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donnalynn
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Posted: Nov 11 2008 at 8:12am \| IP Logged

prepositional phrases?

My two girls (8th and 6th grade) are working through the Basic Level of the The Winston Grammar Program.

On our latest worksheet one sentence reads:

Wow! Look at the monkey in the tree.

The prepositional phrases are *at the monkey* and *in the tree* - ok got that - but I am having trouble explaining how to tell whether certain phrases act as adverbs or adjectives.

Dd thought that *in the tree* would be an adverb phrase answering the question "Where?" the verb is look - look where? In the tree

But Winston has this marked as an adjective phrase modifying "monkey"

Then later on a sentence reads...

May we have silence in the room?

So dd changes her original answer to say that *in the room* is an adjective phrase modifying silence - NOPE - Winston has this one as an adverb modifying the verb "have".

Any hints or thoughts on how to help them (and me for that matter - I'd be a bit lost myself without the answer key)discern whether a prep. phrase is acting as an adjective or an adverb??

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donnalynn

teachingmyown
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Posted: Nov 11 2008 at 8:45am \| IP Logged

I am probably not the person to answer, but I will try with your examples:
"in the tree" answers what/which monkey? (look at the monkey. which one? the one in the tree) so it is acting as an adjective.
"in the room" answers where you want silence (may we have silence? where? in the room.) so it is acting as an adverb.

I think if you can ask a where question about the verb it is usually adverbial, a what/which one question about the noun it is an adjective phrase.

I hope that's right!

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Molly
wife to Court & mom to ds '91, dd '96, ds '97, dds '99, '01, '03, '06, and dss '07 and 01/20/11
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Maryan
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Posted: Nov 11 2008 at 8:48am \| IP Logged

I taught grammar from Warriner's -- I'm not familiar with the Winston method. However, labelling phrases adjectival or adverbial can be tricky.

Your first example is easier.

Sometimes I taught that if you're having trouble determining what kind of phrase you have, try to determine what the phrase is modifying through questions. For example, adjectives modify nouns... so that makes it easier to tell what type phrase, etc. Adjectives answer "which?" Adverbs answer "where" -- amongst other questions.

So..."at the monkey" is an adverb phrase. It modifies the verb "look." Look where? At the monkey.

"In the tree" is an adjective phrase because it modifies monkey. It tells you WHICH monkey. The one in the tree.

The second example is really tricky in my opinion.

May we have silence in the room?

You almost determine that it's an adverbial phrase by negating that it's NOT an adjective?? For example, It's NOT saying which silence? The silence in the room. "In the room" really answers WHERE. And where is an adverbial question.

Hopefully someone will jump in with a better explanation.

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Maryan
Mom to 6 boys & 1 girl: JP('01), B ('03), M('05), L('06), Ph ('08), M ('10), James born 5/1/12
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Maryan
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Posted: Nov 11 2008 at 8:49am \| IP Logged

I answered at the same time as Molly.

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Maryan
Mom to 6 boys & 1 girl: JP('01), B ('03), M('05), L('06), Ph ('08), M ('10), James born 5/1/12
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donnalynn
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Posted: Nov 12 2008 at 8:00am \| IP Logged

Thanks ladies -

We are asking the right questions for the right parts of speech but we still come out with the wrong answers sometimes!

Does the position in the sentence make a difference?

So say that first sentence read -

Wow! Look in the tree at the monkey.

Would *in the tree* be considered an adverb phrase in this case? But I think *at the monkey* would still be an adverb also, right?

I think I am trying to see if a phrase can be moved because then it would be an adverb, right? Adverbs can move position in a sentence but adjectives do not...or does this not apply to prepositional phrases?

We are doing ok and they quickly see their errors but I would really like some more rules to apply before we make the errors - it just seems like some prepositional phrases could answer more than one question and still make sense.

I think we are due for a quiz tomorrow - so we'll see how it goes today and how they do on the quiz.

I think I am mostly frustrated because I actually *enjoy* grammar and want to get it right!!

Thanks again - it does help.

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donnalynn

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