Grammar-Quizzes › Verb Phrases › Verb Complements › Gerunds › Prep Phrase w/Gerund
Prepositional Phrase with a Gerund
Relate a second activity to the first activity
Adjunct Prepositional Phrases
| PREPOSITION + NOUN PHRASE | |
|---|---|
A clause with an activity may befollowed by a prepositional phrase to add optional details about the activity. The preposition may be complemented (completed) by a noun (N / NP) or in some cases (before, after, while) a clause. See Prep Complements. |
|
| MAIN CLAUSE | ADJUNCT |
Jason read the manual |
before the installation. before he installed the system. |
Jason said, "You can't turn it on |
without a plug." |
Jane got it working |
with a different cable. |
Jason was talking |
about an action movie. |
Jason was having vision problems |
from the new TV. |
Jane suggested a "night out" |
instead of TV at home. |
Jason thanked Jane |
for her suggestion. |
Jason lectured |
against unnecessary expenses. |
| PREPOSITION + GERUND CLAUSE | |
|---|---|
The preposition may also be complemented by a gerund clause (a nonfinite clause). The add-on clause is called an adjunct because the structure is not required to complete the meaning of the sentence (extra info). See Adjunct Prepositional Phrase in Connectives. |
|
| MAIN CLAUSE | ADJUNCT |
Jason read the manual |
before installing the system. |
You can't turn it on |
without plugging it in. |
Jane got it working |
by¹ using a different cable. |
Jason was talking |
about seeing an action movie. |
Jason was having vision problems |
from watching the new TV. |
Jane suggested a "night out" |
instead of watching TV at home. |
Jason thanked Jane |
for making her suggestion. |
Jason lectured |
against spending money. |
Word Categories: N – Noun; V – Verb; Aux – Auxiliary; Adj – Adjective; Adv – Adverb; P –Preposition; Det –Determiner. See Word Categories.
Phrasal Categories: NP – Noun Phrase; VP – Verb Phrase; AdjP – Adjective Phrase; AdvP – Adverb Phrase; PP – Prepositional Phrase; DP – Determinative Phrase.
Clausal Categories: Cls – clause; F – finite clause; NF – nonfinite clause (Ger – gerund; Inf – infinitive; PPart – past participle).
An important note about prepositions—linguistic research has provided us with an updated description of English grammar. The grammatical description is more concise, the terms can be applied globally (to other languages), the terms are grouped by applying "proofs" that determine how a particular word functions in a clause.
The category of Preposition has been widened to include words such as before after, while, because, though, than, and as . Linguistic analysis determined that these words function more like prepositions than conjunctions, or any other category in which they had previously been placed.
Another change is that a preposition can be followed (complemented) by a wide a variety of structures (not limited to a noun phrase): at home (N), in the house (NP), out of the house (PP), in stead of later (NP+PP), after leaving (Ger), because we left (Cls) (Yes! A prepositional phrase may include a content clause). See Prep Complements.
List of related practices :Verbs & Phrasal Verbs with Gerund Complements
Preposition List
about |
after |
by |
from |
with |
against |
before |
for |
of |
without |
Common Mistakes
Errors and Solutions
Error and Solution
| ERROR |
|---|
*I drove there without stop.
|
He looked scared before jumping in the pool. |
| SOLUTION |
|---|
I drove there without stopping. |
He held his breath before jumping in the pool. |
*Incorrect usage
Practice
Managing Headaches
Reword the sentence with a preposition + gerund expression.
- Select the response from the list that best completes the sentence.
- Compare your response to the feedback by clicking the "Check" or "Check 1-10" button at the bottom.