Prepositions

Question 1

What are prepositions?

Answer 1

Prepositions are words that create a relationship between their object and the noun of the sentence

Question 2

What are prepositional phrases?

Answer 2

A prepositional phrase is a group of words containing a preposition and its object which most of the time is a noun or a word that is acting as a noun

Question 3

How to spot that a prepositional phrase is over?

Answer 3

A prepositional phrase is over when you come across a noun or if you hit a verb or main subject of the sentence

Question 4

Find the prepositional phrase in the below sentence

The committee, which meets monthly for the purpose of discussing the fiscal management of the charitable fund, recommends passing the annual budget on Monday.

Answer 4

1. For the purpose; 2. of discussing the fiscal management; 3. of the charitable fund; 4. on Monday

Question 5

What are conjunctions

Answer 5

Conjunctions are words that link phrases, clauses or plain words to create lists or to make contrasts

Question 6

What Coordinating Conjunctions?

Answer 6

Remember coordinating conjunctions by FANBOYS

F - For
A - And
N - Nor
B - But
O - Or
Y = Yet
S- So

Question 7

What are correlative conjunctions?

Answer 7

Correlative conjunctions occur in pairs either/or, both/and, neither/nor, not only/but also, whether/or

Each one of the above has two parts which could be followed by a noun, phrase, or an entire simple sentence

Question 8

What is wrong with the below sentence?

You can either wash these dishes or I will leave you forever.

Answer 8

The sentence contains correlative conjunction either/or, the first one is followed by a verb wash while the second one is followed by a noun, but as per the rules they must be parallel. So the correct sentence would be

Either you can wash the dishes, or I will leave you.

In the above sentence, both either/or is followed by a pronoun you/i

Question 9

What is wrong with the below sentence?

Not only was the study flawed but also frivolous

Answer 9

The sentence contains two pair ‘Not only’ and ‘but also’ the first one is followed by a verb was while the second one is followed by an adjective frivolous which are not parallel to each other

The correct form would be
The study was not only flawed but also frivolous, Now both the words are adjectives

Question 10

What are subordinating conjunctions?

Answer 10

These conjunctions introduce dependent clauses. See below example

1. Nearly 100% of children in the United States are without health insurance
2. This health care bill will help millions of families

Both of the above two sentences are complete in meaning, but we can combine them to create a complex sentence and represent an idea like

Because nearly 10% of children in the US are without health insurance, this health care bill will help millions of families

In the above sentence, because is a subordinate clause as it combines a dependent clause(first sentence) and main clause together(second sentence)

Question 11

What are few examples of subordinate clauses?

Answer 11

Because, although, even though, as long as, before, unless, whether, though, while and many more

Question 12

What is the difference between the below two sentences?

I studied until midnight vs i intended to sleep until you wake me up

Answer 12

The first sentence contains a preposition ‘until midnight’, while the second sentence contains a dependent clause ‘until you wake me up’. Notice that in the second sentence prepositional phrase cannot be until you because it won’t make any sense

Question 13

E.g. of pre-position being used as an adverb

Answer 13

The car drives by, just be careful that the function that a word is playing in a sentence can also be predicted by other words placed around the word in question