Prepositions & Prepositional Phrases

Prepositions & Prepositional Phrases

Prepositions

A preposition is a single word. It sometimes refers to a direction. Some examples are:

• on
• in
• at
• under
• across

Prepositional Phrases

A prepositional phrase is a group of words (usually 3 to 5 words) that begins with a preposition. Examples:

• in a yellow house
• over the large hill
• at the small pond

A prepositional phrase must always contain a preposition, but it may also contain one or more of the following:

• article (a, an, the)
• noun (some examples are: house, hill, pond)
• pronoun (some examples are: him, her, them)
• adjective (some examples are: yellow, large, pretty)

A prepositional phrase can never contain any one of the following elements:

• subject
• verb
• object

Many prepositional phrases will contain an object TO THE PREPOSITION, but not an object of the main clause of the sentence. 

Example #1

He was mowing the grass around the house.
Explanation: "Grass" is the object of the main clause of the sentence, but "house" is the object of the prepositional phrase "around the house," and therefore, not part of the main clause.

Example #2

She ran the race with some friends.
Explanation: "Race" is the object of the main clause of the sentence, but "friends" is the object of the prepositional phrase "with some friends," and therefore, not part of the main clause.