A sentence consists of words and phrases and sometimes clauses.
When you understand what phrases and clauses are, you will
be surprised to find that most of your problems may be related
to these aspects of writing.
A
phrase is a group of words
that may be without a subject
or without a verb or both.
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Examples:
- I left my books in
the locker.
- In the
beginning,
everything was dark.
In
the locker and in
the beginning are
phrases. Neither of them has a
subject or a verb.
In identifying your subject
or verb in a sentence, you should be careful about phrases
which begin with a preposition like in, on, at, to,
for, and by:
- in front
of the college
on the
Internet
at
every opportunity
to
write an exam
for
many women
by the
hallway
You
must remember that a prepositional
phrase cannot be the subject of a
sentence. The word college in the
phrase in front of the
college is a noun
and you might be tempted to assume
that it must be the subject. It
is not.
The
following is a list of some other
prepositional phrases:
| across the
street |
behind the
curtain |
| except for
business students |
after his
discovery |
| before my
time |
during lunch
hour |
| through the
forest |
among my
friends |
| beyond imagination |
between two of us |
| without a coat |
regarding my note |
| against my
judgment |
above the sky |
| along the
highway |
with her
children |
| down the
alley |
up the stairs |
| about money |
above
everything |
| with a stick |
like the cat |
| inside a cave |
in front of
our house |
| from the
editor |
for the sake
of |
| despite his
weakness |
in front of |
| into the room |
below the
balcony |
| beside the
stairs |
around the
garden |
| by the river |
concerning
the meeting |
| on the floor |
near the
school |
| until next
time |
under the
pillow |
| to the
company |
over his head |
| onto his
homework |
of the people |
Next to Phrases: Test Yourself
Back to Subject-Verb Agreement 2:
Test Yourself
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