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 50 English prepositions are used in 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

in time
inside the school
into the mist

like the sky

near the car

of them
on our own
over the river

past the building

through the woods
to the moon
toward the mountain

under water
until sunset
upon the table

with me
within the city limits
without promise