1. Honors Day 12: Nonfiction
Grammar—Prepositional Phrases
15 minutes work time
“We Shall Overcome”
Outline his argument
Rhetorical analysis in groups
“Flowing” your response/analysis
Homework: Reciprocal Questions: speeches
Outlines due tomorrow, Speeches next week

2. Reciprocal Questioning
Write down questions as you read—questions that would help you make predictions
This will be the basis of discussion tomorrow, so do a good job

3. The traditional outline has three sections: introduction, body, and conclusion. The basic model looks like this:
Title
Introduction
The background—the way it is now, what we already know
The thesis statement—What you are proving, main points
Body
First major category of support
Supporting detail
Second major category of support
Third major category of support
Conclusion
Review of the major categories of support
The answer, solution, or final option

4. Alcohol Testing for Mass Transportation Employees
Example
Alcohol Testing for Mass Transportation Employees
Congress mandates testing for transportation employees
Background on government testing
Explanation of new policy
How and why alcohol testing is used
Circumstances for Alcohol Testing
Pre-employment
Post-accident
Reasonable suspicion
Random
Return to duty/follow-up testing
Method of Alcohol Testing
Blood
Urine
Breath
Performance
Options for Alcohol Abusers
Retesting
Treatment
Termination of employment
Conclusion

5. A phrase is a group of related words that lacks both a subject and a predicate. Because it lacks a subject and a predicate it cannot act as a sentence.
A phrase typically functions as a single part of speech in a sentence (e.g., noun, adjective, adverb).
There are five types of phrases:
1. Prepositional phrases, which begin with a preposition and include the object of the preposition.
2. Participial phrases, which begin with the participle and include the object of the participle or other words that are connected to the noun by the participle.
3. Gerund phrases, which begin with the gerund and include the object of the gerund or other words that are acting as the complete subject or complete object.
4. Infinitive phrases, which begin with an infinitive and include the object of the infinitive or other words that are acting as part of the phrase.
5. Appositive phrases, which are nouns or pronouns adding more information to another noun or pronoun in the sentence.

6. Prepositions
A preposition is a word that links a noun or pronoun following it to another word in the sentence.
about behind around against across as of
outside down except but by on over of
before beyond during despite for onto at
A noun or pronoun always follows a preposition.
A prepositional phrase is a preposition and its object (remember, objects are always nouns or pronouns).
on the wing in the door
near the violently swaying oak trees
on account of his nearly-depleted bank account

7. PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES
The prepositional phrase includes the preposition and the object of the preposition as well as any modifiers related to either.
[In the following examples, the preposition is bold and the prepositional phrase is underlined.]
The flying saucer appeared above the lake before it disappeared into space.
ABOVE is not an adverb because it has an object to complete its meaning; therefore, ABOVE is a preposition and the entire phrase is an adverb phrase.
Crystal could hear her sister snoring across the room.
Objects usually answer the question what. Therefore, we can ask across what? to determine the object of the preposition.
Christine discovered a pile of books hidden under the staircase.
UNDER is not an adverb because it alone does not answer where about the verb.

8. You should consider reading the notes before class.
BEFORE is not an adverb because it alone does not answer where about the verb.
You should consider reading the notes before you come to class.
BEFORE is not a preposition because is not followed by an object that it links to the clause. It is followed by another clause that is subordinate in meaning to the independent clause; therefore, it is a subordinate conjunction.
Alix walk down the ramp to the beach.
DOWN is not an adverb because it alone does not answer where about the verb.
Alix fell down.
DOWN is an adverb answering where about the verb. There is no object, so it cannot be a preposition.

9. More Prepositions and Phrases
The manager with the pink slips terrorized the employees.
The price of the promotion was much too steep.
Something in the corner of the desk was moving.
She lost her head at the retro drive in.
The salesperson skimmed over the product's real cost.
The boss was thrilled at their attitude.
The rock climbers arrived late at night.
Ms. Werner bribed the students with candy.
Rozakis, Laurie. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Grammar and Style. New York: Alpha Books, 1997 (131-32).