Prepositions are words that specify how something is related to something else in time and space.
They work in a sentence to connect nouns or pronouns with other words and elements.
Let’s start with this example: "The dog swam in the lake."
There are two nouns in this sentence: “dog” and “lake.”
We know from the verb “swam” what the dog is doing, but we need the preposition “in”
to tell us where the swimming is happening.
The dog is swimming in something, and that something is the lake.
The second noun connected with the preposition, in this case the word “lake,”
is called the object of the preposition, and, together with the preposition, forms a prepositional phrase.
There is no subject in the phrase “in the lake,” only a noun.
Because of the preposition “in,” we know it’s a prepositional phrase.
“The” is an article, not a noun, so we know it can’t be the object of the preposition.
“Lake,” the noun we were trying to connect with our first noun “dog,” is the object of the preposition.
Most of the time, though not always, the object of the preposition comes after the preposition
in the prepositional phrase.
When we’re trying to find the prepositional phrase in a sentence, first try to spot the preposition.
Prepositions show direction, location, or time.
Many of the most common prepositions are small words you use every day.
"At," "by," "for," "from," "in," "of," "on," "to," and "with" are all prepositions.
Think about this sentence and try to pick out the prepositional phrase:
"After work, Joe drove to the store in his car."
There are three prepositional phrases in this sentence.
Let’s start with a simple one.
Joe, the proper noun, is connected to the noun “store” by the preposition “to.”
It answers a directional question. Where did Joe go?
He went to the store.
The word “store” is the object of the prepositional phrase “to the store.”
Let’s look for another preposition in this sentence.
You might have noticed our preposition “in” appeared again in this sentence.
“In” isn’t a directional preposition like “to,” but it tells us where Joe was during his drive.
He was in his car.
“Car” is the object of the preposition “in,” and “in his car” is the prepositional phrase.
Now let’s look back to the first word in the sentence, “after.”
This is also a preposition.
Remember, prepositions show direction, location, or time.
“After dinner” is a prepositional phrase that tells us when Joe went to the store.
“Dinner” is the object of the preposition.
Not all prepositional phrases are quite so simple.
Think of it like a sandwich: you have to have bread and filling to make a sandwich, right?
A sandwich can be as simple as cheese between two slices of bread, but it can also have meat, veggies,
and spreads.
We can jazz up prepositional phrases the same way, with adjectives and adverbs.
As long as you still have the “bread" and the "filling,” preposition and object of the preposition,
you’ll still have a prepositional phrase.
Take this sentence, for example: "The swallows flew over the trees near the lake."
“Over the trees” and “near the lake” are the two prepositional phrases in this sentence.
“Over” is a preposition that tells us the direction the swallows flew,
and “near” is a preposition that tells us where the trees were located.
These prepositional phrases are fairly simple, but look what happens if we make the sandwich more
interesting.
"The swallows flew over the dark trees near the town’s renowned lake."
We still have the same two prepositions and prepositional phrases, but the words “dark,” “town’s,”
and “renowned” are all adjectives.
“Dark” is modifying, or adding meaning to, the object, "trees," of the first prepositional phrase,
but it is otherwise not changing the preposition in any way.
The same is true of “town’s” and “renowned.”
They are modifying the object of the preposition, “lake,” in this second phrase “near”
is still the preposition and “lake” is still the object of the preposition.
So let’s recap.
A preposition is a word that answers the question when or where something happened in a sentence.
It connects nouns or pronouns to other nouns in the sentence.
"About," "to," "with," "up," "down," "under," "inside," "after," "before," and "for"
are a few examples of common prepositions.
The object of the preposition is the noun that the preposition is talking about,
and together with the preposition those objects make prepositional phrases.
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