Prepositions of Direction and Movement

For beginners

As their names suggest, prepositions of direction and movement show a movement from one place to another or show a particular direction.

"Prepositions of Direction and Movement" in English Grammar

What Are Prepositions of Direction and Movement?

Prepositions of direction and movement are words that describe how a person or object moves from one place to another.

Common Prepositions of Direction and Movement

Some of the common prepositions of movement and direction are listed below:

  • over
  • under
  • into
  • out of
  • around
  • across
  • up
  • down

Now, let us see what each one means and how it functions:

Over

'Over' shows movement from one side to another above something. Take a look at some examples:

The bird flew over the fence.

She jumped over the puddle.

Under

'Under' shows that someone/something is moving to a position below something. Look below:

The cat ran under the table.

He crawled under the bed.

Into

'Into' is another preposition of movement and direction. It shows that something/someone is going inside a place:

Let's go into the third room.

The cat jumped into the box.

Out of

'Out of' is another preposition of movement and direction. We use it to show a movement away from a place. For example:

Move out of this room!

She took the book out of the bag.

Around

'Around' shows movement on all sides of something. Here are some examples:

The kids are running around the table.

We took a walk around the Eifel Tower.

Across

Another common preposition of movement and direction is 'across'. It shows movement from one side to another side. Check out the following examples:

I saw Jim running across the street an hour ago.

The dog ran across the yard.

Up

'Up' shows movement to a higher position. Look at the examples below:

Maria is going up the ladder.

A : Where are they going?

B : They're going up the hill.

Down

Another preposition of movement and direction is 'down'. We use it to show movement to a lower position. Look at the following examples:

There's a telephone box down the stairs.

He ran down the hill to catch the bus.

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