Expanding Sentences With Prepositional Phrases

This sentence-expanding exercise will give you practice in applying the principles and guidelines after understanding what the parts of a preposition are.

Exercise

Expand each sentence below by adding one or more prepositional phrases that answer the question(s) in parenthesis.

Example

The cat jumped and pounced.
(What did the cat jump off of? What did the cat pounce on?)

The cat jumped off the stove and pounced on the gerbil.

There are countless ways to expand each sentence. You will find sample answers below.

1. The students laughed.
   (What did the students laugh at?)
2. The man tripped.
   (What did the man trip over?)
3. Visitors arrived yesterday.
   (Where were the visitors from?)
4. The candles flickered.
   (Where were the candles?)
5. Gus hid the candy bar.
   (Where did Gus hide the candy bar?)
6. Last night I watched a YouTube video.
   (What was the video about?)
7. Sid sat.
   (Where did he sit? With whom did he sit?)
8. The teacher spoke.
   (Who did the teacher speak to? What did she speak about?)
9. The spaceship landed.
   (Where was the spaceship from? Where did it land?)
10. Jenny stood, raised her Super Soaker water gun, and aimed it.
    (Where did she stand? What did she aim at?)

Answers

Here are sample answers to the sentence-expanding exercise. Keep in mind that countless versions of each sentence are possible.

1. The students laughed at the monkey on a scooter.
2. The man tripped over his own feet.
3. Visitors from the Bizarro world arrived yesterday.
4. The candles on the handles of my bicycle flickered.
5. Gus hid the candy bar in a dirty sock.
6. Last night I watched a YouTube video about green kangaroos.
7. Sid sat in a tub of Jello with his cat.
8. The teacher spoke to the principal about a pay raise.
9. The spaceship from Pluto landed in the desert.
10. Jenny stood on the roof of the garage, raised her Super Soaker water gun, and aimed it at her little brother below.

If you had any problems completing this exercise, review the guidelines and examples for arranging prepositional phrases.