Download Prepositions

Prepositions
A prepositional phrase begins with a preposition
and ends with a noun or pronoun.
 Example:
 after dinner
After is the preposition
Dinner is the object of the preposition
After dinner is the prepositional phrase
Without you
without is the preposition
you is the object of the preposition
without you is the prepositional phrase
That noun or pronoun is called the object of
the preposition.
 To the store
store is the object of the preposition
 with me
me is the object of the preposition
 Sometimes the preposition will have compound objects. This means
that there will be two or more nouns or pronouns following the
preposition.
 To the store and post* office
preposition
store and office are objects of the
 *note that you include only the noun (office) the describing word is
not part of the object of the preposition.
 With john and me
John and me are objects of the preposition
Prepositional phrases will not be the
subject or verb of the sentence.
 Finding the SUBJECT:
 Cross out all the prepositional phrases, find the who ot what the
sentence is about.
 The man with his son walked toward me.
 The man with his son walked toward me.
 Some of the ducklings waddled past us.
 Some of the ducklings waddled past us.
 A book of stamps lay on the table.
 A book of stamps lay on the table.
After finding the subject of the sentence,
decide what happened or what “is” in the
sentence.
 TIP: The verb will never be in the prepositional phrase.
 The man with his son walked toward us.
 The man with his son walked toward us.
 Some of the ducklings waddled past us.
 Some of the ducklings waddled past us.
 A book of stamps lay on the table.
 A book of stamps lay on the table.
There sometimes is a compound subject in a
sentence. Compound subject means there are
two or more subjects in the sentence.
 During the snow storm, the boys and girls rushed home.
 During the snow storm, the boys and girls rushed home.
 Neither my dad nor my mother went to Mexico City.
 Neither my dad nor my mother went to Mexico City.
 Ms. Jones, Mr. Raimo, and Mrs. Burnhart will be in the office from
nine until five.
 Ms. Jones, Mr. Raimo, and Mrs. Burnhart will be in the office from
nine until five.
Helping Verbs
 do
 was
 could
 does
 were
 would
 did
 be
 has
 being
 shall
 been
 will
 have
 had
 can
 may
 must
 is
 might
 am
 are
 should
NOT is never a verb. Do mot underline
NOT as part of the verb phrase.
The child with the red hair did not sit beside me.
He should not have given his comb to me.
This house is not for sale.
 TIP: Box not or n’t, this prevents a you from underlining not (n’t) as
part of the verb phrase.
Sometimes to will come before a verb.
TO + VERB is an infinitive
TO + VERB is NOT a PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE
 To dance, to sing, to yell, to be, to leave, to go are examples of
infinitives.
 Do NOT cross them out as prepositional phrases. Place an
infinitive in parenthesis.
 I like (to sing) in the morning.
 In the morning - a prepositional phrase
 To sing - infinitive (to +verb)
 Always place infinitives in parenthesis!
In an imperative sentence, the subject is (You).
 I. An imperative sentence gives a command.
 II. (You) is termed YOU UNERSTOOD *It is wriiten at the beginning of the sentence,
underlined, and place in parenthesis.
 Go down the street.
 (You) Go down the street.
 Please look at me.
 (You) Please look at me.
 Put the scissors in the drawer.
 (You) Put the scissors* in the drawer.
 * not the subject, Are the scissors putting? No, YOU are putting the scissors.
 Scissors = object
Preposition Vs. Adverb
 A preposition must be part of a prepositional phrase. It must have a
noun or pronoun closely following the preposition.
 If there is no noun or pronoun, then the preposition is not crossed out.
 The dog squeezed in through the doggie door.
 The dog squeezed in* through the doggie door.
 *In cannot be a preposition because there is no noun or pronoun
following it. A preposition must have an abject.
 After lunch the guests walked out into the garden.
 After lunch the guests walked out* into the garden.
 *Out is not a preposition. It does not have a noun or pronoun
(object of the preposition).
Helpful Hints
 I. Words that end in ly are usually adverbs. They are not
prepositions.
We went into the pool carefully.
ADV
We went into the pool carefully.
Slowly the banker walked into the vault.
ADV
Slowly the banker walked into the vault.
If you are not sure if a word is part of the verb, try
putting TO in front of the word. If you cannot divide
it into present (today), and past (yesterday) tenses,
the word probably is not a verb.
 The pie was good.
 Can you say “To GOOD”? Today I good; yesterday I gooded. Good does not
make sense here, and thus, good is not part of the verb.
 Marty was happy.
 Can you say “To Happy”? Today I happy; yesterday I happied. Happy does
not make sense here, and thus, happy is not part of the verb.