Passive vs. Active voice Taller de inglés científico para publicaciones académicas Mexico City, México October 2013 PREPOSITIONS / PHRASAL VERBS Grammar Review for Academic Purposes

Prepositions A preposition is a small word (usually six letters or less) that is used to show the relationship between nouns in a sentence.  The squirrel is in the tree. (“in” shows the relationship of the squirrel to the tree, in this case the location of the squirrel.)  The meeting is on Friday. (“on” shows the relationship of the meeting to the day of the week, in this case the time of the meeting.)

Prepositions show relationships of  Time: They are going to Italy in June.  Location: I am waiting at the bus stop.  Direction: She is going to the bank.  Position: Her purse is under the table. For explanations of the most common prepositions please see: up/grammar/prepositionshttp:// up/grammar/prepositions

Prepositions used in combinations There are some verbs that take a preposition after them.  Please forgive me for crashing your car! There are some adjectives that take a preposition before them.  I’m finished with this computer. You can use it now. There are no rules for these situations. They need to be memorized.

Phrasal verbs and academic writing It is common to use other synonyms instead of phrasal verbs in academic writing. E.g.  They threw out the flawed results.  They discarded the flawed results. However, phrasal verbs may be used when paraphrasing or explaining.  When asked what person they most looked up to, many of the teens were evasive.