EXERCISE 3. FIND THE PREPOSITION AND THE OBJECT OF THE PREPOSITION.SAM...

10. I have never seen anything like it.

Prepositional Phrases

Every day we encounter hundreds of prepositional phrases. Suppose you lost a wrist-

watch—almost every one of us has done something like that—and you looked for it

in your pockets,

on the dresser,

under the sofa,

between the cushions,

and, finally,

on your wrist,

where you discovered it was all along.

All of the italicized expressions above, which describe locations, are prepositional

phrases.

What Is a Prepositional Phrase?

A prepositional phrase is a group of words that (1) beginswith a preposition and (2) ends with the object of thepreposition (a noun or pronoun).

EXAMPLE OF A PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE ENDING WITH A NOUN

:

I wrote with a pen.

PREP. PHR.

(The prepositional phrase with a pen begins with the preposition with and

ends with the noun pen. The noun pen is the object of the preposition with.)

A word that modifies the object of the preposition is considered part of the preposi-

tional phrase:

I wrote with a new pen.

EXAMPLE OF A PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE ENDING WITH A PRONOUN

:

Without her, they would have lost the game.

(The prepositional phrase Without her consists of the preposition without

and the pronoun her. The pronoun her is the object of the preposition with-

out.)