To find a prepositional phrase, you're going to first need to be able to recognize a preposition. A helpful way to do this might be to search for a list of prepositions on the internet. Some examples of prepositions are beside, from, in, near, until, and upon.
It's important to note that many of these words can also serve as other parts of speech. For example, outside can function as an adverb or even a noun. So what makes a preposition different?
By function, a preposition has an object. This will be a noun or pronoun which follows the preposition, but you might find words between the two. Here are a couple of examples not related to the text Sixteen:
- I sat beside Jamal. (Beside whom? Jamal—that's the object.)
- I sat beside my best friend Jamal . (Now there are some modifiers...
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- which fall between the preposition and the object—Jamal. All of these words are part of the prepositional phrase.)
Prepositions are common in our language, so a text like Sixteen will have lots of them. Here are some examples to help you get an idea of what they will look like.
- "I know that it is absolutely forbidden to wear coloured ankle-socks
with high-heeled shoes or use Evening in Paris perfume
with a tweed suit."(There are two prepositional phrases in
this sentence. Both begin with with and end with the objects
shoes and suit.)
- "I don't know why they are always wear out so fast—just in the toes, too." (This phrase begins with the preposition in and ends with the noun toes.)
A clause has both a subject and a verb and may or may not function as an independent sentence. It's possible to find prepositional phrases inside of other clauses, such as in the following example.
- "My mother always puts the porch light on when I go away at night."
In this sentence, the clause "when I go away at night" is a dependent clause. Although it contains both a subject and a verb, it begins with the subordinate conjunction "when" and therefore cannot function as a complete thought by itself. Within this clause, you see the prepositional phrase "at night."
Prepositions are words that connect words and phrases together, typically showing relationships between nouns. These words, such as "above," "beside," "from," or "at," show relationships that connect nouns together—showing directions, positioning, or other relationships.
Some of the prepositional phrases include "I look like a picture always in one of those magazines articles...", "...almost to your shoulders...", and more.
These articles, "in" and "to," and other prepositions show relationships between nouns, the first being the relationship between the pictures and magazine articles—they are inside them—and the second being the relationship between the hair and the shoulders (almost to). These relationships help establish the layout and connections between the various nouns in the phrases, ensuring that we, the readers, have a clear picture of how things sit.
A prepositional phrase is a group of words that work together as a unit, introduced by a preposition, which is usually a spatial or temporal indicator such as "to," "from," "at," "over," "under," "with," "before," or "after."
A prepositional clause is a section of a sentence that includes a subject and a verb or verbal and is introduced by a preposition.
In "Sixteen," some examples of prepositional phrases are as follows:
"On the end:" The spatial preposition "on," following and modifying the way the dog's breath looked like a balloon, introduces a group of words that work together.
"On my toes" and "into the night air" are instances of prepositional phrases which locate the narrator spatially.
An example of a prepositional clauses is below:
with its old black face turned to the wall
"With" is the prepositional that introduces this clause, connecting the phone's face to the phone itself. "Face" is the subject of the clause and "turned" is the verb.
Prepositions are words that define relationships between nouns. "At," "by," "under," and "with" are all examples of prepositions.
A prepositional phrase is, as the name suggests, a phrase that starts with a preposition and contains a noun, gerund, or clause. These phrases generally function as adjectives or adverbs. For example, the sentence "the letter from my mother sat on my desk" has two prepositional phrases: "from my mother" and "on my desk." "From my mother" functions grammatically as an adjective, describing the nature of the letter. "On my desk" functions as an adverb, describing where and how the letter sat.
The term "prepositional clause" isn't generally used, but I'm guessing that it means a prepositional phrase using a noun clause. For example, in the sentence "I plan according to whatever the weatherman says," "I" is the subject, "plan" is the verb, "according to" is a preposition, and the entire clause that follows it is part of that modifying phrase.
Sixteen, by Maureen Daly, has numerous examples of prepositional phrases. This isn't noteworthy in and of itself; those phrases are an essential part of English communication. If your instructor has indicated you should use these phrases to build a literary thesis, you may need to do some digging. But assuming this is meant primarily as a grammar lesson, here are a few examples just from the first couple of paragraphs:
- ". . . and the peasant hankie should be draped cleverly around your neck, fastened with a ring."
- "You get to know what New York boy is crazy about what Hollywood actress on the West Coast."
- "The skating rink isn't far from our house."
- "I don't know why they are always wear out so fast—just in the toes, too."
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