8.3. The preposition ¸E in transitive sentences
Models
| 1) | QENNEW̱ SEN TŦE SḴAXE¸ ¸E TŦE SOȽ. | ‘I saw the dog on the road.’ |
| 2) | QENNEW̱ SEN ¸E TŦE SOȽ TŦE SḴAXE¸. | ‘I saw the dog on the road.’ |
| 3) | QENNES TŦE KÁ¸ṈI¸ TŦE SḴAXE¸ ¸E TŦE SOȽ. | ‘The girl saw the dog on the road.’ |
| 4) | QENNES ¸E TŦE SOȽ TŦE KÁ¸ṈI¸ TŦE SḴAXE¸. | ‘The girl saw the dog on the road.’ |
| 5) | QENNES TŦE KÁ¸ṈI¸ ¸E TŦE SOȽ TŦE SḴAXE¸. | ‘The girl saw the dog on the road.’ |
‣ 1 In each of these, the subject is in plain boldface, the object is a direct noun phrase shaded light and the prepositional phrase is shaded dark.
‣ 2 All the model sentences here are transitive. Models 1 and 2 have SEN as the subject and the last three have TŦE KÁ¸ṈI¸ ‘the girl’ as the subject. Note the ‑ES transitive subject suffix on the verb of the last three.
‣ 3 The first two models show that the prepositional phrase can come before or after the direct object noun phrase without changing the meaning.
‣ 4 The last three models all have the same prepositional phrase and the same two direct noun phrases. The SENĆOŦEN sentences differ only in the order of the noun phrases and the prepositional phrase. The models show that any order is acceptable as long as the subject comes earlier in the sentence than the direct object.
 | ȻENÁṈETEṈ E SW̱ ¸E TŦE EN¸ SĆÁ¸ĆE¸? | ‘Did your friend help you?’ |
 | EWE. ȻENÁṈETEṈ SEN ¸E TŦE NE TÁN. | ‘No. My mother helped me.’ |
| U¸ ÍY¸ E ȻŦE EN¸ TÁN? | ‘Is your mother well?’ |
| U¸ ÁN¸ U¸ ÍY¸. | ‘She’s very well.’ |
8.3A. Which of these sentences is ungrammatical? If it is ungrammatical, explain why it is. If it is grammatical, translate the sentence.
1. QENNEW̱ SEN ¸E TŦE SOȽ TŦE KÁ¸ṈI¸ TŦE SḴAXE¸.
2. QENNEW̱ ¸E TŦE SOȽ TŦE KÁ¸ṈI¸
3. QENNES TŦE KÁ¸ṈI¸ TŦE SOȽ TŦE SḴAXE¸.
4. QENNES TŦE KÁ¸ṈI¸ ¸E TŦE SOȽ ¸E TŦE SḴAXE¸.
5. QENNES ¸E TŦE SḴAXE¸.
6. QENNES SEN ¸E TŦE SḴAXE¸.
7. QENNEW̱ SEN TŦE SOȽ TŦE SḴAXE¸.
8. QENNEW̱ E SW̱ TŦE SḴAXE¸.
9. QENNES E ¸E TŦE SOȽ TŦE SḴAXE¸
10. TŦE KÁ¸ṈI¸ QENNES ¸E TŦE SOȽ TŦE SḴAXE¸.
8.3B. Write four new SENĆOŦEN sentences using the preposition.