Prepositions

With this lesson we begin our unit on adverbs.

Welcome to today's lesson, as we continue our new chapter, Prepositions.  As with all our ESL Help! Desk units, the sentences you see below are contributed by other ESL students in college-level ESL classes.

   To review the previous lesson, Prepositions Part 1, click here.

What Is a Preposition? Part 2

 

When discussing prepositions, we must consider each preposition's form, meaning, and use.

A preposition may occur in many structures.  For example, it may occur as part of a prepositional phrase or as part of a phrasal verb.

What Is a Prepositional Phrase?

In the following sentence, "I saw two men lying on the rails", on the rails is a prepositional phrase.  A prepositional phrase consists of more than one word, beginning with a preposition and usually ending with a noun or pronoun.

What Is a Two-word Verb?

In the sentence "I tried to wake them up", wake up is a two-word verb.  It is a verb and a preposition which together have a unique meaning.

Prepositions vs Two-word Verbs

 

A two-word verb includes a preposition; however, a discussion of two-word verbs also belongs in a discussion about verbs.  This is because the verb and preposition exist as a single unit, with a single definition; in the dictionary, you will see this two-word verb as a single unit.

Warmup 2
Write prep phrase beneath each prepositional phrase and two-word verb beneath each two-word verb..

1.  Wherever you live, you will feel stress and be under pressure.

2.  Children and teenagers make fun of us.

3.  She wakes up early in the morning.

4.  Sometimes she will sit down and cry.

5.  I grew up in Haiti.

Click here to check your answers.

Next... Verbs That Require a Preposition

 

Please continue with our next lesson, where we discuss verbs that require a preposition.

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