Prepositional Phrases

What is a Prepositional Phrase?

Prepositional phrases are groups of words containing prepositions. Remember that
prepositions are words that indicate the relationships between various elements within a
sentence, and you’ll never have difficulty identifying prepositional phrases.
A prepositional phrase is a group of words that lacks either a verb or a subject, and that
functions as a unified part of speech. It normally consists of a preposition and a noun or
a preposition and a pronoun.

Remember the following rules for prepositional phrases and you will find that using them
becomes much easier.

Prepositional phrases always consist of two basic parts at minimum: the object and the
preposition.
In formal English, prepositions are almost always followed by objects.
Adjectives can be placed between the prepositions and objects in prepositional phrases.
Prepositional phrases can act as adverbs or adjectives. When they are used as
adjectives, they modify nouns and pronouns in the same way single-word adjectives do.
When prepositional phrases are used as adverbs, they at the same way single-word
adverbs and adverb clauses do, modifying adjectives, verbs, and other adverbs.
Just like bread and cheese are the minimum ingredients for making a cheese sandwich,
a preposition and the object of a preposition are the minimum requirements for forming
a prepositional phrase. The object of a preposition is the name for the noun or pronoun
following the preposition.

Prepositional phrases don’t have to be plain. Just as adding more ingredients to a

sandwich dresses it up, adding more words such as adverbs or adjectives is a good
method for spicing up prepositional phrases. As you read the following examples of
prepositional phrases, you’ll notice that the first sentence in each set contains a basic
prepositional phrase, while the second one contains a more interesting one.

Examples of Prepositional Phrases

The following sentences contain examples of prepositional phrases; the prepositional
phrase in each sentence is italicized for easy identification.

The cupcake with sprinkles is yours.

The cupcake with colorful sprinkles is yours.

We climbed up the hill.

We climbed up the very steep hill.

The rabbits hopped through the garden.

The rabbits hopped through the perfectly manicured garden.

Prepositional Phrase Exercises

The following exercises will help you gain greater understanding about how
prepositional phrases work. Choose the best answer to complete each sentence.

There are lots of birds nesting _____________________.

Under the eaves
There
Now
Answer: A. There are lots of birds nesting under the eaves.

After school, the children played tag ________________.

At the park
Roughly
And baseball
Answer: A. After school, the children played tag at the park.

Come ___________________ with me.

Home
Over
Into the store
Answer: C. Come into the store with me.

__________________ the chair sat mouldering in the attic.

Sad to say,
For one hundred years
Incredibly
Answer: B. For one hundred years the chair sat mouldering in the attic.

I gave the children pizza ______________ pancakes for breakfast today.

Instead of
Because of
Any more
Answer: A. I gave the children pizza instead of pancakes for breakfast today.
List of Prepositional Phrases
The following is by no means a complete list of prepositional phrases. While there are
only about 150 prepositions in the English language, there are thousands of other words
that can make their way into prepositional phrases. Learn to create a colorful
prepositional phrase, and your writing will be wonderfully appealing.

Down the tree

Up the hill

Around the mulberry bush

Into the woods

With chopped nuts

Near a fast-flowing river

Within the book’s pages

Through the tunnel

In spite of

Instead of

Any more

On account of

To the fact that

Because of
Appositives

An appositive noun or noun phrase follows another noun or noun phrase in apposition
to it; that is, it provides information that further identifies or defines it. Such “bonus facts”
are framed by commas unless the appositive is restrictive (i.e., provides essential
information about the noun).

Appose is a very old word that one doesn’t cross paths with much except in the realms
of grammar and science. It came to English from Middle French via Latin, and means
“to put near, side by side, or alongside.” It doesn’t quite mean the same as oppose, but
it is quite close in meaning to juxtapose. Apposition is used in medical science to
describe how cell walls defend themselves by thickening themselves with layers of
protection. In grammar, an element is said to be placed in apposition to another element
if it provides an extra layer of description to it.

What Is an Appositive?
At its heart, an appositive is bonus information.

Hermione Granger, a witch at Hogwarts School, is accomplished at spells.

The core of this sentence is Hermione Granger is accomplished at spells. A witch at
Hogwarts School is an appositive noun phrase that gives us additional information
about Hermione Granger.

The Eiffel Tower, Gustave Eiffel’s masterpiece, can be found on the Champs de Mars.
This is a sentence about where the Eiffel Tower can be found. The appositive phrase
Gustave Eiffel’s masterpiece tells us a bit more about the sentence’s subject noun,
Eiffel Tower.

My childhood friend, Anne-Marie, loved horses.

Here, the core sentence is My childhood friend loved horses. It works as a sentence on
its own, but the appositive, the proper noun Anne-Marie, gives the reader supplemental
information about my friend. It renames her.

Commas and Appositives

Appositive nouns and noun phrases are often nonrestrictive; that is, they can be omitted
from a sentence without obscuring the identity of the nouns they describe. Another word
for nonrestrictive is nonessential. Always bookend a nonrestrictive, appositive noun or
phrase with commas in the middle of a sentence. If the noun or phrase is placed at the
end of a sentence, it should be preceded by a comma.

Use Commas to Frame Nonrestrictive Elements

Frédéric Chopin a Polish composer was one of the most celebrated virtuoso pianists of
his day.
Frédéric Chopin, a Polish composer, was one of the most celebrated virtuoso pianists of
his day.
My brother often likens himself to Zeus the god of thunder.
My brother often likens himself to Zeus, the god of thunder.
Depending on the tone you want to achieve and the context, you may also choose
either parentheses or brackets to frame a nonrestrictive appositive phrase.

My brother often likens himself to Zeus (the god of thunder).

My brother often likens himself to Zeus—the god of thunder.
Whichever way you choose to punctuate it, the key is to realize that My brother likens
himself to Zeus is the core sentence and that the god of thunder is nonessential to that
sentence. It is nice to know, but it is not essential in terms of function.

Think of a sentence with a nonrestrictive appositive in it as a motorcycle with a sidecar

attached to it. The sidecar is a lovely addition to the motorcycle and changes the overall
experience of taking it for a spin, but the motorcycle could go on without it. The
nonrestrictive appositive is your sidecar, and it needs punctuation to attach it to the
motorcycle, which is your sentence.

Commas and Restrictive Elements Don’t Mix

When an appositive noun or noun phrase contains an essential element without which a
sentence’s meaning would materially alter, do not frame it with commas.

My friend, Bill, owes me fifty dollars.

My friend Bill owes me fifty dollars.

There are no commas here because Bill is an essential description of my friend. We can
assume from this sentence that the speaker has many friends, but the one who owes
him or her money is Bill. The unlikely circumstance under which the first sentence could
be construed as correct would be if the speaker has only one confirmed friend, and that
friend’s name is Bill.

Now think of a motorcycle again, except now without the sidecar. This is the restrictive
appositive motorcycle. If anyone wants to hitch a ride on this motorcycle, he or she will
have to ride double behind the driver. With this type of appositive, there is no
disconnection between the driver and the passenger; one has his or her arms around
the other. The restrictive appositive motorcycle zooms out of sight—without commas.

Example:

My older sister, Griselda, is going to college in the fall.

They stopped selling my favorite snack, the Cokie Cat.