Prepositions
A preposition is a word used with a noun or pronoun to form a prepositional phrase.
Prepositional phrases do the work of adjectives or adverbs, adding description and making sentences more interesting. Look below the list of prepositions for more information about how prepositional phrases act like adjectives and adverbs.
A prepositional phrase begins with a preposition and ends with a noun or pronoun called the object of the preposition.
IMPORTANT NOTE: watch out for the word "to" as you look for prepositional phrases. While TO can act like a preposition ("to school", "to the moon", "to the store"), it also works with verbs to make an infinitive. An infinitive is a special kind of verb and looks like this: "to make", "to do", "to help".
Here's an example with both kinds of "to": I am going to swim to the lighthouse.
infinitive: to swim (action)
prepositional phrase: to the lighthouse (where I'm planning to swim -- adverb)
Here are some practice sheets for prepositions.
- Prepositional Phrases Practice 1 <-- This is a Google doc version.
- Prepositional Phrase Practice 2 <-- This is a Google doc version
- Prepositional Phrase Practice 3 <-- This is a Google doc version.
I will also post these sheets in Schoology (via Clever) in PDF and Word document forms.
You can also find them on the April 15 page where you don't have to download or anything.
These are some on-line self-checking preposition reviews:
Big Dog Grammar: Self-Test Prepositional Phrases
OWL Prepositions Exercise 2 (#3 is NOT a prepositional phrase, but the exercise thinks it is. Just ignore that one.)
Quia Prepositional Phrases "quiz"
Another Quia Preposition "quiz"
These last four are VERY good reviews, because they're more complex.
It will be easier to check your work on these exercises if you put each prepositional phrases in parentheses.
Towson University Prepositions Exercise 1
Towson University Prepositions Exercise 2