Prepositional Phrases A prepositional phrase Begins with a

Prepositional Phrases

A prepositional phrase • Begins with a preposition and usually concludes with the object of the preposition. • Prepositions show the relationship between its object and another word in the sentence; the relationship can be of space, time, similarity, exclusion, or many others.

The dog in the boat. What does the preposition in show a relationship between? Prepositional phrases behave as modifiers: The dog in the boat barked.

The object of a preposition is an object. • This is a letter for him and me. • She and I went with you and him. • I asked a question about her and us. There is no subject of preposition.

Punctuating prepositional phrases: • We generally do not put a comma after a single short introductory prepositional phrase, but we do put a comma after a long introductory prepositional phrase or after multiple introductory prepositional phrases. From the beginning Churchill suspected Stalin. Like the nation’s true leader, Churchill was blunt. From the start of the war, Churchill suspected Stalin.

Avoid splitting the subject and verb: • The clearest sentences often have the verbs next to the subject, so it is often advisable to avoid putting the prepositional phrase between the two.

Wrong: The collection of rare artifacts were stolen. Right: The collection of rare artifacts was stolen. Better: Thieves stole the collection of rare artifacts.

With furious howling the angry Gauls attacked the legion. prep. adv. n. adj. n. subj. -----prep. phrase------ v. AVP adj. n. D. O.