April 15 - zoom notes

Prepositional Phrases Notes from 4-15-20 Zoom Meeting

Today we talked about:

• creating prepositional phrases,
• writing sentences with prepositional phrases,
• identifying prepositional phrases,
• deciding if prepositional phrases are doing the work of adjectives or adverbs,
• how to tell the difference between a prepositional phrase and an infinitive.

CREATING A PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE

To make a prepositional phrase, you need a PREPOSITION and a noun or pronoun. We call that noun (or pronoun) in a prepositional phrase the OBJECT OF THE PREPOSITION.

Here are some examples we made during the Zoom today:

· beside the shelf beside is the preposition, shelf is the object of the preposition

· beside the table beside is the preposition, table is the object of the preposition

· with them with is the preposition, them is the object of the preposition

· to France to is the preposition, France is the object of the preposition

WRITING SENTENCES WITH PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES

You’ve all written sentences that include prepositional phrases, so this part shouldn’t be a big deal. Here are a few sentences we wrote in the Zoom. The underlined parts are the prepositional phrases.

I am standing beside your mom.

We are eating bacon with orange juice.

Kelsie is the girl with blue hair.

IDENTIFYING PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES

We didn’t talk about this too much in the Zoom, but the real key to identifying prepositional phrases is to memorize the list of prepositions. I’d be willing to bet that you already know the most common prepositions, just without knowing that you know them.

Here are some common prepositions: to, with, for, on, over, around, from, about, under, near You can find a more complete list of prepositions on the prepositions page of my Google site.

IS THE PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE DOING THE WORK OF AN ADJECTIVE OR ADVERB?

Before you can decide if a prepositional phrase is acting like an ADVERB or an ADJECTIVE, you have to know what those two parts of speech do. You know that adverbs and adjectives are describing words, right?

ADVERBS describe (or modify) VERBS, ADJECTIVES, and ADVERBS. They give information about TIME, DEGREE, MANNER, LOCATION, and PURPOSE

ADJECTIVES modify (or describe) NOUNS and PRONOUNS. They describe WHICH ONE, WHAT KIND, HOW MANY, or HOW MUCH.

Here are the examples we did in the Zoom today. The things in parentheses are the prepositional phrases. The underlined thing is what's being described (or modified).

1. I am standing (beside your mom). shows location (where you’re standing).
2. I am eating bacon (with orange juice) manner (how I ate the bacon)
3. I slammed the door (with anger). manner (how I slammed the door)
4. I slammed the door (with all the stickers). which door? what kind of door? (door with stickers)
5. Kelsie is the girl (with blue hair). which girl?, what kind of girl? the girl (with blue hair)
6. I am going (to the park) (with my friends)(for the party). “to the park” -= location (where they’re going), “with my friends” = manner (how they are going), “for the party” = purpose (why they’re going)
7. I am going (to the park) (with the water slides). “to the park” = location (where they’re going), “with the water slides” = which park, what kind of park?

IS IT A PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE OR AN INFINITIVE?

to + a noun = prepositional phrase to the park, to the moon, to the party

to + a VERB = an infinitive I am planning to eat the cake.

Here’s the example we did in the Zoom:

We are going to swim (to France). to swim = infinitive to France = prep phrase (adverb)