1. Ways to express ‘which one’

The ways to help people know which object you are talking about:

• Noun + ‘prepositional phrase’
• Noun + ‘participle phrase’

2. Noun + prepositional phrase

Prepositional phrases use prepositions.

Prepositions include:
on, in, under, next to, by, with

To make a prepositional phrase:

• subject + preposition + preposition’s object

Subject	Preposition	Preposition’s object	Prepositional phrase	Example sentence
the child	in	the corner	the child in the corner	Give this cake to the child in the corner.
the woman	by	the door	the woman by the door	I was just speaking to the woman by the door, and she told me something interesting.
the man	with	the beard	the man with the beard	Ellis doesn’t like the man with the beard.

3. How to use the participle phrase

Participle phrases use …ing.

Examples of participle phrases are:
doing …, going …., sitting …

To make a participle phrase:

• subject + participle + participle’s object

Subject	…ing	Participle’s object	Participle phrase	Example sentence
the child	sitting in	the corner	the child sitting in the corner	I find the child sitting in the corner so annoying.
the woman	drinking	the wine	the woman drinking the wine	Graeme was once married to the woman drinking the wine.
the man	speaking to	the doctor	the man speaking to the doctor	Molly plays badminton with the man speaking to the doctor.

4. Using prepositional phrases and participle phrases

Preposition phrases and participle phrases can be used together.

The preposition phrase usually comes first.

Subject	Prepositional phrase	Participal phrase	Phrases combined	Example sentence
the child	with the lollipop	sitting in the corner	the child with the lollipop sitting in the corner	This toy belongs to the child with the lollipop sitting in the corner.
the woman	with the long back hair	playing the piano	the woman with the long black hair playing the piano	The most beautiful person here is the woman with the long black hair playing the piano.
the man	under the table	hiding from the police	the man under the table hiding from the police	Do you know the man under the table hiding from the police?

5. Adding adjectives

For more detail, add an adjective to the first noun.

The ugly statue with two heads.	The fashionable girl with the blue shoes dancing on the dancefloor.
The really tall tree standing by the door.	The cowardly man under the table hiding from the police.

6. Exercises

Using adjectives, prepositional phrases and participle phrases, describe ‘which…’ for things in the room around you (example: the orange folder next to the blue book sitting on the table).