Why teach prepositions?

Question

Why is it important to teach middle schoolers prepositions? Do prepositions deserve such attention, and why?

Answer 1

Try speaking - - - - - - - them!

Answer 2

Actually, I like teaching prepositions early on. If you can identify them and get them out of the way, it makes getting the rest of the grammar correct a much easier job.

Look at the subject-verb agreement issue in the following sentence.

The short stories of J. California Cooper (addresses or address) the black experience with colloquial talk, dialect, dots, dashes, and even musical notes.

If you are like me, 'addresses' sounds right to my ear. The problem is that the correct subject-verb agreement would be 'address'. See what is happening? The opject of the preposition is what you are responding to instead of the real subject of the sentence. If you can identify that that is a prepositional phrase that is inserted between the subject and the verb, you can get rid of it and see the subject of the sentence more clearly.

This is one example of many of why being able to identify prepositions is helpful. I have my students learn to lightly put a line through all the prepositional phrases first before checking a sentence for correct structure or identifying parts of speech. I taught an SAT II Writing class a few years ago. From before instruction began to the last day, they took multiple practice exams. I surveyed them at the end of the course to see what they felt was the most useful tip for score improvement in their opinion. Nearly all of them said that getting rid of the prepositions was the biggest help.

Answer 3

Yes. Prepositions always have an object to which they are attached, thereby making a prepositional phrase. Why are these important?

Prepositional phrases act either as adjectives or adverbs. They can explain a noun more clearly or the action of a verb more fully.

Examples:

1. As an adjective: Jim Bob went to the store near the park. (The phrase "near the park" describes the store more fully.

2. As an adverb: Jim Bob fell off the horse. (The phrase "off the horse" describes where he fell.)

So prepositions are very important.

Answer 4

Also teach them that prepositions are a terrible thing to end a sentence with. (Winston Churchill)

Answer 5

Geeze why are they waiting until middle school- that's an early language learning skill- first grade in my district!
You try talking without them and see how important they are.