Ten-Minute Grammar PREPOSITIONS OBJECTIVES: 1. Students should understand that… a. A preposition is a word that shows the relationship of a noun or a pronoun to another word in the sentence. b. Prepositions always appear as part of a prepositional phrase. c. A prepositional phrase consists of a preposition followed by an object—either a pronoun or a noun (along with any words that modify or describe it). 2. Students should be able to… a. Identify prepositions and prepositional phrases in a sentence or passage. b. Use a comma after an introductory prepositional phrase. c. Correctly use prepositional phrases in original sentences. LITERATURE: This unit contains example selections from the novel Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. Ten-Minute Grammar DAY One Prepositions A preposition is a word that shows the relationship between a noun and another word in the sentence. Find the preposition in the following sentences (it will be the word that shows the relationship between the frog and the log): 1. The frog jumped off the log. 2. The frog swam around the log. 3. The frog came before the log. 4. The frog sat between two logs. Prepositions are always part of a prepositional phrase, which consists of a preposition and its object (either a pronoun or a noun and any words that modify or describe that noun.) Find the prepositional phrase in the following sentences: 5. The two lovebirds strolled along the riverbank. 6. There is no oxygen beyond Earth’s atmosphere, so you can’t breathe in space. 7. I bought a present for my grandma. 8. The previous gold-medal winner flew past the other runners. Wordplay – Just for fun! DESCRAMBLER: Try to sort out the five scrambled words below: DREA FTAER LTYSFO DIEOTHU PSIONOED Ten-Minute Grammar DAY Two Prepositions Identify the prepositional phrases in these passages from Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card: 1. They filed clumsily into the battleroom, like children in a swimming pool for the first time, clinging to the handholds along the side. Null gravity was frightening, disorienting; they soon found that things went better if they didn’t use their feet at all. 2. Bonzo hated him for it, for the kindness. Ender tried to understand why. Maybe it seemed to Bonzo as if Ender were granting him his command as a favor. Well it was Bonzo’s own fault, for giving Ender an unreasonable order. Still, he would only know that Ender had beaten him, and then rubbed his nose in it by being magnanimous. Write your own sentences that contain the following prepositions: 3. against 4. without 5. during Wordplay – Just for fun! EIGHT BALL: Create as many words as you can using three or more of the letters below (at least one eight-letter word is possible): REKOTCED Ten-Minute Grammar DAY Three Prepositions When a sentence starts with a prepositional phrase, you should usually put a comma after the phrase. Where should you add a comma in the following sentences? 1. On the other side of the field the receiving team waited. 2. From this day forward I will be a better friend. 3. After school we should go to your house and play basketball. 4. Without her computer Mary wasn’t able to get much homework done. Identify the prepositional phrases in these passages from Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card: 5. All the boys are organized into armies. Day after day, in zero gravity, there are mock battles. Nobody gets hurt, but winning and losing matter. Everybody starts as a common soldier, taking orders. Older boys are your officers, and it’s their duty to train you and command you in battle. 6. Ender knew what was happening from the moment they brought him in. Everyone expected him to go commander early. Perhaps not this early, but he had topped the standings almost continuously for three years, no one else was remotely close to him, and his evening practices had become the most prestigious group in the school. Wordplay – Just for fun! COMBINATOR: The vowel combination “au” usually makes the “aw” sound found in “saw.” List as many words as you can that contain “au.” Ten-Minute Grammar DAY Four Prepositions Read the following excerpt from Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. Then answer the four questions below: Ender was the last one out after practice, since he stayed to help some of the slower ones improve on technique. (b) They’d had good teachers, but the inexperienced soldiers fresh out of their launch groups were completely helpless when it came to doing two or three things at the same time. (a) 1. Find at least two prepositions in sentence (a). 2. Is the word “but” in sentence (b) a preposition? 3. Is the phrase “when it came” in sentence (b) a prepositional phrase? 4. Is the phrase “at the same time” in sentence (b) a prepositional phrase? Using the proper proofreading marks, correct the six errors in this excerpt: He was early at being a comander, and the teachers where changing the rules now. Their was no guarantee that theyd give him the usual three months to get his army together befour sending them, into battle. Wordplay – Just for fun! FOUR-LETTER WORDS: Take the four-letter word below and change one letter to make a new four-letter word (keep it clean!) Then take that word and change one letter to make a new word. Then take that word and… You get the picture. SPIT Ten-Minute Grammar QUIZ DAY Prepositions REVIEW FOR TODAY’S QUIZ: 1. What is a preposition? List as many of them as you can. 2. What is a prepositional phrase? 