Download LESSON 9: PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES (ADJECTIVES)

LESSON 9: PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES
(ADJECTIVES)
Relevant Review
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Adjectives describe nouns and pronouns.
Adjective Questions: Which one? What kind? How many? Whose?
Lesson
So far, you have learned that adjectives are made up of one word. Let's study how
groups of words can act together as single adjectives. Crazy!
We’ll be learning about prepositional phrases!
Phrases are groups of words, without both a subject and a verb,
that act together as a single unit (a single part of speech).
You’ve already learned about one kind of phrase: a verb phrase. Remember that a verb
phrase is at least one helping verb and a main verb acting together as a verb.
It’s easy to remember that verb phrases act as verbs because the word verb is right in
their name.
This is a little harder to remember, but prepositional phrases usually act as adjectives or
adverbs. In this lesson, we’ll study prepositional phrases that act as adjectives.
Before we look at the definition of a preposition, let’s look at some examples of
prepositional phrases.
up the hill
into the store
around the blue house
after dinner
The definition of a preposition sounds very complicated, and I find that by teaching with
many examples and not focusing too much on the definition, beginning students can
more easily understand prepositions.
I’ve included a list of common prepositions at the end of this lesson. You can use that as
a reference sheet if you’d like.
Prepositions are words that show the relationship between a noun or a pronoun and
another word or element in the rest of the sentence. They are ALWAYS in prepositional
phrases.
Examples: into the house, around the corner, with ketchup, to him
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Prepositions are one of the parts of speech.
The Parts of Speech
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Nouns name people, places, things, or ideas.
Pronouns take the place of nouns.
Verbs tell us what the subject is or does.
Adjectives modify nouns and pronouns.
Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs.
Prepositions show the relationship between a noun/pronoun and another
word or element in the rest of the sentence. They are ALWAYS in
prepositional phrases.
7. Conjunctions
8. Interjections
A prepositional phrase will begin with a preposition and end with a noun or a
pronoun. It will often include adjectives that modify the noun or pronoun.
into the house: into = preposition, house = noun, the = adjective modifying house
The technical name for a noun or a pronoun in a prepositional phrase is the object of the
preposition.
This is another noun job! You know that one noun job is a subject, and now you know
about another noun job: object of the preposition.
Prepositional Phrases Act As Single Parts of Speech (Adjectives)
Look at this sentence. What kind of word is striped?
The striped monkey fell.
Striped is an adjective modifying the noun monkey. It tells us which monkey.
Now look at this sentence. What is with stripes? What is its role in the sentence?
The monkey with stripes fell.
With stripes is a prepositional phrase. It starts with a preposition (with), and it ends with
a noun (stripes). The whole phrase is acting as an adjective. The prepositional phrase
answers an adjective question. It tells us which monkey.
Which monkey? The monkey with stripes.
Do you see how the whole phrase is acting as an adjective? Good!
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© www.English-Grammar-Revolution.com Diagramming Prepositional Phrases (Adjective)
The preposition goes on a slanted line under the noun or pronoun that it modifies. The
object of the preposition goes on a horizontal line after it.
Do you see how this is similar to diagramming adjectives?
You can tell from the diagram that the whole phrase is acting as an adjective because
the whole phrase is connected to a noun or a pronoun.
If the prepositional phrase has any adjectives modifying the object of the preposition,
diagram them on slanted lines underneath the object of the preposition, just as you
would with any adjective modifying a noun.
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Lesson 9 Sentence Diagramming Exercises
1. The girl in the back row sat down.
Key
The girl in the back row sat down.
girl
sat
The
prepositional phrase (adjective modifying
girl, answers Which one?)
preposition
object of the preposition (noun)
adjective modifying row
adjective modifying row
adverb modifying sat
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© www.English-Grammar-Revolution.com 2. The flowers in the garden grew well.
Key
The flowers in the garden grew well.
flowers
grew
The
in the garden
in
garden
the
well
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3. Two birds with yellow feathers on their wings chirped.
Tip: Where do you think on their wings goes? What is it modifying? It is not telling us
about birds. It is telling us about feathers.
Note that an adjectival prepositional phrase can modify any noun or pronoun, not just the
subject.
In this case, on their wings is an adjectival prepositional phrase modifying the object of
the preposition (a noun) from the previous prepositional phrase!
Key
Two birds with yellow feathers
on their wings chirped.
birds
chirped
Two
with yellow feathers
with
feathers
yellow
on their wing
on
wings
their
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© www.English-Grammar-Revolution.com 4. Can the cat behind the fence jump?
Key
sentence – question
sentence – statement
subject (noun)
verb phrase
helping verb
main verb
adjective modifying cat
prepositional phrase (adjective modifying
cat, answers Which one?)
preposition
object of the preposition (noun)
adjective modifying fence
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5. The candles on the wall glowed.
Key
The candles on the wall glowed.
candles
glowed
The
on the wall
on
wall
the
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© www.English-Grammar-Revolution.com COMMON PREPOSITIONS
This list of prepositions contains one-word, two-word, and three-word prepositions.
Sometimes, words act together to form one preposition.
A about, above, across, after, against, ahead of, along, among, around, at
B because of, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, besides, between, beyond, but,
by
C circa, concerning
D despite, down, during
E except, except for, excluding
F far from, following, for, from
I in, in addition to, in case of, in front of, in place of, in spite of, including, inside, instead
of, into
N near, next to
O of, off, on, on account of, on behalf of, on top of, onto, opposite, out, out of, outside,
over
P past, plus, prior to
R regarding, regardless of
S since
T than, through, till, to, toward, towards
U under, underneath, unlike, until, up, upon
W with, with regard to, within, without
To see more prepositions and to hear the preposition song, see this page.
www.English-Grammar-Revolution.com/list-of-prepositions.html GET SMART (STUDENT) LESSON 9
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