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Preposition Object and Modifiers: Prepositional Phrases

Prepositional phrases show location, time, and relationships between people and objects using a preposition and its object. Old-school grammarians claimed sentences should never end with prepositions and prepositions should always have objects, but ending sentences with prepositions is becoming more accepted. Whether to follow the rule depends on whether one is writing formally or informally. A humorous story is told of a southern girl asking northern girls "where you all from" and being told not to end sentences with prepositions, to which she responds "where you all from, witch?".

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15 views1 page

Preposition Object and Modifiers: Prepositional Phrases

Prepositional phrases show location, time, and relationships between people and objects using a preposition and its object. Old-school grammarians claimed sentences should never end with prepositions and prepositions should always have objects, but ending sentences with prepositions is becoming more accepted. Whether to follow the rule depends on whether one is writing formally or informally. A humorous story is told of a southern girl asking northern girls "where you all from" and being told not to end sentences with prepositions, to which she responds "where you all from, witch?".

Uploaded by

Vijay Kumar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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BASIC COMPOSITION.

COM

PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES
A preposition phrase is used to show location, time, and other contextual relationships
(between people and people, people and objects, and objects and objects).
A preposition plus its object and any modifiers (adjectives, determiners, or adverbs) is a
prepositional phrase.
Preposition
on
with
upon
underneath

Object and Modifiers


the surface
wonderful ability
entering the room
the sycamore tree

FORMAL AND INFORMAL USES OF PREPOSITIONS


Old-school grammarians have often claimed (as a rule) that one should never end a
sentence with a preposition. Moreover, they claim: Always give the preposition an
object.
Ending sentences with prepositions is slowly gaining favor. After all, some meaning may
be expressed well with a preposition on the end than not.
EX:
Being thrifty and astute is a consequence of where I am from.
Vs.
Being thrifty and astute is a consequence of where I am from in the world.
Notice how the second sentence, which completes the prepositional phrase, is more
formal. If you want wording which is much more formal, then follow the rule. However, if
you are just writing informally, then you may ignore the rule.
HUMOR
A southern girl gets on an airplane, and she ends up sitting by two northern girls during
the flight. With clear and distinct Southern hospitality in mind, she asks, "where you all
from?" One northern girl looks disappointedly away and says to the southern girl, "From
a place full of people who are smart enough not to end our sentences with
prepositions." The southern girl looks down, smiles, and then says, "Okay, where you
all from, witch?"
Considering the grammatical climate who is the smarter one?

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