Final answer:
A group of words that starts with a preposition and ends with a noun or pronoun is called a prepositional phrase. A prepositional phrase is a specific type of phrase that provides additional information in a sentence and should not be confused with a subordinate conjunction or clauses.
Step-by-step explanation:
A group of words that begins with a preposition and ends with a noun or pronoun is called a prepositional phrase. This type of phrase can be easily recognized within a sentence. For instance, in the sentence 'The book on the shelf belongs to her,' the words 'on the shelf' form a prepositional phrase. Prepositional phrases can serve various purposes within a sentence, such as acting as an adverbial, providing additional information about time, location, or manner related to the action or the subject of the sentence.
Prepositions are the building blocks of prepositional phrases and include words such as 'aboard' and 'through'. A prepositional phrase, unlike a clause, does not contain both a subject and a verb on its own. In contrast, a subordinate conjunction is a word that introduces dependent clauses and cannot stand alone as a complete sentence. Common subordinating conjunctions include words like 'although,' 'because,' and 'since,' which introduce subordinate clauses with both a subject and a verb that depend on the main clause for their complete meaning.
A phrase is a broader term that refers to any word or group of words that functions as a unit within a sentence and lacks either a subject or a verb. A prepositional phrase is a specific type of phrase that begins with a preposition and adds information to the sentence. It is important to distinguish between clauses and phrases because a phrase cannot stand alone, whereas a clause might stand alone if it is independent.