The Montessori Elementary Material / The Advanced Montessori Method

VII

PREPOSITIONS

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.

—Set one chair opposite another chair. (dirimpetto a, accanto a).
Set one chair next to another chair.

set of cards Grammar Boxes, showing respectively four and five parts of speech. (Note: The cards forming the sentence, "Place the blue cone against the pink cube," should have been arranged in one continuous line, not in two lines.)

SERIES B

(Space relations continued)

—Lay the counter inside the box. (dentro, fuori, di).
Lay the counter outside the box.

—Place a chair on this side of the door. (di lÀ da, di qua da, oltre).
Place a chair on that side of the door.
Place a chair beyond the door.

—Stand in front of the blackboard. (di fronte a, di fianco a).
Stand to one side of the blackboard.
Stand to the other side of the blackboard.

—Arrange the chairs along the wall. (lungo, contro).
Arrange the chairs against the wall.

—Place the blue cone near the pink cube. (vicino a, accosto a).
Place the blue cone against the pink cube.

SERIES C

(Possession, material, use, purpose)

[Note:—Such relationships are expressed in English preferably by adjectives: cloth of cotton = cotton cloth; or by the possessive inflection with -s: the drawing of George = George's drawing. In Italian they are expressed by the prepositions di, per, da, etc.: stoffa di cotone "cotton cloth," piattino di vetro "glass saucer." For Signora Montessori's simple exercise we suggest for English the following definitions (Tr.)].

set of cards Grammar Boxes, containing respectively six and seven parts of speech. (Note: In the sentence on the right, the cards should be in one line, not two.)

—Cotton cloth is cloth of cotton.
Woollen cloth is cloth of wool.
Silk cloth is cloth of silk.

—The iron triangle is a triangle of iron.
The wooden triangle is a triangle of wood.

—The glass saucer is a saucer of glass.
The china saucer is a saucer of china.

—A shoe-brush is a brush for shoes.
A clothes-brush is a brush for clothes.

—George's hat is the hat of George; George's hat belongs to George.
Mary's hat is the hat of Mary; Mary's hat belongs to Mary.

Permutations

The child has built the first sentences on each of the slips with his cards, and he has reproduced the others by changing simply the preposition cards. In this way he has seen how the position of objects relative to each other is determined wholly and only by the use of the preposition. The preposition, therefore, determines the relation of words, the relation of a noun to some other word, here to another noun or to a verb. In the phrase,

Set one chair opposite another chair,

if we take away the preposition, leaving,

Set one chair another chair,

the relation that formerly existed between the words chair and another chair is lost. The teacher must not forget the rules for the position of the preposition. The preposition must always precede its object and no other word can come between it and the word or words it controls.

Here are some examples of sentences in the above exercises from which the preposition has been taken away by the teacher:

Go from your seat the cabinet.
Place a chair the door.
Lay the counter the box.
Place the prism the cylinder.
The china saucer is made china.

To give the child an idea of the normal position of prepositions a series of permutations may be made leaving the preposition and its object in their normal positions. In this case some meaning is still left to the sentence:

Stretch a string from the door to the window.
From the door to the window stretch a string.
Stretch from the door a string to the window.
From the door to the window a string stretch.
From the door stretch to the window a string.

But the child will recognize that the right sentence is the simplest and the clearest:

Stretch a string from the door to the window.

On the other hand if we separate the preposition from its object or invert their normal position, the meaning is entirely lost:

Stretch a string the door from the window to.
Stretch a string from the door window to the.
String from the stretch door to the a window.

And likewise with these other sentences:

Run from the wash-stand to the table.
Run wash-stand table (definition of motion lacking).
Run wash-stand from the table to the.
From the run wash-stand to the table.
Wash-stand from the to the run table.

Lessons and Commands on Prepositions

The teacher may also take groups of children and give them short lessons on the preposition to explain the meaning, selecting if possible two or three synonyms or antonyms each time. The lessons should always he practical and full of action. The child should come to understand in this case the relationship established by this or that preposition between the object (noun) and the action (verb) to be performed. As soon as this has been made clear by the teacher the commands are distributed to the children who put them into execution. Here is the material that we use:

Subject:

Of (di).

Command:—

—Go and get a boxful of counters. Go and get a glass of water. Bring me a piece of cloth.

Subject:

near (to), next (to), beside, far away from (vicino, accosto, lontano).

Command:—

—One of you boys stand in the middle of the room. Now you others go and stand near him. One of you stand next to him on the right, another beside him on the left. Now all go far away from him.

Subject:

in, into, inside, out of (in, dentro, fuori).

Command:—

—Rise from your chairs and go into the next room. Stay in that room a moment and then come back into this one. Go back on tip-toe and lock yourselves inside the next room. Come out of the next room into this one.

Subject:

On this side of, on that side of, beyond (di lÀ da, di qua da, oltre).

Command:—

—Leave your places and form a circle on that side of the door; form a circle then on this side of the door. All of you go and stand somewhere beyond the door.

Subject:

except, save (tranne, eccetto).

Command:—

—All the children, except George and Mary, walk on tip-toe around the room.
—All the children, save George and Mary, walk on tip-toe around the room.

Subject:

side by side with, opposite, in front of, along (di fianco, di fronte, avanti).

Command:—

—Form a line side by side with each other.
—Form a line along the wall opposite the door.
—Form two lines in front of the piano.

Subject:

before, behind (dirimpetto, dietro).

Command:—

—Two of you come and stand before me.
—The rest of you go and stand behind me.

Subject:

on, about, along (su, secondo, lungo).

Command:—

—Each of you place one counter on the table. Now arrange the same counters along the far edge of the table. Now scatter the same counters about the center of the table.

Subject:

between, among (fra, in mezzo a).

Command:—

—One of you go and stand between the door and the piano.
—Place ten white counters on the table. Now go and scatter two or three red counters among the white ones.

Subject:

from, to, as far as (da, a, fino a).

Command:—

—Rise and walk from your places to the piano; wait a moment and then continue as far as the door of the next room.

Subject:

around, about (attorno, intorno).

Command:—

—Walk in couples, arm in arm, around the room twice; when you reach the piano on the second round, form a circle about the piano.

Subject:

toward, against (verso, contro).

Command:—

—Take your chairs and move them three steps toward the wall in front of you. Next, arrange your chairs in a row with their backs against the wall behind you.

Subject:

across, through (attraverso, per).

Command:—

—Roll your handkerchiefs into balls and throw them across the room.
—Pick them up as they lie and try to throw them through the door into the hall.

Subject:

With, without (con, senza).

Command:—

—Walk around the room with your chairs in your hands.
—Walk around the room without your chairs.

Subject:

to, in order to, so as to (per).

Command:—

—Wash your hands in order not to soil the cloth. Then close your eyes and feel this cloth so as to recognize it.

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