Using English Prepositions - Lesson 9: Function and Word Order - Part 1

Some relatives have already sent holiday presents to my children.

I know by the sound

that my children will be happily building things.

Sometimes when my children build

they follow instructions because they want to copy an exact structure.

Other times they use their imagination, and they build freely.

When we build sentences, we can't just put words and phrases wherever we want. Right?

If our sentences lack good structure, what happens?

Communication can fall apart.

Whether you're writing or talking,

knowing how to build a sentence is important.

At this point in your language studies,

you know that a sentence needs a subject and a verb.

You can quickly build sentences like: I'm excited/ They get gifts.

But often our sentences are more complex.

The more we have to say, the longer our sentences can be.

For example: I'm excited about the holidays./ They get gifts from their uncles every year.

Knowing how prepositions work makes it much easier to build sentences.

At the beginning of this series, I told you that prepositions take objects.

And usually prepositions closely follow the words they modify.

In this lesson, we'll look at what exactly prepositional phrases are modifying,

and, perhaps more important, how they're modifying those words.

Let's start with these two examples.

Look closely at the prepositional phrases.

In the first, "about the holidays" ...

We get information about "excited" - an adjective.

Why am I excited?

What kind of word answers the questions WHY and HOW?

An adverb.

And here? "From their uncles every year."

That explains which gifts.

What kind of word describes a noun

and answers the question WHICH ONE(S)?

An adjective.

Let's look at some examples.

Read this text with me.

Look for three prepositional phrases.

Which words do they modify?

All nouns.

Day. Which day? What kind of day?

A day of hope.

People. Which people? What kind of people?

People in their best clothes and party hats.

Time. What time?

A time for reflecting.

Here's another example.

Do you see the prepositional phrase?

What's it modifying?

A pronoun. Someone.

We could say, "Someone anticipates the New Year."

But I want to know which one. What kind of person?

Someone with big plans.

Take a look at some examples.

First, with verbs.

When will I see you? At the party.

And note how a prepositional phrase

doesn't break up a verb from its object.

It still modifies the verb that it modifies,

but you don't break up the verb and the direct object.

Here's another.

We have two prepositional phrases.

And they both modify the verb.

Where are you going? To the party.

And how? Possibly with someone special.

Now some examples with adjectives.

How? Beautiful in that dress.

How? Or why? Happy for you.

If you understand that prepositional phrases basically function as adjectives or adverbs,

you'll have an easier time building sentences.

Let's try an exercise.

I'll give you some practice forming prepositional phrases

and putting them in the right place within a sentence.

I have six sentences for you to look at.

First you'll help me form a prepositional phrase.

Then you'll put it in the right place.

Now I want to give you more information

about the exchange.

I want to tell you that I gathered my neighbors together.

Which preposition means "together"?

With.

We we can form the prepositional phrase "with my neighbors."

Where should we place this phrase?

Well, we can't separate "had" from "cookie exchange"

because that's separating a verb from a direct object.

And we're giving more information about the exchange.

So our prepositional phrase should follow

the noun it's modifying.

What kind of cookie exchange?

A cookie exchange with my neighbors.

But that's not quite clear.

Let me tell you what kind of plate.

It has cookies.

Do you know which preposition we need?

Of.

So where do we put this prepositional phrase?

We're describing the kind of plate,

so this phrase directly follows "plate."

Now I want to add how I learned the recipe.

It was an old friend who taught me.

What preposition can show the source?

From.

So we can say "from an old friend."

Where should we put this phrase?

Well, remember we can't separate the verb from the direct object.

Let's place it at the end.

I learned one special recipe from an old friend.

And the lemon squares have cherries.

So what prepositional phrase can we add here?

With cherries.

And where should we put that phrase?

We're describing "lemon squares."

So let's keep it close to what we're modifying.

How? Well, I used different forms.

Can you think of a prepositional phrase?

I suggest "in."

In different forms. In different shapes.

So this information about how I did it

should go at the end.

Like snowmen and snowflakes...

Okay. Last one.

I want to give you more information.

Such as the time. The afternoon.

What's the prepositional phrase we need?

In the afternoon.

How about the place? My house.

And the preposition needed?

At.

Now you need to decide the order.

What comes first?

Place before time.

We're not quite done yet with this lesson.

Please click here to go on to Part 2.