Lesson 6: Prepositions, Pronouns, and Particles

In this lesson, we will cover prepositional phrases, how to use pronouns correctly within them, and how to identify when a preposition is actually a particle (and why you might care).

Note: It’s infuriating to me that prepositions, pronouns, particles, and participles (which are discussed in the next lesson) all start with “p”, because it makes it very easy to get them mixed up in my head. As you’re reading through this guide, pay close attention to any word that starts with “p” to make sure you know which one we’re discussing.

Prepositions

A prepositional phrase provides additional information such as when, where, and how. It always starts with a preposition like one of the following words:

in
of
to
with
on
after
for

(For a list of more prepositions, go here.)

For example, consider this simple sentence:

I drove.

If you want to say where you drove, add a prepositional phrase:

I drove to the store.

You could also use a prepositional phrase to say when you drove:

I drove to the store after midnight.

If you want to say more about which route you drove, put the prepositional phrase after the verb “drove”:

I drove on highway 101 to the store.

If you want to say more about where the store is located, put the prepositional phrase after the noun “store”:

I drove to the store on Broadway.

Notice that you’ve now nested a prepositional phrase within a prepositional phrase, which is perfectly fine. You can use several prepositional phrases to add lots of details:

[After midnight], I drove [with Sam] [on highway 101] [to the store] [on Broadway].

A simple prepositional phrase has just a preposition (after, with, on, to) followed by a noun (midnight, Sam, highway 101, store, Broadway) and any modifiers (e.g., sleepy Sam, busy store).

If the words following the preposition include a subject and verb, though, the preposition is called a subordinate conjunction, and the phrase is actually a subordinate clause (also called a “dependent clause”).

For example, here are two sentences that use “after”:

I drove after the show.

(“after” is a preposition that starts a prepositional phrase)

I drove after Sam fell asleep.

(“after” is a subordinate conjunction that starts a subordinate clause)

In both cases, use the same comma rules as described in Separating a dependent clause from an independent clause. In short, if the prepositional phrase/subordinate clause appears before the main part of the sentence, you insert a comma, whereas you don’t use a comma if it appears at the end of the sentence. (That sentence I just wrote provides examples of both.) Here are more examples:

After midnight, I drove.

(prep. phrase is at the beginning, so insert a comma)

I drove after midnight.

(prep. phrase is at the end, so no comma)

After Sam fell asleep, I drove.

(subordinate clause is at the beginning, so insert a comma)

I drove after Sam fell asleep.

(subordinate clause. is at the end, so no comma)

Pronouns

In prepositional phrases, the words that come after the preposition make up the object of the preposition. With a subordinate conjunction, however, the words that follow it make up a subordinate clause, which must include (at minimum) a subject and verb. Why does it matter if the pronoun is a preposition or a subordinate conjunction? Let’s look at an example:

I’m going with whomever.

I’m going with whoever wants to go.

In the first sentence, you don’t have a verb after the preposition (“with”), so it’s a prepositional phrase, and the pronoun (“whomever”) that follows the preposition must be an object. This means that if you’re using a pronoun like “whoever”, you have to use the object form “whomever”, not the subject form “whoever”.

In the second sentence, however, you have a verb (“wants”), so it’s a subordinate clause, not a prepositional phrase. In this case, you use the subject form “whoever” instead of the object form “whomever”.

This causes a lot of confusion. I see this incorrect construction all the time:

✘ Incorrect:

I’m going with whomever wants to go.

This is wrong because “whomever” cannot be the subject of the verb “wants”. It would be like saying “Her wants to go” instead of “She wants to go.” You need the subject form “whoever” instead.

Now, let’s make things even more confusing:

I’m going with whomever I want.

This sentence is correct! Why? Because in this subordinate clause, the subject is “I” and the verb is “want”. It also has an object (“whomever”), which appears at the beginning of the subordinate clause. If you were writing the clause as a sentence, it would be:

I want whomever.

But when the clause is subordinate, the object comes first, which can make it harder to spot the subject vs. the object:

I’m going with whomever I want.

Take another example:

I’m addressing the letter to whom it may concern.

This is a subordinate clause with a subject (“it”), verb (“may concern”), and object (“whom”).

Here’s another construction that causes problems all the time:

Shiraz and I took the candy.

She gave the candy to Shiraz and me.

In the first sentence, “Shiraz and I” is the subject of the sentence, so you use the subject form of the pronoun “I”. But in the second sentence, “Shiraz and me” is the object of the preposition “to”, so you use the object form and write “me” instead. You could also say:

She gave Shiraz and me the candy.

In this case, “Shiraz and me” is the indirect object, so you use the object form “me”.

People often say “Me and Shiraz took the candy” or “Shiraz and me took the candy”, which are both wrong and make my ears hurt. But it’s even more painful when people try to sound correct and use the subject when they should be using the object, such as “She gave the candy to Shiraz and I”. (No, she didn’t. She gave it to Shiraz and me.)

So how can you remember all this? First, identify the subject by asking yourself who or what is doing the action. You will then have a much easier time figuring out which word, if any, is the object.

For example, in the candy sentence, here’s what’s going on in my head:

“Okay, she’s giving the candy, so ‘She’ is the subject of the sentence and ‘gave’ is the verb. What did she give? The candy. So that’s the object of the sentence. Now I see a preposition (‘to’), so what follows is either a prepositional phrase or a subordinate clause. I just see nouns, no verbs, so this is a prepositional phrase, which means I need to use the object form ‘me’. The pronouns ‘I’ and ‘me’ always come after the other person (‘Shiraz and me’, never ‘me and Shiraz’), so the sentence is: She gave the candy to Shiraz and me.”

Particles

Here’s an interesting point that won’t usually affect your writing but is nice to know: sometimes words that look like prepositions are actually part of the verb. These are called particles. For example, in the verb “sign in”, “in” is a particle, not a preposition, and is an important part of the verb. Consider the differences in these two sentences:

Be sure to sign in before you continue.

(“in” is a particle, because it’s a part of the verb “sign in”)

The sign in the office welcomes visitors.

(“in” is a preposition that starts the prepositional phrase “in the office”)

The main reason you might care about identifying a particle vs. a preposition is if you’re tempted to move the parts of the sentence around. The particle must not be separated from the verb, whereas the prepositional phrase can be moved. For example, you can say:

In the office, the sign welcomes visitors.

But you cannot say:

In before you continue, be sure to sign.

Nor can you say:

Before you continue, in be sure to sign.

Even Yoda doesn’t do this. (Awkward his speech is. Yes. Yes! Yet wise Yoda is.)

Summary

Prepositional phrases provide extra information such as when, where, and how.
When using pronouns in a prepositional phrase, use the object form of the pronoun (such as “to me”, “with whomever”).
When using pronouns in a subordinate clause, be sure to identify the subject and object (if any) in the clause and use the correct form of the pronoun.
Particles are prepositions that are part of the verb (such as “in” in “log in”) and must not be moved to a different spot in the sentence.

Additional resources

https://www.englishclub.com/grammar/prepositions-list.htm
http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/preposition.htm
https://webapps.towson.edu/ows/prepositions.htm
http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/yoda-grammar

📘Assignment

Write two sentences with prepositional phrases that include pronouns (don’t use the same preposition in both sentences).
Write two sentences with subordinate clauses that include pronouns (choose two unique subordinate conjunctions that you didn’t use as pronouns in the previous task).