Prepositions- remember to add to setting descriptions

Remember the humble preposition in 11+ description writing! 

Children can help their readers imagine a setting using carefully chosen propositions.

Consider these few setting sentences WITHOUT the use of prepositions. 

There was an oak table and an arched window. There were piles of leather-bound books.

This example sounds clumsy, and it isn't easy to imagine where things are and how the room is set out.

Now, here are the sentences re-written to include prepositions. They link ideas and tell a better 'story'. 

Piles of leather-bound books balanced on top of a giant oak table. A stained-glass arched window loomed over the room, sending dancing rainbow lights across the dusty floor.

Task to try at home

Can you describe the picture on this post using the vocabulary and preposition list?

Here is an example of how you could start.

As I entered the room, a stench of dust and acrid smoke from a burning candle hit my nose. Through the dim light, I could see the arched, stained-glass windows were ajar, and a cool breeze danced across the room. The berry-red, sheer, cotton drapes that hung beside the window seemed to hold a secret.

Word bank

• Sheer drapes
• Arched, stained-glass windows
• Flickering candles like the breath of a firefly
• Redundant medicine bottles
• Wooden mandolin
• Rice-white skull, proudly displayed
• Smoky-smelling leather satchel
• Leather-bound tomes/volumes
• Ancient artefacts of past wars
• Minute wooden milking stall
• Decorative bronze chest

Prepositions

• between
• below
• through
• on
• underneath
• off
• beneath
• before
• during
• in
• over
• under
• above
• about
• after
• at
• beside
• on top of
• across
• by
• inside