3. Find the prepositional phrases in the following sentences: a. The aliens waited for me beside their spaceship. b. I bought a laptop from my friend. c. After school today, I’m going to eat a peanut butter sandwich. 4. Where should you add a comma? a. By the end of the movie I came to care about the characters. b. During the football game he got a concussion. Extra Ten-Minute Grammar DAY Five Prepositions Where should you add a comma in the following sentences? 1. Near the majestic waterfall there is a nice little campground. 2. Between you and me I think that guy is a serial killer. 3. On top of the cake there was a little bride and groom figurine. Write your own sentences that contain the following prepositions: 4. with 5. at Identify the prepositional phrases in these passages from Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card: 6. But when Ender got to the battleroom that night, while most others were still eating, he found Major Anderson waiting for him. “There has been a rule change, Ender. From now on, only members of the same army may work together in a battleroom during freetime. 7. Either the teachers had been kind to him after all, or he was a better commander than he thought. His ragged little group of veterans, utterly without honor in their previous armies, were blossoming into capable leaders. Wordplay – Just for fun! CATALOG CREATOR: The prefix “inter-” means “between.” How many words can you list that contain this prefix? Extra Ten-Minute Grammar DAY Six Prepositions Read the following excerpt from Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. Then answer the four questions below: The lights went full, and Major Anderson himself came through the teachergate at the south end of the battleroom. (b) He looked very solemn as he offered Ender the teacher hook that was ritually given to the victor in the game. (c) Ender used it to thaw his own army’s flash suits, of course, and he assembled them in toons before thawing the enemy. (a) 1. There are three prepositions in sentence (a). What are they? 2. Is the word “as” in sentence (b) a preposition? 3. Find at least one prepositional phrase in sentence (b). 4. What kind of word is “and” in sentence (c)? Using the proper proofreading marks, correct the six errors in this excerpt: Carn Carby came to ender as soon as he was unfrozen He was a twelve-yearold, which had apparently made commander only in his last year, at the school. so he wasn’t cocky, like the ones the ones who made it at eleven. Wordplay – Just for fun! RHYME THYME: Time to think like a rapper. How many rhymes can you come up with for the following word? ATTACK *sTART hERE. Do Day 7 Date: 1-19-22 Extra Ten-Minute Grammar DAY Seven Prepositions Read the following excerpt from Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. Then answer the four questions below: They were hungry for blood then; Bonzo will be thirsting for it now. (b) Ender toyed with the idea of taking advanced personal defense; but with battles now possible not only every day, but twice in the same day, Ender knew he could not spare the time. (c) I’ll have to take my chances. (d) The teachers got me into this—they can keep me safe. (a) 1. Find a preposition in sentence (a). 2. What type of sentence is sentence (a)? a simple preposition 3. Find a prepositional phrase in sentence (b). 4. Find a coordinating conjunction in sentence (b). But 5. Find a preposition in sentence (d). into 6. How many independent clauses does sentence (d) have? there is only 1 Wordplay – Just for fun! FIXER-ROOTER: How many words can you think of that have the same prefix, suffix, or root as the multisyllabic word below? TRANSPOSITION TRANS / POS / TION (the act of reversing the order or changing the place of) DAY Four DAY Four Prepositions Prepositions Name: Name: 1. 1. 2. 2. 3. 3. 4. 4. He was early at being a comander, and the He was early at being a comander, and the teachers where changing the rules now. Their teachers where changing the rules now. Their was no guarantee that theyd give him the was no guarantee that theyd give him the usual three months to get his army together usual three months to get his army together befour sending them, into battle. befour sending them, into battle. DAY Four DAY Four Prepositions Prepositions Name: Name: 1. 1. 2. 2. 3. 3. 4. 4. He was early at being a comander, and the He was early at being a comander, and the teachers where changing the rules now. Their teachers where changing the rules now. Their was no guarantee that theyd give him the was no guarantee that theyd give him the usual three months to get his army together usual three months to get his army together befour sending them, into battle. befour sending them, into battle. DAY Six DAY Six Prepositions Prepositions Name: Name: 1. 1. 2. 2. 3. 3. 4. 4. Carn Carby came to ender as soon as he was Carn Carby came to ender as soon as he was unfrozen He was a twelve-year-old, which had unfrozen He was a twelve-year-old, which had apparently made commander only in his last apparently made commander only in his last year, at the school. so he wasn’t cocky, like the year, at the school. so he wasn’t cocky, like the ones the ones who made it at eleven. ones the ones who made it at eleven. DAY Six DAY Six Prepositions Prepositions Name: Name: 1. 1. 2. 2. 3. 3. 4. 