Name_____________________
Score: _____/44pts.
Unit #3 Pretest: Phrases Answer Key
PART 1: Identifying Prepositional Phrases and the Words they Modify(2 pts each)
DIRECTIONS: The following sentences contain a prepositional phrase. Complete the following
steps:
Step 1: Underline the prepositional phrase.
Step 2: Draw an arrow from the prepositional phrase to the word it modifies.
EXAMPLE SENTENCE: The Essex sailors escaped from their sinking ship.
6. A dog scattered the herd of sheep.
7. Tie the sailboat to the dock.
8. Next to the recliner, you will find my father’s remote.
9. The batter ran past first base and then stopped.
10. The popcorn at the movies costs only a dollar.
PART 2: Adjectives
(8 pts.)
11. List the two parts of speech that an adjective can modify. Noun or pronoun
12. Circle an adjective in this sentence:
The pizza crust was badly burned in the toaster oven.
A. Write the word that adjective modifies:
crust, oven
B. What part of speech is the word in part A?
noun
13. Circle the predicate adjective in this sentence:
The pizza is still warm after a half-hour.
A. Write the noun that the predicate adjective complements: pizza
B. The verb in this sentence is “is”. What kind of verb is it?
linking verb
PART 3: Adverbs
(10 pts.)
13. List the three parts of speech that an adverb can modify:
_________verb__________
or
________adverb__________ or
___________adjective_________
14. Circle the adverb in the sentence:
The boy’s jacket was very dirty after hours of making a backyard fort.
A. Write the word the adverb modifies.
B. What part of speech is the word in part A?
dirty
adjective
15. Circle the adverb in the sentence:
The students finally completed their class novel.
A. Write the word the adverb modifies.
B. What part of speech is the word in part A?
completed
verb
16. Circle the adverb that modifies another adverb in the sentence.
The student finished his PCR book really quickly.
PART 4: Applying the Concept of Prepositional Phrases
17. Which one of sentences uses the preposition “near” in an adjective prepositional phrase?
a. Near the tree sits the sad little puppy.
b. That car nearly hit me.
c. The family lives near my cousins.
d. The seat near the door is missing a cushion.
18. Which one of the sentences uses the preposition “down” in an adverb prepositional phrase?
a. The boy with the broken arm had to sit down.
b. Grandmother gave me a quilt made of down.
c. The neighbor down the street never cuts his grass.
d. The quarterback threw a long pass down the field.
19. Which one of the sentences uses “behind” as an adverb?
a. The soldiers marched behind the tank.
b. Behind the milk is the ketchup.
c. We keep the tractor in the shed behind the house.
d. After a week’s absence, I fell behind in math.
20. In which sentence can the prepositional phrase be moved without changing the meaning?
a. A friend of my mother recently met the President.
b. You cannot access the network without a password.
c. A visit to England should include an audience with the Queen.
d. A trip to the movies can be expensive.
21. In which sentence are the pronouns used correctly?
a. The report was given by Sally and me.
b. The report was given by Sally and I.
c. The report was given by Sally and she.
d. The report was given by her and I.
PART 5: Identifying Prepositional Phrases
DIRECTIONS: Read this passage about the whaling ship the Essex and use the passage to
answer the questions that follow.
(1) In 1819 the Essex was a whaling ship that left from Nantucket, Massachusetts for the
southern Pacific Ocean. (2) Halfway through their voyage, an angry sperm whale
attacked and sank the whaling ship Essex. (3) It became one of the most well-known sea
disasters of the nineteenth century. (4) Nearly every child in the United States learned
about this disaster in school. (5) Because of this event, Herman Melville had a climax for
the plot of one of America’s greatest novels.
1. Write a prepositional phrase from
Sentence #1.
1. In 1819, from Nantucket, for the southern
Pacific Ocean
2. What is the object of the prepositional
phrase in Sentence #2?
2. ___voyage
3. How many prepositional phrases
appear in Sentence #4?
3. ___3_______
4. What preposition appears 4 times in this
passage?
4. ______of_______________
5. What is the compound preposition in
Sentence #5?
5. ________Because of _____
DIRECTIONS: Continue reading about the whaling ship the Essex and use the passage to
answer the questions that follow.
(6) The Essex disaster would inspire the ending of the famous novel Moby-Dick. (7)
Melville’s novel Moby-Dick ends when the ship called the Pequod sinks. (8) However, the
destruction of the ship only begins the story of the Essex. (9) Far from land, twenty sailors
escaped from their sinking ship. (10) They had loaded three whale boats with water and
bread, and they set off for land. (11) After 95 days at sea, only eight members of the Essex
crew would survive.
6. Write a verb phrase found in this
passage.
22. would inspire, had loaded, would
survive
7. Which sentence does NOT have a
prepositional phrase?
8. What is the compound object of the
prepositional phrase in Sentence #10?
9. Write one of the adjective prepositional
phrases found in this passage.
23. ____sentence 7___
24. ____water and bread______
25. of the famous novel, of the ship, of the
Essex; of the Essex crew
10. Write one of the adverb prepositional
phrases found in this passage.
11. How many sentences in this passage
26. After 95 days, at sea, from land, from
their sinking ship, for land
begin with prepositional phrases?
27. __2_____