The Prepositional Phrase
Recognize
a prepositional phrase when you see one
At the minimum, a prepositional phrase
will begin with a preposition and end with a noun, pronoun, gerund, or clause, the "object" of the preposition.
The object of the preposition will often have one or more modifiers
to describe it. These are the patterns for a prepositional phrase:
preposition + noun,
pronoun, gerund, or clause
preposition + modifier(s)
+ noun, pronoun, gerund, or clause
Here are some examples of the most
basic prepositional phrase:
At home
At = preposition; home = noun.
In time
In = preposition; time = noun.
From Richie
From = preposition; Richie = noun.
With me
With = preposition; me = pronoun.
By singing
By = preposition; singing = gerund.
About what we need
About = preposition; what we need =
noun clause.
Most prepositional phrases are longer,
like these:
From my grandmother
From = preposition; my = modifier; grandmother
= noun.
Under the warm blanket
Under = preposition; the, warm =
modifiers; blanket = noun.
In the weedy, overgrown garden
In = preposition; the, weedy, overgrown
= modifiers; garden = noun.
Along the busy, six-lane highway
Along = preposition; the, busy, six-lane
= modifiers; highway = noun.
Without excessively worrying
Without = preposition; excessively =
modifier; worrying = gerund.
Understand
what prepositional phrases do in a sentence.
A prepositional phrase will function as
an adjective or adverb. As an adjective, the prepositional phrase will answer the
question Which one?
Read these examples:
The book on the bathroom floor is
swollen from shower steam.
Which book? The one on the bathroom
floor!
The sweet potatoes in the vegetable bin
are green with mold.
Which sweet potatoes? The ones
forgotten in the vegetable bin!
The note from Beverly confessed that
she had eaten the leftover pizza.
Which note? The one from Beverly!
As an adverb, a prepositional phrase
will answer questions such as How? When? or Where?
Freddy is stiff from yesterday's long
football practice.
How did Freddy get stiff? From
yesterday's long football practice!
Before class, Josh begged his friends
for a pencil.
When did Josh do his begging? Before
class!
Feeling brave, we tried the Dragon
Breath Burritos at Tito's Taco Palace.
Where did we eat the spicy food? At
Tito's Taco Palace!
Remember
that a prepositional phrase will never contain the subject of a
sentence.
Sometimes a noun
within the prepositional phrase seems the logical subject
of a verb. Don't fall for that trick! You will never find a
subject in a prepositional phrase. Look at this example:
Neither of these cookbooks contains the
recipe for Manhattan-style squid eyeball stew.
Cookbooks do indeed contain recipes. In
this sentence, however, cookbooks is part of the prepositional phrase of these
cookbooks. Neither—whatever a neither is—is the subject for the verb contains.
Neither is singular, so you need the
singular form of the verb, contains. If you incorrectly identified cookbooks
as the subject, you might write contain, the plural form, and thus commit a
subject-verb agreement error.
Some prepositions—such as along with
and in addition to—indicate "more to come." They will make you think
that you have a plural subject when in fact you don't. Don't fall for that
trick either! Read this example:
Tommy, along with the other students,
breathed a sigh of relief when Mrs. Markham announced that she was postponing
the due date for the research essay.
Logically, more than one student is
happy with the news. But Tommy is the only subject of the verb breathed. His
classmates count in the real world, but in the sentence, they don't matter,
locked as they are in the prepositional phrase.
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Article
content begins
A phrase is a group of words that forms
a unit but does not contain a subject and verb. We use many types of phrases in
building sentences. This article focuses on prepositional phrases.
What
is a prepositional phrase?
A prepositional phrase is a word group
that begins with a preposition. A preposition is a joining word that links a
noun to another word in a sentence. (For more on prepositions, see Parts of Speech: Prepositions.)
Every prepositional phrase contains at
least two words: a preposition at the beginning and at least one noun or
nominal (a word or word group acting as a noun). Any modifiers or other words
connected to the noun or nominal are also part of the phrase:
at home: (at + noun home)
between Alice and Joe: (between + nouns Alice and Joe)
for you and me: (for + pronouns you and me)
on a dusty dirt road: (on + modifiers a dusty dirt + noun road)
since coming to Canada: (since + nominal coming to Canada)
with what you have: (with + nominal what you have)
between Alice and Joe: (between + nouns Alice and Joe)
for you and me: (for + pronouns you and me)
on a dusty dirt road: (on + modifiers a dusty dirt + noun road)
since coming to Canada: (since + nominal coming to Canada)
with what you have: (with + nominal what you have)
What
does a prepositional phrase do in a sentence?
