Preposition? Adverb? Or Part of the Verb?
1.) If we put them in jars, they get out. If we put them in jars, they get out. (escape)Complete analysis: [Adv. to "get" If we put them (DO) {in jars}], they get {out of the jars}. | 2.) Today I was taking out the trash and I ran out the door, and opened the trash can lid really fast, and a big brownish-black wasp flew off, towards me. Today I was taking out the trash and I ran {out the door}, and opened the trash can lid really fast, and a big brownish-black wasp flew off, {towards me}. Some students will mark "out the trash" as a prepositional phrase, but the sentence means I was taking the trash out. [Note, however, that in context "out" might also be explained as an ellipsed phrase here -- "out of the house."]Complete analysis: Today I was taking out the trash (DO) | and I ran {out the door}, and opened the trash can lid (DO) really fast, | and a big brownish-black wasp flew off, {towards me}. | 3.) Now I have to figure out how to make her. Now I have to figure out how to make her.Complete analysis: Now I have to figure out how to make her. | There are several ways to explain "how to make her," but the simplest and probably the best is to consider "how" as a pronoun that functions as the direct object of "figure out." The infinitive phrase "to make her" then functions as an adjective to "how." 4.) She wrote them down, then we chose three things for the three people to swab. She wrote them down, then we chose three things for the three people to swab.Complete analysis: She wrote them (DO) down, | then we chose three things (DO) {for the three people} to swab. | Technically, there is a comma-splice here, before "then." Some teachers will consider it an error; others will ignore it. The first main clause is short, and the following subject ("we") appears as the second word in the second main clause, so it is not really a problem. 5.) Then he ate them up and lay under a tree. Then he ate them up and lay under a tree.Complete analysis: Then he ate them (DO) up and lay {under a tree}. | 6.) When he got that, she cut open the wolf and her kids came out, for, being very proud, he had swallowed them whole. When he got that, she cut open the wolf and her kids came out, for, being very proud, he had swallowed them whole.Complete analysis: [Adv. to "cut" When he got that (DO),] she cut open the wolf (DO) | and her kids came out, [Adv. (of result) to "came" for, being very proud, he had swallowed them (DO) whole. | "Open" is not a preposition, but questions will arise concerning it. "Cut open" is used so frequently that the easiest thing to do here, if a question arises, is to consider "open" as part of the verb. In essence, it means she cut and she opened. Grammarians won't like that, but then grammarians get so bogged down in questions such as this that they never get students to more important questions, such as clauses. |