How do you identify a prepositional phrase in a sentence?

Answer 1

A prepositional phrase is a group of words that starts with a preposition and ends with the object of the preposition (a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase).

Let's look at some steps to identifying prepositional phrases.

1. To identify a prepositional phrase, you first need to identify the preposition. Prepositions come before the noun or noun phrase to give us more information about the noun. Prepositions connect the noun to the rest of the sentence. A preposition can be a word or a phrase.

Here are a few common prepositions:

(For a good list of English prepositions with definitions, see the links below.)

• on
• by
• against
• under
• through
• above
• in
• between
• next to
• behind
• on top of
• during
• inside

2. Once you have found a preposition in a sentence, you need to keep reading to find the object of the preposition that ends the sentence. It will be a noun or pronoun that comes after the preposition. It may not be directly after the preposition as there may be other words in the phrase.

Let's practice identifying the prepositional phrase in this sentence:

She waited inside the house.

In this sentence, "inside" is the preposition.

We continue reading after the preposition to find the object of the preposition.

"The" is not a noun or pronoun, so it cannot be the object of the preposition.

The next word is "house." It is a noun and the object of the preposition "inside."

So, the prepositional phrase is "inside the house."

We could also have other adjectives in our prepositional phrase.

• inside the green house
• inside our house
• inside our big, green house

All of the above examples are prepositional phrases beginning with the preposition "inside" and ending with the object of the preposition "house."

See the links provided for more information about prepositions and prepositional phrases.

Answer 2

A prepositional phrase is a group of words containing a preposition, its object, and any modifiers. To identify a prepositional phrase in a sentence, look for a word that functions as a preposition (e.g., in, on, at) followed by a noun or pronoun (the object of the preposition). The words in between form the prepositional phrase.