A prepositional phrase normally acts as
an adjective or an adverb.
As an adjective, the phrase modifies a noun or a nominal and comes
immediately after the word it modifies:
We bought the house on the corner.
[on the corner modifies the noun
house]
One of the baby birds has fallen
out of the nest.
[of the baby birds modifies the
pronoun one]
I could hear only the sighing of the
wind.
[of the wind modifies the gerund
sighing]
As an adverb, the phrase usually modifies a verb. The phrase may be next
to the verb or at the beginning or end of the sentence:
The letter sat on the desk all
week.
[on the desk modifies the verb sat]
The panther crept silently along the
narrow ledge.
[along the narrow ledge modifies
the verb crept]
With a puzzled look, Jason followed his sister.
[With a puzzled look modifies
the verb followed]
An adverb prepositional phrase may also
modify a verbal (i.e., a present or past participle, a gerund or an
infinitive):
Racing toward the finish line,
Georg left the other runners behind.
[toward the finish line modifies
the present participle racing]
The passengers seated at the back
couldn’t see.
[at the back modifies the past
participle seated]
I don’t mind sailing in rough
weather.
[in rough weather modifies the
gerund sailing]
Do you want to go to a restaurant
for lunch?
[to a restaurant and for
lunch modify the infinitive to go]
Some adverb prepositional phrases
modify adjectives:
The children were afraid of the barking
dog.
[of the barking dog modifies the
adjective afraid]
Sometimes an adverb prepositional
phrase may follow the linking verb be:
Samina was in the garden.
Occasionally, a prepositional phrase
may act as a noun, but this type of structure is unusual in formal writing:
After midnight is the best time to view the comet.
[After midnight acts as the
subject of the verb is]
Practice
Exercise
Indicate the
prepositional phrases in these sentences.
1. After school, the boys played
a game of baseball at the park.
2. We hid our canoe in the bushes
and set up camp by the river.
3. Candy signed her name on the
line and passed the paper across the table.
4. Without any warning, the dog
dashed to the door and barked loudly.
5. The storm caused the tree in our
front yard to fall against the house.
Try to determine
whether the boldfaced word is a preposition or an adverb.
6. Pull up a chair and sit
down by Steven.
7. Throughout the day,
Carla hummed a favorite song to herself.
8. Please bring the newspaper inside.
9. After brushing her
teeth, Margaret likes to read in bed before going to sleep.
10. Run to the store across
the street and pick up a gallon of milk, please.
11. Haley rode her bike across
the bridge into Red Bank and hung out with her friends.
12. Linda stood up and
clapped loudly.
13. Lisa borrowed a sweatshirt from
her friend.
14. Be careful walking across
the wet floor.
15. I saw an interesting show about
Mt. Everest on television yesterday.
Answers
1. After school, the
boys played a game of baseball at the park.
2. We hid our canoe in the
bushes and set up camp by the river.
3. Candy signed her name on
the line and passed the paper across the table.
4. Without any warning,
the dog dashed to the door and barked loudly.
5. The storm caused the tree in our
front yard to fall against the house.
6. up: adverb; down:
adverb; by: preposition
7. Throughout: preposition; to:
preposition
8. inside: adverb
9. After: preposition; in:
preposition; before: preposition
10. to: preposition; across:
preposition; up: adverb; of: preposition
11. across: preposition; into:
preposition; with: preposition
12. up: adverb
13. from: preposition
14. across: preposition
15. about: preposition; on:
preposition; yesterday: adverb
1. It is an
area with a beautiful view of sand and sea.
2. The table of contents is found near the front of the book.
3. The geographical center of the United States is in Kansas.
4. The first automobile show was held in New York City in 1900.
5. The inventor of the telephone was born in Scotland.
6. We stayed inside the building during the storm.
7. The box on the table should be taken to the storeroom before lunch.
8. The tempo of the music was too fast for me.
9. The bridge across the stream was destroyed.
10. A box of rusty nails was in the garage
2. The table of contents is found near the front of the book.
3. The geographical center of the United States is in Kansas.
4. The first automobile show was held in New York City in 1900.
5. The inventor of the telephone was born in Scotland.
6. We stayed inside the building during the storm.
7. The box on the table should be taken to the storeroom before lunch.
8. The tempo of the music was too fast for me.
9. The bridge across the stream was destroyed.
10. A box of rusty nails was in the garage
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