4. Carn Carby came to ender as soon as he was Carn Carby came to ender as soon as he was unfrozen He was a twelve-year-old, which had unfrozen He was a twelve-year-old, which had apparently made commander only in his last apparently made commander only in his last year, at the school. so he wasn’t cocky, like the year, at the school. so he wasn’t cocky, like the ones the ones who made it at eleven. ones the ones who made it at eleven. dO tHIS pAGE #1-12 Ten-Minute Date: 1-19-22 Grammar Practice Worksheet Prepositions NAME: PERIOD: A PREPOSITION is a word that shows the relationship between a noun and another word in the sentence. Circle the preposition in the following sentences: 1. A daring mountain goat leapt over the rocky ravine. 2. The tortoise strolled past the hare, who had foolishly stopped to take a nap. 3. My little sister likes to ride her bike around the neighborhood. 4. The arrow flew toward the target. 5. Once again, I had locked myself outside my house. A PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE begins with a preposition and ends with a noun or a pronoun—and it often includes several modifying adjectives in between. Circle the prepositional phrase in the following sentences: 6. The lion was hidden among the tall grass. 7. Man has never travelled beyond our solar system. 8. She dropped the bucked into the old well, and there was no way to get it back out. 9. Lightning struck near our house, and our maple tree burst into flames. 10. I like to take long walks with my pet dog. The words that come after the preposition should not be a full clause with a subject and a predicate—it should just be a noun and any modifiers that go with it. Write your own sentences. Use the given pronoun to show the relationship between a noun and another word: 11. I__________________________________________ from fell my__________________________________. bed and my sister was laughing at me my face. 12. _____________________________________________ in __________________________________. Start here. Do #13-30 1-20-22 I kicked a squirrel it fell out of the tree. 13. _________________________________________ before __________________________________. i hit my head the wall 14. _________________________________________ against __________________________________. i am the __________________________________. water 15. __________________________________________ below When a sentence starts with a PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE, you usually put a comma at the end of the phrase. In the following sentences, circle the prepositional phrase: 16. Beneath a blanket of stars, the campers huddled around a warm fire. 17. Like an earthquake or an explosion, the thunder shook my house. 18. Past the old barn, we found a broken-down tractor that made a perfect pretend tank. 19. Underneath the water’s filthy surface, fish were slowly dying from all the pollution. 20. Within the next week or two, you’ll be receiving a letter from a mysterious organization. In the following sentences, decide where a comma needs to be added: 21. In the following sentences decide where a comma needs to be added. 22. Without thinking I jumped into the water to save the drowning boy. 23. Since the dance on Friday Julia won’t speak to me or even look at me. 24. Through the dark forest the wolf pack silently hunted for weaker animals. 25. Behind the thundering waterfall you can find a hidden cave. Write your own sentences. Use the given pronoun to show the relationship between a noun and another word: 26. Under the ____________________________, water i_______________________________________________. was drowning me was the surface 27. Above ____________________________, _______________________________________________. me there was a shark 28. Behind ____________________________, ______________________________________________. I swam then i saw a dumb clam 29. Around ___________________________, _______________________________________________. was I i almost died but i did survive 30. Near _____________________________, _______________________________________________. PERIOD: Prepositions C. beneath C. beneath C. States C. States C. old C. old A. so she climbed B. her sister C. during the night B. her sister C. during the night 4. She was scared during the night, so she climbed into bed with her sister. A. so she climbed 4. She was scared during the night, so she climbed into bed with her sister. Which answer correctly identifies a PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE from the example sentence? B. parked B. parked Which answer correctly identifies a PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE from the example sentence? A. beside A. beside 3. We parked the pickup beside the old barn. B. of B. of 3. We parked the pickup beside the old barn. A. live A. live 2. I live in the United States of America. B. hid B. hid 1. The frog hid beneath the log. A. the 2. I live in the United States of America. PERIOD: Prepositions Which answer correctly identifies a PREPOSITION from the example sentence? NAME: Quiz A. the 1. The frog hid beneath the log. Which answer correctly identifies a PREPOSITION from the example sentence? NAME: Quiz Prepositions B. from India C. became friends B. from India C. became friends 15. inside Write your own example sentence using the following preposition: Write your own example sentence using the following preposition: 15. inside 13. Within this book you will find the meaning of life. 13. Within this book you will find the meaning of life. 14. for 12. After the verdict and sentencing the jury was released. 12. After the verdict and sentencing the jury was released. 14. for 11. Like bullets from a gun the racers flew across the track. 11. Like bullets from a gun the racers flew across the track. Where should a comma be added in the sentence? Where should a comma be added in the sentence? 