Prepositional Phrases
September 16, 2025
Posted by STLCC in Tutoring Resources
Basic Usage
A prepositional phrase begins with a preposition and ends with a noun—a person, place, thing, or idea. Prepositional phrases add description or answer questions like where or when.
Although prepositional phrases add valuable information to sentences, they may keep you from seeing the basic parts of a sentence, like the subject and verb.
Learning to spot prepositional phrases will help you see the structure of a sentence more clearly.
How to Find Prepositional Phrases
What are the subject and verb in the following sentence?
Under these circumstances, one of the fellows drove to the North Woods during the first week of his vacation.
To find the subject and verb, highlight (in bold) all the prepositional phrases:
Under these circumstances, one of the fellows drove to the North Woods during the first week of his vacation.
When you do this, only two words are left—the subject and the verb.
Even in short sentences, you may identify the wrong word as the subject. To identify the subject, highlight (in bold) the prepositional phrases, as in the following examples:
One of my friends lives in Chicago.
One of my friends lives in Chicago.
Most of the team went on the trip.
Most of the team went on the trip.
Remember this rule: The subject and verb are never in a prepositional phrase.
Examples
Some of the more common English prepositions are used in the phrases below:
| above the law | across the country | against the wall |
| among the crowd | around the corner | at home |
| before sunrise | behind the house | below ground |
| beneath the surface | beside the road | by the sea |
| during vacation | except them | from the news |
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