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.

---

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

In this case the prepositional phrase modifies the subject and should not be far from it.

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

Before the prepositional phrase: The boat is sailing | across the river.

From The Canadian Elocutionist by Anna Kelsey Howard

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---