Object of the preposition

Question

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."

MountainHiker · Accepted Answer

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

CalifJim · Answer

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.

Mister Micawber · Answer

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'?

Object of the preposition

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