LESSON 9: PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES (ADJECTIVES)

Transcription

1 Relevant Review LESSON 9: PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES (ADJECTIVES) Adjectives describe nouns and pronouns. Adjective Questions: Which one? What kind? How many? Whose? Lesson So far, you have learned that adjectives are made up of one word. Let's study how groups of words can act together as single adjectives. Crazy! We ll be learning about prepositional phrases! Phrases are groups of words, without both a subject and a verb, that act together as a single unit (a single part of speech). You ve already learned about one kind of phrase: a verb phrase. Remember that a verb phrase is at least one helping verb and a main verb acting together as a verb. It s easy to remember that verb phrases act as verbs because the word verb is right in their name. This is a little harder to remember, but prepositional phrases usually act as adjectives or adverbs. In this lesson, we ll study prepositional phrases that act as adjectives. Before we look at the definition of a preposition, let s look at some examples of prepositional phrases. up the hill into the store around the blue house after dinner The definition of a preposition sounds very complicated, and I find that by teaching with many examples and not focusing too much on the definition, beginning students can more easily understand prepositions. I ve included a list of common prepositions at the end of this lesson. You can use that as a reference sheet if you d like. Prepositions are words that show the relationship between a noun or a pronoun and another word or element in the rest of the sentence. They are ALWAYS in prepositional phrases. Examples: into the house, around the corner, with ketchup, to him GET SMART (STUDENT) LESSON 9 1

2 Prepositions are one of the parts of speech. The Parts of Speech 1. Nouns name people, places, things, or ideas. 2. Pronouns take the place of nouns. 3. Verbs tell us what the subject is or does. 4. Adjectives modify nouns and pronouns. 5. Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. 6. Prepositions show the relationship between a noun/pronoun and another word or element in the rest of the sentence. They are ALWAYS in prepositional phrases. 7. Conjunctions 8. Interjections A prepositional phrase will begin with a preposition and end with a noun or a pronoun. It will often include adjectives that modify the noun or pronoun. into the house: into = preposition, house = noun, the = adjective modifying house The technical name for a noun or a pronoun in a prepositional phrase is the object of the preposition. This is another noun job! You know that one noun job is a subject, and now you know about another noun job: object of the preposition. Prepositional Phrases Act As Single Parts of Speech (Adjectives) Look at this sentence. What kind of word is striped? The striped monkey fell. Striped is an adjective modifying the noun monkey. It tells us which monkey. Now look at this sentence. What is with stripes? What is its role in the sentence? The monkey with stripes fell. With stripes is a prepositional phrase. It starts with a preposition (with), and it ends with a noun (stripes). The whole phrase is acting as an adjective. The prepositional phrase answers an adjective question. It tells us which monkey. Which monkey? The monkey with stripes. Do you see how the whole phrase is acting as an adjective? Good! 2 GET SMART (STUDENT) LESSON 9

3 Diagramming Prepositional Phrases (Adjective) The preposition goes on a slanted line under the noun or pronoun that it modifies. The object of the preposition goes on a horizontal line after it. Do you see how this is similar to diagramming adjectives? You can tell from the diagram that the whole phrase is acting as an adjective because the whole phrase is connected to a noun or a pronoun. If the prepositional phrase has any adjectives modifying the object of the preposition, diagram them on slanted lines underneath the object of the preposition, just as you would with any adjective modifying a noun. GET SMART (STUDENT) LESSON 9 3

4 Lesson 9 Sentence Diagramming Exercises 1. The girl in the back row sat down. The girl in the back row sat down. girl sat The prepositional phrase (adjective modifying girl, answers Which one?) preposition object of the preposition (noun) adjective modifying row adjective modifying row adverb modifying sat 4 GET SMART (STUDENT) LESSON 9

5 2. The flowers in the garden grew well. The flowers in the garden grew well. flowers grew The in the garden in garden the well GET SMART (STUDENT) LESSON 9 5

6 3. Two birds with yellow feathers on their wings chirped. Tip: Where do you think on their wings goes? What is it modifying? It is not telling us about birds. It is telling us about feathers. Note that an adjectival prepositional phrase can modify any noun or pronoun, not just the subject. In this case, on their wings is an adjectival prepositional phrase modifying the object of the preposition (a noun) from the previous prepositional phrase! Two birds with yellow feathers on their wings chirped. birds chirped Two with yellow feathers with feathers yellow on their wing on wings their 6 GET SMART (STUDENT) LESSON 9

7 4. Can the cat behind the fence jump? sentence question sentence statement subject (noun) verb phrase helping verb main verb adjective modifying cat prepositional phrase (adjective modifying cat, answers Which one?) preposition object of the preposition (noun) adjective modifying fence GET SMART (STUDENT) LESSON 9 7

8 5. The candles on the wall glowed. The candles on the wall glowed. candles glowed The on the wall on wall the 8 GET SMART (STUDENT) LESSON 9

9 COMMON PREPOSITIONS This list of prepositions contains one-word, two-word, and three-word prepositions. Sometimes, words act together to form one preposition. A about, above, across, after, against, ahead of, along, among, around, at B because of, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, besides, between, beyond, but, by C circa, concerning D despite, down, during E except, except for, excluding F far from, following, for, from I in, in addition to, in case of, in front of, in place of, in spite of, including, inside, instead of, into N near, next to O of, off, on, on account of, on behalf of, on top of, onto, opposite, out, out of, outside, over P past, plus, prior to R regarding, regardless of S since T than, through, till, to, toward, towards U under, underneath, unlike, until, up, upon W with, with regard to, within, without To see more prepositions and to hear the preposition song, see this page. GET SMART (STUDENT) LESSON 9 9