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A Prepositional Phrase Is A Group of Words That Lacks Either A
A Prepositional Phrase Is A Group of Words That Lacks Either A
as a unified part of speech. It normally consists of a preposition and a noun or a preposition and
a pronoun.
Remember the following rules for prepositional phrases and you will find that using them becomes
much easier.
Prepositional phrases always consist of two basic parts at minimum: the object and the preposition.
In formal English, prepositions are almost always followed by objects.
Adjectives can be placed between the prepositions and objects in prepositional phrases.
Prepositional phrases can act as adverbs or adjectives. When they are used as adjectives, they
modify nouns and pronouns in the same way single-word adjectives do.
When prepositional phrases are used as adverbs, they at the same way single-word adverbs and
adverb clauses do, modifying adjectives, verbs, and other adverbs.
Just like bread and cheese are the minimum ingredients for making a cheese sandwich, a
preposition and the object of a preposition are the minimum requirements for forming a prepositional
phrase. The object of a preposition is the name for the noun or pronoun following the preposition.
Prepositional phrases don’t have to be plain. Just as adding more ingredients to a sandwich dresses
it up, adding more words such as adverbs or adjectives is a good method for spicing up prepositional
phrases. As you read the following examples of prepositional phrases, you’ll notice that the first
sentence in each set contains a basic prepositional phrase, while the second one contains a more
interesting one.
Up the hill
In spite of
Instead of
Any more
On account of