ABSTRACT
Common Core Language Standard 4.1 calls for students to “Form and use prepositional phrases” (Common Core, 2010). A prepositional phrase is a group of words that begins with a preposition and ends with a noun or pronoun, which is called the object of the preposition. Prepositions are used to show relationships between words in a sentence, such as where something is located or when something happened. For example, in the sentence “I ran across the street,” “across the street” is a prepositional phrase; across is the preposition and street is the object of the preposition. In this sentence, the prepositional phrase tells readers where the person ran. Prepositional phrases can also tell when something happened, as in the following example: “After the game, we ate ice cream.” In this example, “after the game” is the prepositional phrase; after is the preposition and game is the object of the preposition. To create and use prepositional phrases, students need to know what prepositions are. Figure 9.1 (below) is a list of 20 frequently used prepositions to get students started thinking about this concept.
