Prepositions and prepositional phrases

Prepositions are location and time words. They indicate  where things are, where theyre going, and when they happen(ed). Common Prepositions: to, from, for, at, by, with, between, about, in, on, around Prepositional phrase phrase that begins with a preposition. Prepositional phrase can contain nouns, pronouns, and adjectives, but they cannot contain verbs. Examples: -At my house -During the long movie -Between you and me -To my older sister If youre not sure whether a word is a preposition, see if you can place it right before a noun at the end of a sentence. For example, you can say, My friend and I went to the movie because to is a preposition, but you cannot say, My friend and I went when the movie because when is not a preposition. In addition, one of the most frequent questions students ask me is how they can figure out where prepositional phrases begin and end. The answer: a prepositional phrase begins at the preposition and ends right before the verb (if there is one). In the following sentences, the prepositional phrases are underlined. Note that a sentence can easily contain multiple prepositional phrases back to back, and that a prepositional phrase can occur anywhere in a sentence. -The stack of books is sitting on the kitchen table. -One of the stories on the front page of the newspaper discusses the upcoming elections in great detail. -The train is crowded with people on their way home from school and work. -Sitting on the table are a peach and an apple. Prepositional phrases are frequently inserted between subjects and verbs on both the SAT and the ACT in order distract from disagreements, so whenever you see a combination of singular and plural verbs in answer choices, crossing out prepositional phrases can help you identify errors.