10. By the way I think you look great today. 9. Beyond earth’s atmosphere, there is no air. 9. Beyond earth’s atmosphere, there is no air. 10. By the way I think you look great today. 8. We won the championship against all odds. 8. We won the championship against all odds. Circle the PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE: 7. Something exploded above our heads. 7. Something exploded above our heads. Circle the PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE: 6. The baby finally slept through the night. 6. The baby finally slept through the night. Circle the PREPOSITION: A. a girl Circle the PREPOSITION: Prepositions 5. I met a girl from India, and we became friends. Page Two A. a girl 5. I met a girl from India, and we became friends. Page Two Do Quiz Today #1-15 Ten-Minute NAME: 1-21-22 Grammar betty Alternate QUIZ Prepositions PERIOD: Which answer correctly identifies a PREPOSITION from the example sentence? 1. The frog hid beneath the log. A. the B. beneath 2. I live in the United States of America. A. of B. States 3. We parked the pickup beside the old barn. A. beside B. old Which answer correctly identifies a PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE from the example sentence? 4. She was scared during the night, so she climbed into bed with her sister. A. so she climbed B. during the night 5. I met a girl from India, and we became friends. A. a girl B. from India Circle the PREPOSITION: 6. The baby finally slept through the night. 7. Something exploded above our heads. Circle the PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE: 8. We won the championship against all odds. 9. Beyond earth’s atmosphere, there is no air. Where should a comma be added in the sentence? 10. By the way I think you look great today. 11. Like bullets from a gun the racers flew across the track. 12. After the verdict and sentencing the jury was released. 13. Within this book you will find the meaning of life. Write on the blank line to create your own example sentence using the following preposition: 14. for you are clickbaiting your audience ___________________________________________ for ___________________. Clout 15. inside Inside ________________________, ___________________________________. your hand there is a tumor. Do Today #1-15 Ten-Minute 1-22-22 Grammar Extra Practice Prepositions NAME: PERIOD: A PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE begins with a preposition and ends with a noun or a pronoun—and it often includes several modifying adjectives in between. Complete the following sentences by adding your own preposition (use a different one in each sentence): Around 1. The frog swam __________________ the log. 2. The frog jumped __________________ the log. onto he was 3. The frog thought __________________ the log. beside 4. The frog rested __________________ the log. to the fly that was next to 5. The frog talked __________________ the log. 6. The frog came __________________ the log. near 7. The frog hid __________________ the log. inside at 8. The frog laughed __________________ the log. 9. The frog rolled __________________ the log. inside 10. The frog slept __________________ the log. on top Complete the following sentences by adding your own prepositional phrase: me around the reef 11. Sharks swarmed ____________________________________. 12. Bobby wants me to come over to his house ____________________________________. and play some games 13. The ballet dancer twirled ____________________________________. around circles at the Luau at 12 14. Meet me for dinner ____________________________________. for my sister 15. I bought a new book ____________________________________. Do #16-30 1-23-22 When a sentence starts with a PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE, you usually put a comma at the end of the phrase. Complete the following sentences by adding the rest of the sentence after the prepositional phrase (remember that what you add needs to be a complete thought by itself): he got a new pet for the class 16. In Mr. Ashton’s classroom, _______________________________________________. I will make better decisions 17. Before the end of the world, _______________________________________________. there was a cat 18. Across the street, _______________________________________________. 19. Beneath the surface of the water, _______________________________________________. there was a reef 20. According to my grandmother, _______________________________________________. there were magic carpets Complete the following sentences by adding your own prepositional phrase that starts with the given preposition: the wall 21. Beside ____________________________________, something exploded. panthers 22. Unlike ____________________________________, a cheetah can run as fast as a car. the suit 23. Without ____________________________________, the firefighter couldn’t stand the heat. 24. Throughout ____________________________________, wolves howled. the night 25. Above ____________________________________, we saw a man flying like a bird us In the following sentences, decide where a comma needs to be added: 26. Outside the creepy-looking spaceship the soldiers waited and watched. 27. From sunup until sundown all I want to do is eat cheese. 28. After the monkey attack we were afraid to return to the zoo. 29. On the other side of the hill something exploded, but we couldn’t tell what it was. 30. For over a thousand years the monster waited just below the earth’s surface.
