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Year 4

Prepositions

I can write a range of sentence types with prepositions to indicate time, place or cause.

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New
New
Year 4

Prepositions

I can write a range of sentence types with prepositions to indicate time, place or cause.

Download all resources
Share activities with pupils

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Prepositions tell the reader where or when something is in relation to something else.
  2. Prepositions can indicate time, place or cause.
  3. Prepositions can be single words or groups of words.
  4. A phrase is a group of words with no verb.

Common misconception

Pupils may think that words stay as prepositions irrespective of what follows them.

Some words are prepositions when followed by a noun phrase, but they can be conjunctions or adverbs in other circumstances.

Keywords

  • Preposition - word or words that can tell the reader where, when or why something is happening

  • Phrase - a group of words with no verb

  • Clause - a group of words that contains a verb

  • Indicate - show or signal

Ensure that in modelling writing in English lessons, you show that preposition phrases can be placed in different places in sentences (including as fronted adverbials).
Teacher tip

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

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Starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
What is the purpose of a determiner?
to introduce verbs in a clause
Correct answer: to introduce a noun in a clause
to introduce adjectives in a clause
Q2.
Which of the following lists shows articles we can use as determiners?
but, or, and
Correct answer: a, an, the
my, your, their
Q3.
Which of the following lists shows possessive pronouns we can use as determiners?
Correct answer: my, our, its, their
she, he, it, they
a, an, the
Q4.
Which word in this sentence is a possessive pronoun? 'We went to our local shops.'
we
Correct answer: our
local
to
Q5.
Which is the correct article to use in this sentence? '__________ unknown animal has been stealing our food.'
a
Correct answer: an
the
Q6.
In this sentence, what kind of determiner is used? 'We walked into the cinema and bought a ticket each.'
possessive pronouns
Correct answer: articles
nouns

Exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
If a group of words contains a verb, what do we call it?
a phrase
Correct answer: a clause
a preposition phrase
Q2.
Select all the phrases below.
Correct answer: a small, wooden box
we opened it carefully
Correct answer: into the dark forest
they cautiously stepped in
Q3.
In this sentence, which word is the preposition? 'Sam walked into the empty classroom.'
walked
Correct answer: into
the
Q4.
In this sentence, which words are the preposition phrase? 'Sam walked into the empty classroom.'
Sam walked
walked into
empty classroom
Correct answer: into the empty classroom
Q5.
Which preposition best completes this sentence? 'When the maths lesson was over, we ran out __________ the sun.'
of
Correct answer: into
through
for
Q6.
What is the preposition phrase in this sentence? 'The moon, which was high in the night sky, was a perfect circle.'
the moon was a perfect circle
was a perfect circle
which was high
Correct answer: in the night sky