How to identify Prepositional Phrases in a sentence

What are prepositions, prepositional phrases and how we can spot them from prepositional phrase sentences, that is what this article is all about.
There are actually five types of phrases altogether. Prepositional phrases, gerund phrases, participle phrases, infinitive phrases, and appositives.

In form prepositional phrase always starts with a preposition and end with a noun or a pronoun which is called the object of the preposition (Preposition + object of the preposition). You can add any number of modifiers between the preposition and its object.
Functions of Prepositional Phrases

They have only two functions to perform. They can do the job of either an ADJECTIVE or an ADVERB. 

Those prepositional phrases acting as adjectives are called ADJECTIVE PHRASES and prepositional phrases acting as adverbs are called ADVERB PHRASES.

Adjective Phrases

Let us look at adjective phrases first.

Remember that the adjectives modify nouns or pronouns and same is true for a prepositional phrase acting as an adjective. Because they do the same job, the adjective questions can be used again to help us prove that they are functioning as adjectives.

ADJECTIVE QUESTIONS: which one, what kind, how many, and how much.

Let us look at an example of prepositional sentence.

The girl from Paniola bought a new suit.

We need to spot the preposition first from the sentence, once we are done then just read to the right. When we encounter a noun or pronoun, we’ve got ourselves a prepositional phrase.

In the above example, “from” is the preposition and it is immediately followed by the proper noun “Paniola” which is the object of the preposition.

Therefore “from Paniola” is our prepositional phrase. Keep in mind that adjectives always appear right next to the word they modify.  Since “from Paniola” is right after the “girl”, chances are that it is modifying the “girl”.

Using the adjective questions, you can ask yourself: which girl?

The answer is “the one from Paniola”. In this way, you’ve proved the prepositional phrase which is modifying the noun “Paniola”.

Here’s another example:

Shaz hides his books under the table.

The prepositional phrase is “under the table”. The word right next to the phrase is “books”, which is a noun, cool?

Now ask yourself:  which books?

The answer is “the one under the table”, isn’t it? Again this is a prepositional phrase functioning as an adjective, called adjective phrase.

Adverb Phrases

Now let us look at prepositional phrases that function as an adverb, called adverb phrases.

Adverb phrases modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs.

These phrases can be proven using the ADVERB QUESTIONS: where, when, how, and to what extent or degree.

Unlike adjective phrases, adverb phrases can appear anywhere in a sentence. They can be moved all over the place. Let us look at an example:

After the break, Zara returned to the classroom.

It’s pretty easy to find the phrases once you know the list of prepositions. In the sentence, “after the break”, Preposition + object of the preposition, is a prepositional phrase. This phrase is right in front of the noun “Zara” but it doesn’t answer any adjective questions: which Zara, what kind of Zara, how many Zara, how much Zara, therefore, the prepositional phrase “after the break” doesn’t modify “Zara”. (to the classroom is also a prepositional phrase, try to verify it on your own).

Now we know automatically that it is an adverb phrase. But which word in the sentence this phrase can modify?

Well, the only word, it can modify is the verb “returned”.

Let us check it out by using our adverb questions: returned when?

The answer is “returned after the break”. I hope you got it.

Remember as I said adverb phrases could move around in a sentence. Look at these sentences.

Zara returned to the classroom after the break.

Zara, after the break, returned to the classroom.

No matter where you place it, the prepositional phrase still acts as an adverb modifying the verb of the sentences.

Here’s another example of a prepositional sentence,

Inside the classroom, Aleena shouted for hours.

Hopefully, you’ve spotted the prepositional phrases: “Inside the classroom” and “for hours”.

Both of them seem to modify the verb “shouted”.

But let’s put them to the test anyway: Shouted where?

The answer is “Shouted inside the classroom”.

Shouted to what extent?

The answer is “Shouted for hours”.

In this way, we've verified the adverb phrase.

Now let’s look at a complicated example.

By ten O’clock on the opening day of the sports week, the ground was jam-packed with fans.

There are four prepositional phrases.

1.       By ten O’clock

2.       on opening day

3.       of the sports week

4.       with fans

You may use a bunch of questions to figure this one out.

 Let’s start with adverb questions.

Packed is our verb here so our first question: “was packed when?”

The answer is “by 11 O’clock” and “on opening day”.

And packed by whom: “with fans”.  So 1, 2 and 4 are acting as adverb phrases as we’ve just proved them.

Now let’s try adjective questions to figure the third prepositional phrase out.

Which day of the sports week? :  “opening day of the football season”. As the phrase “of the sports week” modifies the noun “opening day” right behind it, it acts as an adjective phrase.

Conclusion

Prepositional phrases act either adjectives or adverbs. ADJECTIVE PHRASES modify nouns or pronouns and can be found right next to the word they modify. ADVERB PHRASES modify verbs, adjectives or other adverbs and can appear anywhere in a sentence.

Finally, prepositional phrases can sometimes be removed from a sentence without destroying a sentence. For example:

After the break, Zara returned to the classroom.

If we remove the prepositional phrases, we are left with

Zara returned.

It is still a correct sentence but the one with phrases provides more information.

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