And,
if I say, The boy's hat is _on_ his head, you perceive that _on_ shows
the relation between _hat_ and _head_. Again, in the expressions, The
boy threw his hat _up stairs_--_under_ the bed--_behind_ the
table--_through_ the window--_over_ the house--_across_ the
street--_into_ the water--and so on, you perceive that the several
prepositions express the different relations existing between the _hat_
and the other nouns, _stairs, bed, table, window, house, street_, and
_water_.
A preposition tells _where_ a thing is: thus, "The pear is on the
ground, _under_ the tree."
Prepositions govern the objective case, but they do _not_ express an
action done to some object, as an active-transitive verb or participle
does. When a noun or pronoun follows a preposition, it is in the
objective case, because it is the object of the _relation_ expressed by
the preposition, and _not_ the object of an _action_.
I can now give you a more extensive explanation of the _objective case_,
than that which was given in a former lecture. I have already informed
you, that the objective case expresses the object of an action _or_ of a
relation; and, also, that there are _three_ parts of speech which govern
nouns and pronouns in the objective case, namely, _active-transitive
verbs, participles derived from transitive verbs_, and _prepositions_.
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