1. Skill Four: Prepositional Phrase
Sentence Composing
Skill Four: Prepositional Phrase

2. Prepositional Phrases
Prepositional phrases are sentence parts that describe people, things, or actions.
Most prepositions are easy to identify because they’re difficult to define.
Most begin with one of these prepositions:
in, before, after, at, down, across, inside, outside, between, within, behind, on, by, under, around, down, into, against, near, through, to, like, except, over, up, without, with, toward, of, by, for, from

3. Prepositional Phrases
Prepositional phrases can contain single or consecutive prepositional phrases.
They can occur as sentence openers, subject-verb splits, and sentence closers.

4. Hint: Think of what Purple Cow can do to a box:
She can jump in the box, inside the box, on the box, under the box, through the box, around the box, over the box, toward the box, with the box, at the box, etc.

5. Lincoln International Airport was functioning. They have no memory.
Here are 2 sentences written by professional writers, but with some parts deleted:
Lincoln International Airport was functioning.
They have no memory.

6. Now compare those sentences w/ the originals:
At half-past six on a Friday evening in January, Lincoln International Airport was functioning, with difficulty. –Arthur Hailey, Airport
They have no memory, of tears or laughter, of sorrow or loving kindness. –Lloyd Alexander, The Book of Three

7. Sentence Openers
Like a lean, gray wolf, he moved silently and easily. – Lloyd Alexander, The Book of Three

8. Sentence Openers
Like a lean, gray wolf, he moved silently and easily. – Lloyd Alexander, The Book of Three

9. Sentence Openers
Through the fence, between the curling flower spaces, I could see them hitting. – William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury

10. Sentence Openers
Through the fence, between the curling flower spaces, I could see them hitting. – William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury

11. Subject-Verb Splits
Ancestors, in every variety of dress, from the Elizabethan knight to the buck of the Regency, stared down and daunted us. – Arthur Conan Doyle, The Hounds of the Baskervilles

12. Subject-Verb Splits
Ancestors, in every variety of dress, from the Elizabethan knight to the buck of the Regency, stared down and daunted us. – Arthur Conan Doyle, The Hounds of the Baskervilles

13. Subject-Verb Splits
Bearded men, in sad-colored garments and gray, steeple-crowned hats, intermixed with women. – Nathan Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter

14. Subject-Verb Splits
Bearded men, in sad-colored garments and gray, steeple-crowned hats, intermixed with women. – Nathan Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter

15. Sentence Closers
The sea is high again today, with a thrilling flush of wind. – Lawrence Durrell, Justine

16. Sentence Closers
The sea is high again today, with a thrilling flush of wind. – Lawrence Durrell, Justine

17. Sentence Closers
Then they came, up the street and around the house. – Hal Borland, When Legends Die

18. Sentence Closers
Then they came, up the street and around the house. – Hal Borland, When Legends Die

19. Your task:
Each scrambled sentence has one or more prepositional phrases.
Working as a team, unscramble the sentence parts and write out the sentence on your white board, punctuating it correctly.
Underline the prepositional phrase(s).
When your group is done, raise your hands quietly and Ms. Preusser will check your response.
The first group to unscramble all three sentences correctly wins!

20. Original Sentences: Standard
1. It was morning, and the new sun sparkled across the ripples of the gentle sea.
2. With the flavor of ham and biscuit in his mouth, the boy felt good.
3. For the first fifteen years of our lives, Danny and I lived within five blocks of each other and neither knew of the other’s existence.

21. Original Sentences: Honors
1. Over Dean’s shoulder, I could see the doctor against the wall with his black bag between his feet.
2. Ima Dean, with a huge bag of yellow and red wrapped candies, was sitting on the floor, delving into it, making one big pile and three smaller ones.
3. With the ivy behind her, with the sunlight through the trees dappling her long blue cloak, and with her nice fresh face smiling across the greenery, she was like a softly colored illustration in one of Colin’s books.

22. Your task:
As you draft your Haroun essay, incorporate and underline at least 3 prepositional phrases:
1 sentence opener
1 subject-verb split
1 sentence closer