Grammar exercise designed to help students identify prepositions and underline prepositional phrases within various sentences.

Let's solve the task step by step.

---

Understanding the Task

The goal is to:
1. Underline the prepositional phrase in each sentence.
2. Circle the preposition within that phrase.

A prepositional phrase includes:
- A preposition (like *in, on, through, under, to, from*, etc.)
- The object of the preposition (a noun or pronoun)
- Possibly an article (*a, an, the*) or adjective describing the object

---

Step-by-step Solutions

#### 1) *The strange man parked his car next to the tall trees.*

- Prepositional phrase: *next to the tall trees*
- Preposition: *to*
→ "next" is not a preposition here; it's part of the compound preposition "next to".
- ✔ Underline: *next to the tall trees*
✔ Circle: *to*

> Note: "next to" is a compound preposition, so "to" is the actual preposition.

---

#### 2) *The confused foreign exchange student walked through the school halls.*

- Prepositional phrase: *through the school halls*
- Preposition: *through*
- ✔ Underline: *through the school halls*
✔ Circle: *through*

---

#### 3) *My cousin Jesse wore a bandage on his nose to cover the wound.*

- Prepositional phrase: *on his nose*
- Preposition: *on*
- ✔ Underline: *on his nose*
✔ Circle: *on*

> Note: *"to cover the wound"* is an infinitive phrase (not a prepositional phrase).

---

#### 4) *Our crazy dog escaped and wandered all around the neighborhood.*

- Prepositional phrase: *around the neighborhood*
- Preposition: *around*
- ✔ Underline: *around the neighborhood*
✔ Circle: *around*

> Note: "all" is an adverb modifying "around", but it's not part of the core prepositional phrase.

---

#### 5) *Your little brother had surgery and must stay in the hospital.*

- Prepositional phrase: *in the hospital*
- Preposition: *in*
- ✔ Underline: *in the hospital*
✔ Circle: *in*

---

#### 6) *Following the candidates' speeches voting will begin.*

- This sentence has a participle phrase ("Following the candidates' speeches") at the beginning.
- But we are looking for a prepositional phrase.
- Let’s break it down: *the candidates' speeches* — this is a noun phrase, but there’s no preposition here.
- Wait: “Following” is a present participle, not a preposition.
- So, is there a prepositional phrase?

Actually, no — there is no prepositional phrase in this sentence.

But let’s check again:

- *Following* = verb form (participle), not a preposition.
- There is no preposition like *in, on, to, for*, etc.

So, this sentence does not contain a prepositional phrase.

But wait — is “following” used as a preposition?

👉 In some contexts, "following" can be a preposition meaning “after”, but only when followed by a noun.

Here: *Following the candidates' speeches* — yes! This is a prepositional phrase with "following" as the preposition.

✔ So:
- Prepositional phrase: *Following the candidates' speeches*
- Preposition: *following*
- ✔ Underline: *Following the candidates' speeches*
✔ Circle: *following*

> Note: Even though "following" is often a verb, it functions as a preposition here because it introduces a noun phrase ("the candidates' speeches").

---

#### 7) *Mr. Thompson had to drive through the large puddles.*

- Prepositional phrase: *through the large puddles*
- Preposition: *through*
- ✔ Underline: *through the large puddles*
✔ Circle: *through*

---

#### 8) *Angelique came to visit from France.*

- Prepositional phrase: *from France*
- Preposition: *from*
- ✔ Underline: *from France*
✔ Circle: *from*

> Note: "to visit" is an infinitive phrase (not prepositional).

---

✔ Final Answers:

1) Underline: *next to the tall trees* → Circle: *to*
2) Underline: *through the school halls* → Circle: *through*
3) Underline: *on his nose* → Circle: *on*
4) Underline: *around the neighborhood* → Circle: *around*
5) Underline: *in the hospital* → Circle: *in*
6) Underline: *Following the candidates' speeches* → Circle: *following*
7) Underline: *through the large puddles* → Circle: *through*
8) Underline: *from France* → Circle: *from*

---

📝 Summary Tips:

- Look for words like *in, on, at, to, from, through, around, under, over, between, among, etc.*
- Remember that compound prepositions (e.g., *next to*, *because of*, *out of*) still have one preposition.
- Some words like *following*, *regarding*, *concerning* can act as prepositions when they introduce a noun phrase.

Let me know if you'd like this formatted as a printable answer sheet!