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.

WH Question Words

We use question words to ask certain types of questions (question word questions). We often refer to them as WH words because they include the letters WH (for example WHy, HoW).

Question Word	Function  หน้าที่	Example  ตัวอย่าง
what	asking for information about something ถามข้อมูล	What is your name?
	asking for repetition or confirmation ถามให้ว่าซ้ำหรือ ยืนยัน	What? I can't hear you. You did what?
what...for	asking for a reason, asking why ถามเหตุผล	What did you do that for?
when	asking about time  ถามเวลา	When did he leave?
where	asking in or at what place or position ถามสถานที่	Where do they live?
which	asking about choice ถามทางเลือก	Which colour do you want?
who	asking what or which person or people (subject) ถามเกี่ยวกับคน	Who opened the door?
whom	asking what or which person or people (object) คนไหน	Whom did you see?
whose	asking about ownership ถามหาเจ้าของ	Whose are these keys? Whose turn is it?
why	asking for reason, asking what...for ถามเหตุผล	Why do you say that?
why don't	making a suggestion  ให้คำแนะนำ	Why don't I help you?
how	asking about manner ถามวิธี	How does this work?
	asking about condition or quality ถามคุณภาพ	How was your exam?
how + adj/adv	asking about extent or degree	see examples below
how far	distance ระยะทาง	How far is Pattaya from Bangkok?
how long	length (time or space) ยาว/นานเท่าไร	How long will it take?
how many	quantity (countable) ถามจำนวนเท่าไร	How many cars are there?
how much	quantity (uncountable) ถามจำนวน	How much money do you have?
how old	age  ถามอายุ	How old are you?
how come (informal)	asking for reason, asking why  ถามเหตุผล	How come I can't see her?