prepositional phrase

American  

noun

Grammar.

prepositional phrases plural

1. a phrase consisting of a preposition, its object, which is usually a noun or a pronoun, and any modifiers of the object, as in the gray desk I use.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• prepositional phrases
  plural

Etymology

Origin of prepositional phrase

First recorded in 1960–65

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

prepositional phrase

And I mistook a perfectly good English word, “rosé,” for the Polish prepositional phrase “o rosie,” which means “about the dew.”

From Washington Post ● Feb. 23, 2023

The White House disagreed with The Washington Post’s description, so the paper had to issue a correction noting a change of a prepositional phrase in a sentence.

From Salon ● May 12, 2017

Another awkwardly placed prepositional phrase; he’s not resigning from any newspapers.

From New York Times ● Feb. 24, 2015

Very often this lead may be handled by means of a prepositional phrase at the beginning.

From Newspaper Reporting and Correspondence A Manual for Reporters, Correspondents, and Students of Newspaper Writing by Hyde, Grant Milnor

Here, too, "singing" is a noun; but now its verbal character has disappeared, for it is modified by an adjective "blithe," and instead of a direct object we have the prepositional phrase "of merry songs."

From Practical Exercises in English by Buehler, Huber Gray