Warm-ups

Prepositional Phrases

Get out a sheet of paper and write Prepositional

Phrases at the top. Then, copy this information:– A preposition is a word that shows the relationship of a noun

to some other word in the sentence.– Prepositional phrases start with a preposition and end with

the object of the preposition.• EX: The silverware is inside the cabinet.

Common Prepositions:

about above across after around

before behind below during for

from in of over through

to under until unto with

Use your highlighter or pencil to mark all of the

prepositions in the paragraph I gave you. There are 25.

Copy this information:

When a sentence’s length and complexity make

it hard to understand, it can help to eliminate the prepositional phrases. Try it with the sentences below. Scratch out the prepositional phrases first. Then, scratch out words that don’t name, but describe (adjectives & adverbs).

My enormous brown dog hides under the kitchen table during Florida’s hurricane season because he is afraid of thunder and lightning.

Her ladyship Calypso clung to him in her sea-hollowed caves – a nymph, immortal and most beautiful, who craved him for her own.

My home is on the peaked sea-mark of Ithaca under Mount Neion’s wind-blown robe of leaves, in sight of other islands – Dulichium, Same, wooded Zacynthus – Ithaca being most lofty in that coastal sea, and northwest, while the rest lie east and south.

Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the story of that man skilled in all ways of contending, the wanderer, harried for years on end, after he plundered the stronghold on the proud height of Troy.

Men hold me formidable for guile in peace and war; this fame has gone abroad to the sky’s rim.

Copy this information:

Prepositional phrases expand your sentences by adding details. They modify nouns & verbs.

Expand the following sentences by adding at least 2 prepositional phrases to each one.

1.The candle flame flickers.

2. I have used a shovel many times.

3.The woman was buying cat food.

Challenge: Expand the following sentence by adding as many prepositional phrases as possible.

4. The farmers drove their tractors.

Copy this information:

If you begin a sentence with 2+ prepositional phrases or 1 really long prepositional phrase, put a comma after the final phrase.

EX: On the extremely steep and rocky cliff, the mountain climbers carefully found their footholds.

If you begin a sentence with a short prepositional phrase, ONLY put a comma if the sentence would be misread without it.

EX: To those outside, the house appeared deserted.

Do not use a comma if the prepositional phrase is immediately followed by a verb.

EX: On the stone above the front door of the building was the date.

Practice. If the sentence needs a comma, write the two words that would surround the comma. If no comma is needed, write no comma.

1. Among contemporary architects throughout the world Pei’s name is unquestionably one of the best known and most respected.

2. After a series of problems with the John Hancock Tower in Boston Pei’s firm lost some business.

3. For a resort hotel in mainland China Pei created a design that pleased everyone.

4. Among Pei’s most successful designs are the East Building of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the pyramid entrance to the Louvre in Paris.

5. About 9,000 years ago in the Middle East around the Jordan River valley both plants and animals were domesticated.

Quiz

Directions:

1. Get out a ½ sheet of paper.

2. Put your name on it.

3. Number 1-5. (You may want to skip lines.)

Quiz