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Grammar Train!
Toot-Toot!
Two Other Kinds of Phrases
A phrase is just a group of words that cannot stand alone as a sentence because it lacks a subject
and a verb. A phrase, depending on the type, acts as a noun, adjective, or adverb.
The Prepositional Phrase
Prepositions are words that show the relationship of a noun or pronoun, called the object of the
preposition, to another word. A preposition ALWAYS has an object. An object of a preposition MUST
be a noun or a pronoun. A prepositional phrase begins with the preposition and ends with the object
of the preposition.
 As a general rule, the object of the preposition follows the preposition.
Melissa is writing about her stay in the hospital. (Stay is the object of the preposition about;
hospital is the object of the preposition in.)
 Sometimes, however, the object of the preposition comes before the preposition.
What I am most concerned about is your safety. (What is the object of the preposition about.)
Commonly Used Prepositions
Aboard
About
Above
According to
Across
After
Against
Along
Along with
Amid
Among
Around
Aside from
As of
At
Before
Below
Beneath
Beside
Besides
Between
But (meaning except)
By
Down
During
Except
For
From
In
In addition to
In front of
inside
In spite of
Instead of
Into
Like
Near
Next to
Of
Off
On
On account of
Out
Out of
Over
Past
Since
Through
Throughout
To
Toward
Under
Underneath
Until
Unto
Up
Upon
With
Within
without
In elementary school, you might have been taught to think of a squirrel and a log.
Prepositional phrases act as adjectives to describe nouns or as adverbs to tell when, where, how, or
to what extent about verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs.
 Prepositional phrase as adjective:
Those long hairy things on the ends of your feet are toes. (On the ends of your feet modifies
toes.)
 Prepositional phrase as adverb:
Wooly sheep stink in storms. (In storms modifies stink; it tells us when these smelly sheep
stink.)
Norton was happy with his recent neck transplant. (With his recent neck transplant modifies
the adjective happy.)
The Appositive Phrase
An appositive is a noun or pronoun that directly follows and renames another noun or pronoun in the
sentence.
 My dog Spot is covered in stripes. (Spot is an appositive that renames the noun dog.)
An appositive phrase contains an appositive and all the words that modify the appositive.
 Melba uses a special ingredient, a chunky kitty litter, in her banana bran muffins. (A chunky
kitty litter is an appositive phrase that renames the noun ingredient.)
 Suellen, Sally’s sister, hides sausages under the sofa. (Sally’s sister is an appositive phrase
that renames the noun Suellen.)
Punctuation pointer: Most of the time appositive phrases are separated from the
sentence by commas – but sometimes they are not.
Set an appositive phrase off by commas if it is not essential to the meaning of the sentence. If you
could leave the phrase out, and the reader would clearly understand to whom or what you are
referring, do put commas around the appositive phrase.
 War and Peace, the book assigned to the class, weighs sixteen pounds. (The fact that the
book was assigned to the class is not essential – without it you would still know which book
weighs sixteen pounds.)
Don’t set an appositive phrase off by commas if it is essential to the meaning of the sentence. If it is
providing necessary information to identify the person, place, or thing it renames, do not put commas
around the appositive phrase.
 Hilda’s language arts class was assigned the book War and Peace to read over the weekend.
(The appositive, War and Peace, is necessary. Otherwise you wouldn’t know what book was
assigned to the class.)