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T h e P r e p o s i t i o n a l P h r a s e

Recognize a preposi t ional phrasewhen you see one.

At the minimum, a prepositional phrase will begin with aprepositionand end withanoun,pronoun,gerund, orclause, the "object" of the preposition.

Theobject of the prepositionwill often have one or moremodifiersto describe it. These are thepatterns for a prepositional phrase:, P R O N O U N , G E R U N D , O R C L A U S E

Here are some examples of the most basic prepositional phrase:

At hom e

At= preposition; home= noun.

In time

In= preposition; t ime= noun.

From Richie

From= preposition; Richie= noun.

With me

With= preposition; me= pronoun.

By singing

By= preposition; singing= gerund.

About wh at we nee d

About= preposition; what w e 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

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In= preposition; the, weedy, overgrown= modifiers; garden= noun.

Alo ng the bus y, si x- la ne hi ghwa y

Along= preposition; the, busy, six- lane= modifiers; highway= noun.

Without excessively worrying

Without= preposition; excessively= modifier; worry ing= gerund.

Understand what prepositional phrases doin a sentence.

A prepositional phrase will function as anadjectiveoradverb. As an adjective, the prepositionalphrase will answer the question Which one?

Read these examples:

The book o n t h e b a t h r o om f l o o r is swollen from shower steam.

Which book? The one on the bathroom f loor!

The sweet potatoes i n t h e v e g e t a b l e b i n are green with mold.

Which sweet potatoes? The ones forgotten in the vegetable bin!

The note f r o m B e v e r ly confessed that she had eaten the leftover pizza.

Which note? The one f rom B ever ly!

As an adverb, a prepositional phrase will answer questions such as How? When? orWhere?

Freddy is stiff f r o m y e s t er d a y ' s l o n g f o o t b a l l p r a c t ic e .

How did Freddy get stiff? From yesterday's long footbal l pract ice!

Be f o r e c l a s s , Josh begged his friends for a pencil.

When did Josh do his begging? Before class!

Feeling brave, we tried the Dragon Breath Burritos a t T i t o ' s T a c o P a l ac e .

Where did we eat the spicy food? At Tito's Taco Palace!

Remember that a prepositional phrase will nevercontain the subject of a sentence.

Sometimes anounwithin the prepositional phrase seems the logicalsubjectof averb. Don't fall forthat trick! You will neverfind a subject in a prepositional phrase. Look at this example:

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Neithero f t h e s e c o o k b o o k s contains the recipe for Manhattan-st yle squid eyeball

stew.

Cookbooks do indeed contain recipes. In this sentence, however, cookbooksis part of theprepositional phrase of these cookb ooks. Neitherwhatever a neither isis the subject for the

verb contains.

Neitheris singular, so you need the singular form of the verb, contains. Ifyou incorrectlyidentified cookbooksas the subject, you might write contain, the plural form, and thuscommit a subject-verb agreement error.

Some prepositionssuch as along withand in addi t ion toindicate "more to come." They willmake 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, a l o n g w i t h t h e o t h e r s t u d e n t s , 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 theverb breathed. His classmates count in the real world, but in the sentence, they don't matter, lockedas they are in the prepositional phrase.