Linking and Addition Prepositional Phrases Exercises

Linking and addition prepositional phrases connect ideas and show contrast, substitution, reason, source, or extra information. Core phrases include in spite of, instead of, according to, due to, owing to, apart from, in addition to, and as a result of. These phrases are especially useful in longer sentences because they show how one idea relates to another without needing a full clause.

Use in spite of before a noun or gerund to show contrast: "In spite of the rain, we went out." Use instead of when one thing replaces another, and in addition to when one thing is added to another. According to introduces a source of information, while due to, owing to, and as a result of introduce reasons or causes. Apart from can mean "except for" or "in addition to", so the sentence must guide your choice. A useful test is to paraphrase the phrase as although, not this but that, plus, source, or because.