What is a prepositional phrase?

In short, a prepositional phrase is clothing for your sentence. It adds detail, but it relies on a certain pattern that can become easy to recognize when you know what to look for. Even though clothing takes many different shapes, it is all made of fabric and decorates the body. The same goes for prepositional phrases; they are made of a preposition followed by a noun (a person, place, or thing) which is called the object of the preposition. Prepositions are often little words that provide some sort of direction: to, from, in, on, with, for, before, after, through, over, near, between, along (this list of prepositions is rather long!). Many prepositional phrases are three words long although you might get a two word phrase or a really long phrase occasionally. The pattern they take looks like this:

in the morning (preposition + thing)
after breakfast (preposition + thing)
for Bob (preposition + person)
through his meeting (preposition + thing)
in Indianapolis (preposition + place)
with the overworked and underpaid administrative assistant (preposition + person)

Many prepositional phrases can dress one sentence:
In the morning after breakfast, Chris makes coffee for Bob to keep Bob alert through his meeting in Indianapolis with the overworked and underpaid administrative assistant.

Here is a jingle commonly known that contains three prepositional phrases. See if you can find them as well as the simple subject and verb: "Over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house we go."