Word Order with Prepositions - English Grammar with JenniferESL

Hi everyone. I'm Jennifer from English  with Jennifer. Do you like adventure?  

Have you had some adventures in your life? I'm  talking about the kinds of experiences that  

allow you to break from the usual  routine, place you in new environments,  

and introduce you to new challenges. Quick story.  After I graduated from college, I took another few  

months to complete my teacher training. By then, I  was feeling a little burned out, so I took a break  

from academia to figure out my next step, which  eventually would be graduate school. Between my  

undergraduate and graduate work, I had a couple  of adventures in the cruise line industry.

Let me tell you a bit more about the work I did,  

and I'll help you develop a stronger  sense of word order with prepositions.  

We're going to complete a series of tasks  that will check and build your understanding.

Task A. Can you identify all the prepositions?

One. The first ship sailed to the Bahamas.

Two. I worked as a youth counselor.

Three. We had a staff of a dozen counselors or so.

Four. Long hours on my feet  were hard, but the work was fun.

Five. I was also a costume character, and I  silently greeted passengers behind my mask.

Here are the prepositions.

And here are their objects.

Together they form prepositional phrases, and  they can function like adverbs or adjectives.  

These prepositional phrases modify nouns.  They're descriptive like adjectives.

These prepositional phrases modify verbs,  

and they give information such as  direction and manner, just like adverbs.

Very often you'll see a prepositional phrase  towards the end of a clause or a sentence.  

That's because two very common sentence  patterns are subject + verb + adverbial

and subject + verb + object + adverbial.

But prepositional phrases can have other  positions. A sentence can start with an adverbial.

We might have a prepositional  phrase as part of the subject.

And prepositional phrases  can function as complements.

Task B. Where would you place  the prepositional phrases?

Place comes before time, so I can say, "I  got to relax on the beach in my free time.

This prepositional phrase marks the time, and  I can place it in an initial or final position.  

Within a couple of months, I got a nice dark tan.  I got a nice dark tan within a couple of months.

If a place or time marker is important, I may  choose that initial position to emphasize it.

A general guideline is that a prepositional  phrase closely follows the word it modifies.  

And remember not to separate a transitive verb  from the direct object. Place a prepositional  

phrase after the object. So I'll say, "I  made friends from different countries."

Remember to keep prepositional phrases  close to the words they modify.

When did I leave? I left that job after several  months. Where did I go? I traveled to Russia.  

Where did I volunteer? In an orphanage.

I left that job after several months because I  wanted to travel to Russia and volunteer in an  

orphanage. Or I can take the time marker and put  it in the initial position: After several months,  

I left that job because I wanted to travel  to Russia and volunteer in an orphanage.

I told you we usually state place before time.  We also tend to place manner before time.  

Manner, place, time or duration.

O'll relive those memories  with a smile for many years.

Remember we can have a few different  prepositional phrases in a sentence,  

but especially when you're writing, look for  opportunities to be concise. Often a prepositional  

phrase can be replaced. For example: For many  years, I'll happily relive those memories.

Okay. Let's talk about a so-called  rule that often gets broken.  

We form a prepositional phrase with a preposition  and an object. Right? With passengers. On a ship.

With whatever you want.

On it.

But there are times when we separate  the preposition from its object,  

and it sounds completely natural. You  likely already do this in questions.  

Nobody asks, "To whom do you wish to  speak?" It's grammatically correct,  

but it's very formal. In everyday English,  we ask, "Who do you want to talk to?"

When we form a question in everyday English, we  start with a question word, and a preposition  

will stick close to the verb. What are  you looking at? What do you need that for?

This is one reason why it's helpful to  learn collocations. Collocations are common  

combinations of words, like "look at something." "Need something for something."

I go over many collocations in  my playlist on prepositions.

We also separate a preposition from  its object in an adjective clause.  

It's grammatically correct to use a  preposition before a relative pronoun,  

but it's only done in formal  English, mainly in writing.

The ship on which I sailed catered  to families with young children.

The ship I sailed on catered to  families with young children.

Can you make this sentence sound  more like everyday English?  

The other crew members with whom I became friends  were from North America, Asia, and Europe.

The other crew members I became friends with were  from North America, Asia, and Europe. Notice how  

I also chose to omit the relative pronoun because  it's an object pronoun in an identifying clause.  

You can see my playlist on adjective clauses  to review how to use a relative pronoun.

So, sometimes separating a  preposition from its object  

is a matter of choice and a matter  of register: formal or informal.

With passive verbs, this kind of separation  is simply the way we word a sentence.  

We start with the subject, and a  preposition will stick close to the verb.  

Some plans are only talked  about, but never realized.

What's the subject? Some plans.  And the verb? Are talked about.

Changing from active to passive,  we can make an object the subject.

But we can't lose the preposition.  The preposition will stick close to  

the verb: are talked about. Another  collocation. Talk about something.

The subject of the passive  sentence still receives the action,  

so the relationship with the  preposition is still clear.  

If you need to review passive voice,  watch my lesson on active vs. passive.

Try this next short task.  Make the sentences passive.  

Change the verbs in bold from active to passive.

The cruise was paid for before  the passengers came on board.

The crystal blue waters of the  Bahamas are talked about quite a lot.

By the way, some sources have a name for  when the preposition is separated from  

its object. I first learned the term "stranded  preposition." There's also "deferred preposition."  

Recently, a viewer asked me about a "dangling  preposition." So there's a third name. So,  

we can have stranded, deferred, and dangling  prepositions in questions, adjective clauses,  

passive structures, and you'll also see the  separation in a couple of other situations.

I can say, "It was too bright to look  at the white sand on a sunny day.  

Or I can move "white sand"  to the front of the sentence  

and look what happens. The white sand  was too bright to look at on a sunny day.

I used fronting to emphasize sand, and as a  result, I have a stranded preposition: at.

In that example, I'm also using an infinitive:  

to look at. When we use infinitives and gerunds,  we may end up with a stranded preposition.  

Listen now. Listen for two more  examples of stranded prepositions.

Once a passenger chatted with  me about my future. She was an  

older woman who had more life experience,  and she wondered why I was sailing on a ship  

when I could be pursuing my original passion:  education. Her words were worth reflecting on.  

She gave me something to think about. That's  when I decided to apply to graduate school.

Her words were worth reflecting on.

She gave me something to think about.

Let's look at more examples to review all the  patterns. Quickly spot the stranded preposition.  

The second ship I worked on was much smaller.

The job I was hired for was very different.

My work as a gift shop purser was  something I had never prepared for.

My free evenings were what I waited for all  day. I was allowed to dance in the ballroom.

The men I danced with were polite and charming.

During the day, I went to the  upper deck of the steamboat.  

Towns I had only heard of passed before my eyes  as we sailed up and down the Mississippi River.

What cities did we stop in? New Orleans,  Natchez, Vicksburg, Memphis, St. Louis.

New Orleans is a city worth going back to.

Note in number eight "go back" is a phrasal  verb. Sometimes phrasal verbs combine with  

a prepositional phrase. "To" is a stranded  preposition. Go back where? To New Orleans.

Adventure isn't something to long for. Seek it.

Name a goal you want to work towards.

Has your understanding of word  order with prepositions grown?  

I hope so. One tip is to read. Reading  exposes you to grammatical structures,  

and seeing them written gives  you the chance to process them.  

Fiction is a good choice because you get a mix  of literary language and everyday dialogue. We'll  

end here. Please like the video if you found the  lesson useful. I hope you have some adventures,  

and I look forward to having a few more of my own.  As always, thanks for watching and happy studies!

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