Parts of Speech Study Guide for the English Basics

Preposition

Prepositions are directional words. One way to look at them is as words that describe what a fox can do to a box. Prepositions show relationships between things in a sentence, how one thing relates to another in terms of location, time, or movement. Here are some examples of prepositions (but there are a lot more):

\[\begin{array}{ll} \text{above} \quad\quad\quad& \text{down} \quad\quad& \text{over} \quad\quad\\ \text{about} \quad\quad\quad& \text{from} \quad\quad& \text{since} \quad\quad\\ \text{across} \quad\quad\quad& \text{in} \quad\quad& \text{through} \quad\quad \\ \text{around} \quad\quad\quad& \text{into} \quad\quad& \text{to} \quad\quad\\ \text{at} \quad\quad\quad& \text{near} \quad\quad& \text{toward} \quad\quad\\ \text{behind} \quad\quad\quad& \text{of} \quad\quad& \text{under} \quad\quad \\ \text{below} \quad\quad\quad& \text{on} \quad\quad& \text{upon} \quad\quad\\ \text{beside} \quad\quad\quad& \text{onto} \quad\quad& \text{with} \quad\quad\\ \text{by} \quad\quad\quad& \text{opposite} \quad\quad& \text{within} \quad\quad \\ \end{array}\]

Prepositional Phrase

Prepositions start prepositional phrases which are phrases that begin with a preposition and end with the object or noun of the phrase. Prepositional phrases act as modifiers (like adjectives and adverbs) and give more explanation about a subject (namely, its relationship to something else in the sentence). For example:

“He sat under the tree reading a book.”

In this sentence, the italicized portion is the prepositional phrase. It begins with a preposition (under) and ends with the object of the phrase (what he was sitting under—the tree).
Here are some more examples of sentences with prepositional phrases:

“Jane left her book on the table.”
“Joe did his homework at his desk.”
“Please sit opposite your partner.”
“Walk toward the light.”
“Lola hit the volleyball over the net.”

Prepositional phrases are important to know about because when you are looking for the subject (main idea) of a sentence, it will never be found in a prepositional phrase. So being able to identify prepositional phrases and kind of cross them out when you are looking for the subject will help you be more successful in finding the correct subject of a sentence. For example:

“Bobby, along with his two brothers, went to the carnival last weekend.”

In this sentence, we would find the preposition (along with) and cross out the prepositional phrase that follows:

Bobby, along with his two brothers, went to the carnival last weekend.
Then we look for the verb (went) and ask ourselves who went? Bobby went, so Bobby is the subject of our sentence. Did others go, too? Sure, but the sentence is about Bobby and not his brothers because they are caught up in the prepositional phrase.

One more for practice. There are a lot of nouns in this sentence. What is the subject?

“Mother told us not to go across the street because the neighbor was mean.”

Step 1: Find the preposition (across).
Step 2: Cross out the preposition and the phrase that follows it.

Mother told us not to go across the street because the neighbor was mean.

Step 3: Find the verb (told).
Step 4: Ask who or what told?
Answer: Mother, who is the subject of our sentence.

Prepositional Pitfalls to Avoid

Preposition Overload

Avoid using extra prepositions when the meaning of a sentence is clear without them. You will just junk up your writing and it may start to become unclear to your reader. For example, the following sentence contains an unnecessary preposition:

“Where are you going to be at after school?*

There is an unnecessary preposition (at). Clean it up to read:

“Where are you going to be after school?”

This next sentence has too many prepositions:

Below which window was this chair under?

Now, either of the two revisions below should fix it:

“Below which window was this chair?”
“Which window was this chair under?”

Using “Like”

Like can be used as a preposition. It means similar to or similarly to. If you are going to use like, just make sure that it’s acting like a preposition and not as a filler.

“Her argument was like totally wrong.” (incorrect)
“Her argument was totally wrong.” (correct)

Like also does not work well with verbs, so avoid using like when a verb is involved after it:

“You look like your grandfather.” (This is correct; there’s no verb after the like.)
“You look like your grandfather looks.” (That pesky looks after the like makes for an awkward and incorrect sentence.)

Like vs As

If you are concerned about using like but still want that comparison, try using as, as if, as though, or the way. If you cannot substitute one of these alternatives for your like, it probably shouldn’t be there at all. And remember that there is a subtle difference between like and as; like means similar to but as means in the same manner or way. To use as correctly, there must be a verb involved.

“Cory, as most young men his age, would prefer to hang out with his friends than spend time with his parents.” (Incorrect; there’s no verb for the as to link to.)

“Cory, like most young men his age, would prefer to hang out with his friends than spend time with his parents.”(correct)

“Cory, like most young men his age do, would prefer to hang out with his friends than spend time with his parents.” (correct)

Of vs Have

The preposition of should never be confused with the verb have. This is often a problem when using phrases with could, would, and should.

