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Prepositional Phrases: Quiz 1Instructions: For each of the following sentences, determine if the prepositional phrase is acting like an adjective or an adverb. To prepare for this exercise, you may also want to study adverbs and adjectives. Q.1) He strolled around the garden. AdjectiveAdverbQ.2) John was quite adept at the sideways hug.AdjectiveAdverbQ.3) Major Ballyhoo showed everyone the scar on his belly.AdjectiveAdverbQ.4) That man in the long overcoat is Detective Humphrey Mountebank-Tooks.AdjectiveAdverbQ.5) Sliding into home plate, José just avoided the tag.AdjectiveAdverbQ.6) We visited the Inns of Court.AdjectiveAdverbQ.7) Remember to let her into your heart. (The Beatles)AdjectiveAdverbQ.8) Bram looked through an old telescope.AdjectiveAdverbQ.9) Despite his nervousness, James played a wonderful Hamlet.AdjectiveAdverbQ.10) My mother-in-law has a phobia of suspension bridges.AdjectiveAdverbPrepositional Phrases: Quiz 1Answer KeyQ.1) b. The prepositional phrase (around the garden) answers the question “where did he stroll?” It is telling us something about the verb, which is the job of an adverb.Q.2) b. The prepositional phrase (at the sideways hug) describes the adjective “adept.” It’s the job of an adverb to modify an adjective.Q.3) a. This is a tricky one. You might think that the prepositional phrase (on his belly) tells us “where” the Major “showed” his scar, in which case the phrase would be acting like an adverb (modifying the verb "showed"). But the phrase is more closely tied to the noun “scar.” If we ask, “what kind of scar?” we can answer “the one on his belly.” It’s the job of an adjective to modify the noun.Q.4) a. The prepositional phrase (in the long overcoat) is describing the “man.” Since “man” is a noun, the phrase is acting like an adjective.Q.5) b. One of the jobs of an adverb is to modify a verbal. One type of verbal is a present participle (a verb ending in -ing). Here the prepositional phrase (into home plate) is modifying the present participle “sliding.” If we ask, “sliding where?” our answer is the prepositional phrase.Q.6) a. The prepositional phrase (of Court) is modifying the noun “Inns” and so is acting like an adjective.Q.7) b. The prepositional phrase modifies the verb “let” and answers the question “let where?” It is therefore acting like an adverb.Q.8) b. The prepositional phrase (through an old telescope) tells us where Bram looked. It is therefore modifying the verb (looked).Q.9) b. The prepositional phrase is telling us more about the verb “played.” It gives us some description of the circumstances in which James played.Q.10) a. The prepositional phrase (of suspension bridges) describes the noun “phobia.” ................
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