nothing but
nonsense. There is, however, another part of speech that performs this
office, namely, the conjunction. This will be explained in Lecture IX.;
in which lecture you will learn, that the nature of a preposition, as a
connective particle, is nearly allied to that of a conjunction. In the
next place I will show you how prepositions express a _relation_ between
words.

The boy's hat is _under_ his arm. In this expression, what relation does
the preposition _under_ show? You know that _hat_ and _arm_ are words
used as signs of two objects, or ideas; but _under_ is _not_ the sign of
a thing you can think of: it is merely the sign of the _relation_
existing between the two objects. Hence you may perceive, that since the
word _under_ is the sign of the _relation_ existing between particular
_ideas_, it also expresses a relation existing between the words _hat_
and _arm_, which words are the representatives of those ideas.

The boy holds his hat _in_ his hand. In this sentence the preposition
_in_ shows the relation existing between _hat_ and _hand_, or the
situation, or relative position, each has in regard to the other. And,
if I say, The boy's hat is _on_ his head, you perceive that _on_ shows
the relation between _hat_ and _head_. Again, in the expressions, The
boy threw his hat _up stairs_--_under_ the bed--_behind_ the
table--_through_ the window--_over_ the house--_across_ the
street--_into_ the water--and so on, you perceive that the several
prepositions express the different relations existing between the _hat_
and the other nouns, _stairs, bed, table, window, house, street_, and
_water_.

A preposition tells _where_ a thing is: thus, "The pear is on the
ground, _under_ the tree."

Prepositions govern the objective case, but they do _not_ express an
action done to some object, as an active-transitive verb or participle
does. When a noun or pronoun follows a preposition, it is in the
objective case, because it is the object of the _relation_ expressed by
the preposition, and _not_ the object of an _action_.

I can now give you a more extensive explanation of the _objective case_,
than that which was given in a former lecture. I have already informed
you, that the objective case expresses the object of an action _or_ of a
relation; and, also, that there are _three_ parts of speech which govern
nouns and pronouns in the objective case, namely, _active-transitive
verbs, participles derived from transitive