Lesson Plan For Parts Of Speech: Prepositions Level 2
OBJECTIVE:
Prepositions are words placed before a noun or pronoun to create a phrase that modifies another word in the sentence. Whew! What? It is better to see one in practice:
“We cannot be too careful in the choice of our enemies.” -Oscar Wilde
“in the choice” is a prepositional phrase that modifies “careful”
“of our enemies” is a prepositional phrase that modifies “choice”
Modify means that the word is enhanced or further defined by the description in the phrase.
Prepositions are important for writers because they allow writers to modify nouns and verbs to add necessary detail to a descriptive sentence.
Creating descriptive sentences in FREESTYLE mode on piclits.com is a great way to practice the creation of prepositional phrases.
Three Groups of Prepositions:
- Prepositions of place, position and direction.
- Prepositions of time.
- Prepositions for other relationships.
PLACE | POSITION | DIRECTION | TIME | OTHER |
above across along among at away from behind below beside between | beyond by down from in in front of inside into near off | on opposite out (of) outside over around through to towards under up | after before at by for during from in | except as like about with without by for |
IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE:
Objects of the preposition cannot be the subject of the sentence. More on this in the “subject verb agreement” lesson, but note that in the following sentence:
The American public in this time of multiple, internal crises is wonderfully tolerant.
–notice that “public” is the subject of the sentence and not “multiple, internal crises” because it is an object of the preposition. So? This makes public a singular subject and “is” is the correct verb.
MODEL PICLIT:
★ notice how “angels” is the subject of the sentence and not “heavens” because it is the object of the preposition.
GUIDED PRACTICE WRITING PROMPT:
- Go to piclits.com
- Sign in with your e-mail and password
- Select a picture from the gallery of pictures
- In “FREESTYLE” mode, CREATE a sentence with at least ONE PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE. Indicate the prepositional phrase by identifying it in parentheses (prepositional phrase).