kansas as the object of the preposition, but is confused as he needs to assign a part of speech to each and every word. Any suggestions for him would be appreciated. thank you

"The girl beside me comes from Topeka, Kansas."

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Prepositions

anon1

#45910 Thu, 16 Sep 04 11:36 PM

Dear Guest,

I encouage you to register, though it is not necessary.

I agree with you, "Topeka, Kansas" is the object of the preposition.

Topeka, Kansas is a singular physical place.

I think your confusion comes from having to label each and every word. I would simply group the two words together and call it the object of the preposition.

Mr. John Ray Doe threw the ball.

What is the subject? It is Mr. John Ray Doe. John is his first name, Ray his second name, and Doe is his surname. Together they form his complete name. He is the subject of the sentence.

Topeka Kansas is similarly the object of the preposition.

We have some real experts here CalifJim and Mister Micawber. I encourage you to come back later this evening and just check to see that I am correct. If I have made a mistake, they will likely correct me. But I think we're okay.

Hope this helps.

MountainHiker

anon1

Joined on Fri, Jul 2 2004

Senior Member (2,049)

Prepositions

CalifJim

#45948 Fri, 17 Sep 04 05:16 AM

I'm concerned that there may be a misunderstanding with regard to terminology.

If your son needs to assign a "part of speech" to each word, his choices, according to many classifying schemes, are:

noun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, interjection, ...

The following are not "parts of speech": subject, object, indirect object, object of a preposition, clause, ...

In terms of parts of speech, "Topeka" is a noun, and "Kansas" is a noun, because both are names of places.

I hope this helps. Please respond if you feel this reply is inadequate.

Smile [:)]

CalifJim

Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004

California

Veteran Member (17,791)

"There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche

Regards, Verbs, Prepositions, Clauses, Nouns, Adverbs, Direct Objects, Indirect Objects

Mister Micawber

#45973 Fri, 17 Sep 04 11:37 AM

Greenbaum & Quirk make it clear that proper nouns 'embrace both single-word nouns and quite lengthy phrases'-- without citing an example of one with a comma in it, unfortunately.

I agree on all counts (I think-- I'm not sure I counted them all): 'Topeka, Kansas' is a proper noun (in this case a locational marker), object of the preposition.

Which of course brings us to: 'I live at 12345 Venture Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90023 '. ...Object of the preposition 'at'?

Mister Micawber

Joined on Wed, Aug 4 2004

Yokohama

Veteran Member (22,688)

'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master-- that's all.'

Prepositions, Nouns, Commas