Prepositions & Prepositional Phrases Lesson
Although you're probably familiar with the basic parts of i speech—nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs—prepositions might be strangers to you. You will see, however, that they are important to good writing allowing for sentence variety and clear description.
What are Prepositions?
Prepositions are words that show relationship bereen a ter Pret to another word in a sentence. Look at this sentence below:
There is a lot of trash beneath the house.
Explanation for example: The preposition, "beneath", shows the relationship between the noun, "trash", and the word, "house".
It tells you where the trash is. Here is a list of common prepositions below:
About
Above
Across
After
Against
Along
Among
Around
At
Before
Below
Beneath
Beside
Beyond
By
Down
During
Except
For
From
Inside
Into
Like
Near
Of
Off
On
Outside
Over
Past
As you can see, prepositions are not limited to showing physical relationship. They can also show temporal (time-related) and logical relationships. Take a look at these examples:
The man standing behind me in line was smoking a cigar. (physical)
- Before lunch, you should stop by and visit me. (temporal)
- Except for the weather, our vacation was wonderful. (logical)
Prepositional Phrases
All prepositions exist in groups of words which form prepositional phrases. These parts of speech begin with a preposition and end with an object of the preposition. Study the sentences below. The prepositional phrase is italicized; the object of the preposition is in bold print.
The girl ran on the field.
- Above the valley soared the hawk.
- We had a lot of fun during our vacation.
Remember that the subject of the sentence is never in a prepositional phrase. This can confusing especially when a sentence has more than one prepositional phrase. Take a look at this example—
During the concert, she sat near the manager, who was among the elite members of the audience.
Concert, manager, members and audience are all objects of prepositions. The subject of the sentence is she.
(Look at the Wake Up Story to see an examples of excessive prepositional phrases and overuse of the word and in my new reference book. -Lumna10.
On my profile now, the one that has that filtered cover up above 11 chapters are out already, Skylights. —Lumna10.)
But why learn about prepositions? How are they useful? How can they help improve your writing? First of all, prepositions are essential for description. Try to describe a place without using any prepositions. Can you do it? Is the description precise? Secondly, prepositions are very useful for creating sentence variety, an important ingredient in good writing. Take a look at these examples:
- I was asleep during the train ride.
- During the train ride, I was asleep.
- The stars are shining beyond the galaxy.
- Beyond the galaxy, the stars are shining.
- We will not buy a new car until the year 2000.
- Until the year 2000, we will not buy a new car.
Notice how the sentences have a different flavor depending on where the preposition is placed. Which example do you like best? Is one more poetic than another? As you write, then, you should be aware of where you place the prepositions and how this decision affects the sentence.
Writing Prompt Exercise
1. Drawing from the list above, write ten sentences, each containing a preposition. Next, rewrite each sentence with the preposition in a new position. Be careful! Sometimes moving the prepositional phrase can alter the meaning of the sentence.
- We saw the sharks in the aquarium.
- In the aquarium, we saw the sharks.
Certainly, the second sentence is faulty, unless you want to swim with sharks!
Describing Your House or Classroom Prepositions In Action
Writing Prompt Exercise
2. Imagine you have a pen pal. He or she wants a detailed tour of your home. Using lots of prepositions, write a full page describing where you live. Try to create sentence variety by starting some sentences with prepositional phrases. Remember, you're trying to be as clear as possible! Although you will be depending on prepositions, don't overload your description. It is much better to be simple and clear than complex and confusing.