MONTERREY, N.L. – English language learning is never ending. There will always be a new word, another grammatical concept, or some interesting etymology to add to our proficiency. Thousands of websites, blogs, and videos teach English in new and interesting ways, but one of our favorite ways to learn tips and tricks at M&English Academy is from our native English-speaking friends.
Welcome to our new series: English Grammar Tips! We asked our friend Marsie from Tennessee what is an English rule that she learned that has been particularly helpful, and here is what she told us. And, FYI, she said this off the top of her head so it's a really good one to remember.
One of the most useful things I ever learned in English class that I still use to this day is a way to spot prepositions. When I say, ‘still use to this day’, I mean over 30 years later I say this in my head as a full-grown adult to determine whether a word is a preposition so I’ll know if I should use the subject or object form of a pronoun.
When I was 12 years old, I remember sitting in Mrs. Lindsey’s seventh grade English class learning how to spot prepositions by filling in the blank of this sentence, ‘Sammy Squirrel ran ____ the tree.’ If you can fill in the blank with a word, that’s a preposition. To, for, by, up, down, from, etc…
I believe it’s the equivalent of counting on my fingers to figure out Math.
What a great way to remember simple prepositions! For Monterrey students, let’s name Sammy Squirrel ‘La Ardilla Arminda’ and visualize how she interacts with the tree.
In Marsie’s example prepositions, we see the how the preposition is noting direction:
La Ardilla Arminda corrió a el árbol = Arminda Ardilla ran to the tree
Arminda Ardilla ran up the tree. |  |
Arminda Ardilla ran from the tree. |  |
Arminda Ardilla ran to the tree. |  |
Arminda Ardilla ran between the trees. |  |
Arminda Ardilla ran down the tree. |  |
Arminda Ardilla ran behind the tree. |  |
Contact us if you would like to learn more English! Martha will be happy to hear from you!
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