“Lana could of gotten accepted to Harvard if she’d studied more in high school.” (incorrect)
“Lana could have gotten accepted to Harvard if she’d studied more in high school.” (correct)

“She realized she should of brought a jacket.” (incorrect)
“She realized she should have brought a jacket.” (correct)

“We would of gone if it hadn’t rained.” (incorrect) “We would have gone if it hadn’t rained.” (correct)

In the following two sentences, the word of is used correctly.

“The best part of the movie is the first 15 minutes.” (correct)
“Lance got a perfect score of 10 on his double-backhandspring.” (correct)

And remember, spell check may not point out these grammatical mistakes as technically you are using real words—they just may not be the correct ones for the occasion. This is why it’s always a good idea to proofread your work.

In vs Into

In indicates location, into indicates movement toward something.

“The cat was hiding in the paper bag.” (The cat is located in the bag.)
“The cat hopped into the paper bag.” (The cat is moving toward the bag.)

Below is another example where the preposition in is incorrectly used:

“Throw the ball in the basket.”

Though the basket is the ultimate location you want the ball to go, it can’t get to that location without movement, so it should actually be:

“Throw the ball into the hoop.”

Conjunction

Conjunctions are joining words; they bring words, phrases, clauses, and sentences together. They link parts of a sentence into a cohesive whole and help to create sentence length variety so that every sentence isn’t a simple sentence. There are three different types of conjunctions: coordinating, correlative, and subjunctive.

Coordinating Conjunctions

The easiest way to remember the most common conjunctions, called coordinating conjunctions, is to remember the acronym FAN BOYS. It stands for the seven coordinating conjunctions, which join together words, phrases, and independent clauses:

• For: explains purpose or reason (“Alex leaves the light on at night, for she is afraid of the dark.”)
• And: adds a word, thought, or idea to another (“Please put your shoes and socks away.”)
• Nor: presents an alternative negative when another has already been stated (“Heather does not like softball, nor does she like volleyball, but she loves to play lacrosse.”)
• But: shows contrast or exemption (“The movie was good, but the book was better.”)
• Or: shows a choice or alternative (“We can have pizza or cheeseburgers.”)
• Yet: introduces a contrasting idea or statement; means “but at the same time” (“I always intend to stay awake for the whole movie, yet I seldom make it past the first twenty minutes.”)
• So: provides a conclusion, effect, result, or consequence (“Zane cheated on his math test, so he earned a zero.”)

When you use a conjunction to join together two independent clauses, you must also use a comma before the coordinating conjunction. Note that many of the examples above have that comma.

Generally speaking, coordinating conjunctions do not come at the beginning of a sentence. Technically they can, but it requires a very specific sentence structure in order to be grammatically correct. It’s best just to wait to use them later in a sentence.

Correlative Conjunctions

These conjunctions work in pairs and both must be used for the sentence to make sense. The most common correlative conjunction pairs are:

• either/or (Charlie will buy either the necklace or the earrings for his mother.)
• neither/nor (Drake wants to neither study for math nor to study for science.)
• both/and (Clara passed both her spelling and her map test today.)
• whether/or (He didn’t know whether the large or the extra-large would fit so he tried them both.)
• not/but (He was in the mood not for a quiet evening at home but for going out dancing.)
• not only/but also (Mother not only had to do the laundry but also prepare dinner before picking the kids up from school.)

Subordinating Conjunctions

These conjunctions are the trickiest of the three. Subordinating conjunctions glue dependent clauses to independent clauses and are the ones most likely to come at the beginning of a sentence. Try to remember them like this: subordinates are lower in rank or position so cannot be without supervision. So subordinating conjunctions link those lower-ranked dependent clauses that cannot be by themselves to an independent clause. Here are some of the most common subordinating conjunctions (this is not a complete list): after, although, as, because, before, even if, in order that, once, rather than, since, than, that, though, unless, until, when, whenever, where, wherever, whether, while, and why. Here are some examples of some of them at work:

“Since Maggie didn’t have a license, Carla had to drive to the party.”
“As I look back, I realize how much I have to be grateful for in life.”
“Because she hadn’t come prepared, Liza failed the test.”
“Dad looked at Howard and sighed as he realized Howard was never going to make the baseball team with that arm.”
“Once she told them she wasn’t going to take the job out of town, she felt much better.”

Interjection

An interjection is an *interruption of emotion or feeling into a sentence. It generally comes at the beginning of a sentence so that the reader gets a sense of the tone of the sentence. Interjections are usually set off by commas, but depending on the level of emotion, they might also be set off by an exclamation mark.

“Awww, your little puppy is so cute!”
“Darn it! I just locked my keys in the car.”
“Uh-oh, the storm clouds are building.”
“Hmmm, do you think that chicken is cooked all the way through?”
“Yikes! A cockroach just ran across the floor!”
“Yippee! School is cancelled today!”