Combining Sentences with Prepositions



1. ENGLISH: Combining Sentences with Prepositions

A prepositional phrase is a group of words with a preposition at the beginning and a noun or pronoun at the end.

The noun or pronoun at the end of the phrase is called the object of the preposition. The object of the preposition answers the question what? or whom? in relation to the preposition. To locate the object of the preposition, read the preposition and then ask "what?" or "whom?"

Some Commonly Used Prepositions

|about |above |accompanied by |according to* | across |

| after |against  |along |around |among  |

|at  |away from | |before |behind |

|below | beneath |beside |between |beyond |

|by |down |during |Except* |for  |

|from  |in |in addition to* |in spite of* |Including* |

|inside  |instead of |into |like | near  |

|of  |off |on |onto  | out  |

|out of |outside |over |past |since |

|through |throughout |to |together with |toward  |

|under |underneath |until |up  |up to |

|upon |with |within |without | |

Note that many prepositions show time or place or direction. As a result, they are very effective at creating transition in descriptive passages. The two sentences below (courtesy of John Steinbeck) are linked by a prepositional phrase. Note how the use of prepositional phrases at the beginning of sentences improves both transition and sentence variety (syntax)

The river’s water is warm too, for it has slipped twinkiling over the yellow sands. On one side of the river, the golden foothill slopes curve up to the strong Galiban Mountains, but on the valley side, the water is lined with trees – willows fresh and green with every spring.

There is a path through the willows and among the sicamores, a path beaten hard by boys cominfrom the ranches to swim in the deep pool, and beaten hard by tramps who come wearily down from the highway in the evening to jungle-up near the water. In front of the low horizontal limb of a giant sicamore, there is an ash pile made by many fires; the limb is worn smooth by men who have sat on it.

ADD AN IDEA TO THE FOLLOWING USING A PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE

The department store suddenly exploded.

He sat quietly on the bench oblivious to the impending danger.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download