Prepositions
Prepositions can refer to many things. Since there are a lot of prepositions in the English language and they are used a lot, we have to learn them completely.
What Are Prepositions?
Prepositions are short words that show direction, time, place, location, spatial relationship with people, places, or things. Prepositions sit before (are pre-positioned) their objects.
Knowing when to use which preposition is a bit tricky.
We say we are at the hospital seeing someone who is in the hospital. We lie in bed but on the couch. We watch a movie at the theater but on television.
You can learn them by looking them up in a dictionary, reading a lot in English, and learning useful phrases with prepositions.
Main Categories
Prepositions are categorized into two main groups based on the number of words they are made of. Here are the two groups:
- Simple prepositions
- Compound prepositions
simple prepositions are made of only one word, but compound prepositions are made of two or more words.
The small cat jumped
Please do not talk
Types of Prepositions
There are different types of prepositions in English that are all equally important. Check out the list:
Prepositions of Direction
If we want to refer to the direction of something, we use the prepositions such as 'to,' 'in,' 'across,' 'on,' and 'along.'
I'm walking
Prepositions of Time
If we want to refer to one point in time, we use the prepositions such as 'in,' 'at,' and 'on.' We use prepositions 'since,' 'for,' 'by,' 'during,' 'from...to,' when we want to refer to a period of time.
The bus comes
I worked there
Prepositions of Place
Prepositions of Place answer the question 'Where?.' They are used to show the position or location of a thing or person in relation to another thing or person. Prepositions such as 'at,' 'in,' 'on,' 'behind,' 'under' and 'above' are some examples of this category.
There's a cat
Look
Prepositions of Manner
Prepositions of manner express the way something happens or how a certain thing happened or is done. They may express the method or instrument by which something is done; these prepositions are by, with, like, as, in. Check out the examples.
He works
Participle Prepositions
participle prepositions are prepositions that end in -ed, -ing, -en,, etc. Excluding, including, following, considering, regarding are examples of these participle prepositions. Here are a few examples.
Preposition or Adverb?
Some terms can be either an adverb or a preposition. We mean we can have the same word with two different word classes.
Common Error
Sometimes English learners use unnecessary 'at' at the end of a question as a preposition that is not correct.
Where are you going? (Not 'Where are you going ?')
Where is your mother? (Not 'Where is your mother ?')
Prepositional Phrase
A group of words containing a preposition, a noun, or pronoun object of the preposition is considered a prepositional phrase. As you know, a phrase does not consist of a verb or a subject, as a result, it is used to complete the meaning of the sentence.
Young people were swimming
This is the only thing
Using Prepositions
You cannot decide which preposition goes with the noun, so, it is better to memorize prepositional phrases. Strict grammarians believe it is wrong to use prepositions at the end of the sentence, but nowadays it is considered OK and you can use prepositions at the end of a sentence.
What are you looking
Where did you put them
How Do We Use Prepositions?
Sometimes we are not allowed to use prepositions before or after some word classes. so, check out the table to have information in detail:
verb + preposition | ✓ | preposition + verb (gerund) | ✓ |
adjective + preposition | ✓ | preposition + adjective | ✗ |
preposition + noun | ✓ | noun + preposition | ✓ |
one preposition at the end | ✓ | preposition + preposition | ✗ |
Review
Prepositions are used before prepositional objects to indicate a particular concept such as time, place, etc. Here are the most important categories of prepositions.
- prepositions of direction
- prepositions of time
- prepositions of place
- preposition of manner
- compound prepositions
- participle prepositions