Prepositional+phrase

=What are prepositions?= Prepositions are usually short words that connect their noun or pronoun object to some other word in the sentence.

Let's let Schoolhouse Rock explain it!

Of course, there's also the preposition song!

The most common prepositions are "about," "above," "across," "after," "against," "along," "among," "around," "at," "before," "behind," "below," "beneath," "beside," "between," "beyond," "but," "by," "despite," "down," "during," "except," "for," "from," "in," "inside," "into," "like," "near," "of," "off," "on," "onto," "out," "outside," "over," "past," "since," "through," "throughout," "till," "to," "toward," "under," "underneath," "until," "up," "upon," "with," "within," and "without."

A **preposition** links nouns, pronouns and phrases to other words in a sentence. The word or phrase that the preposition introduces is called the object of the preposition. A preposition usually indicates the temporal, spatial or logical relationship of its object to the rest of the sentence as in the following examples: The book is **on** the table.The book is **beneath** the table.The book is leaning **against** the table.The book is **beside** the table.She held the book **over** the table.She read the book **during** class. In each of these sentences, a preposition locates the noun "book" in space or in time. What's the object of each preposition?

=What is a prepositional phrase?= A prepositional phrase begins with a preposition, ends with the object of the preposition, and may contain some other words along the way. So, to identify a prepositional phrase one must know how to find the preposition and its object. Or, you could review prepositions and prep phrases this way.

A prepositional phrase is made up of the preposition, its object and any associated adjectives or adverbs. A prepositional phrase can be attached to a noun, verb, or adjective, and can function as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb


 * JOINED TO A NOUN**:
 * the {weather} **in** May
 * {cheese} **from** France **with** live bacteria


 * JOINED TO A VERB**:
 * {sleep} **throughout** the winter
 * {danced} **atop** the tables **for** hours


 * JOINED TO** **AN ADJECTIVE**:
 * {happy} **for** them
 * {sick} **until** recently


 * FUNCTIONING AS AN ADVERB:**
 * The spider crawled slowly **along** the banister. (The preposition "along" introduces the noun phrase "the banister" and the prepositional phrase "along the banister" acts as an adverb, describing where the spider crawled.)
 * The dog is hiding **under** the porch because it knows it will be punished **for** chewing up a new pair **of** shoes. (Here the preposition "under" introduces the prepositional phrase "under the porch," which acts as an adverb modifying the compound verb "is hiding.")
 * The screenwriter searched **for** the manuscript he was certain was somewhere **in** his office. (Similarly in this sentence, the preposition "in" introduces a prepositional phrase "in his office," which acts as an adverb describing the location of the missing papers.)