The Prepositional Phrase

Printer Fabulous! Recognize a prepositional phrase when you see one. At the minimum, a prepositional phrase will begin with a preposition and end with a noun, pronoun, gerund, or clause, the "object" of the preposition. The object of the preposition will often have one or more modifiers to describe it. These are the patterns for a prepositional phrase: Preposition + Noun, Pronoun, Gerund, or Clause Preposition + Modifier(s) + Noun, Pronoun, Gerund, or Clause Here are some examples of the most basic prepositional phrase: At home At = preposition; home = noun. Most prepositional phrases are longer, like these: From my grandmother From = preposition; my = modifier; grandmother = noun. Understand what prepositional phrases do in a sentence. A prepositional phrase will function as an adjective or adverb. The book on the bathroom floor is swollen from shower steam. As an adverb, a prepositional phrase will answer questions such as How? Freddy is stiff from yesterday's long football practice.

The Parts of Speech A pronoun can replace a noun or another pronoun. You use pronouns like "he," "which," "none," and "you" to make your sentences less cumbersome and less repetitive. Grammarians classify pronouns into several types, including the personal pronoun, the demonstrative pronoun, the interrogative pronoun, the indefinite pronoun, the relative pronoun, the reflexive pronoun, and the intensive pronoun. Personal Pronouns A personal pronoun refers to a specific person or thing and changes its form to indicate person, number, gender, and case. Subjective Personal Pronouns A subjective personal pronoun indicates that the pronoun is acting as the subject of the sentence. In the following sentences, each of the highlighted words is a subjective personal pronoun and acts as the subject of the sentence: I was glad to find the bus pass in the bottom of the green knapsack. You are surely the strangest child I have ever met. He stole the selkie's skin and forced her to live with him. It is on the counter.

IPA Tutorial Lesson One | Dialect Blog Just what is the International Phonetic Alphabet (or IPA)? I often use the IPA on this blog and a number of our accent training resources. You will see it used on countless other linguistics websites as well. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, take a look at this sample: wʌt ɪz ði aɪ pi eɪ You may have seen this kind of writing in the pronunciation section of a dictionary definition. So what is this weird “alphabet” and why is it so important when studying language? The International Phonetic Alphabet in a Nutshell The International Phonetic Alphabet is like any alphabet, except that, where most alphabets form the words of a language, the IPA represents the sounds of a language. This guide is not designed to explain every nuance of the IPA. But enough introduction. How Are Vowels Made? For the first lesson of our tutorial of the International Phonetic Alphabet, we’re going to take a look at the vowel sounds. How Humans create Vowel Sounds Let’s do a little experiment. Got it? Okay.

Preposition Rule There is one very simple rule about prepositions. And, unlike most rules, this rule has no exceptions. Rule A preposition is followed by a "noun". It is never followed by a verb. By "noun" we include: noun (dog, money, love)proper noun (name) (Bangkok, Mary)pronoun (you, him, us)noun group (my first job)gerund (swimming) A preposition cannot be followed by a verb. Quick Quiz: In the following sentences, why is "to" followed by a verb? I would like to go now.She used to smoke. Here are some examples: Answer to Quick Quiz: In these sentences, "to" is not a preposition. For a full list of 150 prepositions, including one-word and complex prepositions, with 370 example sentences, download the free EnglishClub e-book English Prepositions Listed.

Adjectives and Adverbs “Parts of speech” are the basic types of words that English has. Most grammar books say that there are eight parts of speech: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, conjunctions, prepositions and interjections. We will add one more type: articles. It is important to be able to recognize and identify the different types of words in English, so that you can understand grammar explanations and use the right word form in the right place. If you are not sure about the basic parts of speech in English, or you would like some more information, try these pages: Parts of Speech (includes determiners which includes articles) The Eight Parts of Speech (doesn't include articles) The Parts of Speech (doesn't include articles) Don't forget to come back here and go on with the exercises! When you are sure that you understand the lesson, you can continue with the exercises.

Comparative Adjectives English Lesson | Kaplan English Blog In English, adjectives are used to describe things. We use comparative adjectives to compare and contrast things that we want to describe. There is a system for creating comparative adjectives. Using this system will help you write and speak more clearly, and will make you a better English speaker! One Syllable Comparative Adjectives Add ‘-er’ to end of an adjectiveExamples: tall/taller; smart/smarter If the word ends in ‘e’, just add an ‘r’ Examples: late/later; large/larger If the word is one-syllable, ends in a single consonant and has a single vowel before it, double the last consonant and add ‘er’Examples: big/bigger; hot/hotter; thin/thinner; Two, Three or More Syllable Comparative Adjectives For most two-syllable adjectives, add “more” before the adjective to form the comparative.Examples: careful/more careful; prepared/more prepared; If the word ends in ‘y’, remove it and add ‘ier’Examples: angry/angrier; shiny/shinier Exceptions Of course, with any rule in English, there are exceptions.