What are excessive prepositional phrases?

What are excessive prepositional phrases?

Some writers have a tendency to overuse prepositional phrases, repeatedly stringing together four, five, or even more in a row. They are often motivated by the desire to convey a lot of information quickly, but the result can be a meandering sentence structure that is difficult to follow.

How do you avoid excessive prepositional phrases?

Trim Prepositional Phrases for Leaner Writing

1. Delete the Phrase. Depending on the context, you can simply eliminate some prepositional phrases.
2. Eliminate Buried Verbs. Buried verbs result when nouns formed from verbs are used in place of verbs.
3. Use Adverbs, Stronger Verbs or Adjectives Instead.
4. Replace a Prepositional Phrase with a Genitive.
5. Use Active Voice.

What is unnecessary preposition?

Prepositions are certain words that go directly before nouns. Other common prepositions include of, for, from, with, like. Rule: You shouldn’t use or end a sentence with an unnecessary preposition, i.e., when the meaning is clear without the preposition. Sentences may end with necessary prepositions.

What words are not prepositions?

A word that looks like a preposition but is actually part of a verb is called a particle. Held up is a verb meaning “to rob.” Therefore, up is not a preposition, and bank is not the object of a preposition.

What is a like a prepositional phrase?

The preposition like means “similar to” or “similarly to.” It should be followed by an object of the preposition (noun, pronoun, noun phrase), not by a subject and verb. Rule of thumb: Avoid like when a verb is involved. Correct: You look like your mother.

What is the prepositional phrase in this sentence?

A prepositional phrase is a part of a sentence that consists of one preposition and the object it affects. The object of a prepositional phrase can be either a noun, gerund, or clause.

Can you begin a sentence with a gerund?

An “-ing” word at the start of a sentence is not wrong, if it is used in the correct way. Often authors use an “-ing” word, also called a gerund, to avoid using the word “I” too much.