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 analyze what each one means and how it functions:

Over

'Over' shows movement to a higher position. Take a look at some examples:

There are so many butterflies over your head.

I can see an eagle flying over the little bird.

Under

'Under' shows that someone/something is in a lower position than another. Look below:

Can't you see the cat under the chair?

There's a bakery under his flat.

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.

I asked Tom to move the big boxes into the second room.

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!

The police are coming. Let's get out of here.

Around

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

The kids are moving around the table.

There are so many cafés around the Eifel Tower.

Across

Another common prepositions 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 for two hours.

I know a library across the street.

Up

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

Maria is up the ladder.

A : Where are they going?

B : They're going up north.

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.

Down the corridor, a mysterious old lady was sitting.

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