1. Subjects and Prepositions
Parts of Speech
Subjects and Prepositions

2. Review: Identifying subjects in sentences
Subject: Who or what is doing the action
Object: the thing that is acted upon by the subject

3. Strategy to find Subject
Find the verb (action) in a sentence and first ask who? of the verb. If that doesn’t make sense, then ask what? of the verb.

4. Examples
The Romans constructed military roads, aqueducts, bridges, and marble buildings.
The verb is constructed. Who constructed? The Romans, which is the subject of the sentence.

5. Examples Does our vacation include seeing Pike’s Peak?
The verb is does include. What does include? Our vacation, which is the subject.
Recognize that there, here, and where are sentence starters and not subjects of sentences.

6. Example
There are mysterious stone heads on Easter Island which stand 30 to 40 feet high
Verb: stand
What stands?
Subject: Heads

7. If the sentence is a question
Rewrite the question in the form of a statement

8. Example: Why does China have only one time zone?
China does have only one time zone.
The verb is does have. What does have? China, which is the subject

9. Example
Here is the answer to the question .
Subject: answer

10. Prepositions Usually indicates locations in space or time
“Preposition talks about a noun or pronoun in its position”

11. Example During the prison uprising some guards were held hostage.
During the prison uprising is a prepositional phrase.
The subject is guards

12. Prepositions
Always part of a prepositional phrase and show the relationship between a noun or a pronoun and another word or group of words in a sentence
Prepositional phrases begin with preposition and end with noun or pronoun

13. Connection to the Subject
The subject of a sentence cannot be in a preposition phrase

14. Examples People (with blue eye)s see better (in the dark.)
It would take (over an hour) (for a heavy object) to sink 6.7 miles down (to the deepest part) (of the ocean)
Prepositional phrase in in parentheses

15. Example Of the five longest rivers in world, the Nile is the longest.
(Of the five longest rivers) (in the world) are two prepositional phrases.
The subject is Nile

16. Commonly used prepositions
Concerning
Down
During
for
From
Inside In
into
Like
Near Of
Off On
Onto
Out
Outside
Over
About At
Above
Across
After
Against
Along
Among
Around By
Before
Behind
Below
Beneath
Beside
Between
Beyond
Since
Through
Throughout To
Toward
Under
Until Up
Upon
With
Without
Within

17. Common compound prepositions
According to
Across from
Along with
Aside from
Because of
Far from
In front of
In place of
In spite of
Instead of
An account of
On top of