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Anonymous Posted 15 years ago
Grammar

Prepsitions

I have a disagreement with my kid's fifth grade teacher concerning prepositions. I am an engineer, and do not claim to be expert in English grammar, but I don't see the preposition in the following sentence.

"Monkeys like to eat bananas"

She claims the preposition is "like" in the above sentence, but I can't see it. To me, "like" is a verb in this sentence with the phrase "to eat bananas" as the direct object.

Please help me to understand this. Also, generally, can a simple verb ever be a preposition?

Thank you,

Mario
  

Top answer

Hi, You're right. Of course it's a verb! Ask her if she thinks the same about 'Monkeys like bananas'.

— Clive

  • Hi, You're right.
  • Of course it's a verb!
  • Ask her if she thinks the same about 'Monkeys like bananas'.
  • Clive
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4 Answers
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Hi,
You're right. Of course it's a verb! Emotion: crying
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The teacher is just wrong. If she's determined to teach the kids that verbs are prepositions, you might need to talk to the principal.
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Hi,

A further thought.
Perhaps she is confusing your example with a sentence such as
eg A gorilla is like a chimpanzee.

Here, the word 'like' is indeed a preposition.
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Anonymous"Monkeys like to eat bananas"

She claims the preposition is "like" in the above sentence
She's an idiot. Tell her so, but be a bit more diplomatic about it, of course!
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