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In this lesson, master the use of prepositions to show relationships between words in a sentence. Clear explanations and practice exercises to help you learn.
What Are Prepositions?
Prepositions are a type of word that typically show the relationship between nouns or pronouns (the complement) and other words in a sentence. They often appear before their complement and indicate the location of something in space or time, or the direction of movement or manner of action.
Prepositions Are 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. So, there is no single, fixed rule that governs their use. In order to learn the permissible collocations, you need to look them up in a dictionary, read a lot of texts in English, and learn useful phrases with prepositions.
Prepositions: Types Based on Structure
Prepositions are categorized into two main groups based on the number of words they are made of:
Simple prepositions
Simple prepositions are made of only one word, while compound prepositions are made of two or more words . Here are some examples:
The small cat jumped on the chair.
simple
Everything went according to plan.
compound
Please do not talk on behalf of her. Let her choose herself.
compound
Participle Prepositions
Participle prepositions are prepositions that end in '-ed', '-ing', '-en', etc. Excluding, including, following, considering, and regarding are examples of participle prepositions. Here are a few examples in sentences:
Following the agreement, they shook hands.
Considering her illness, she was still beautiful.
Prepositions: Types Based on Meaning
There are different types of prepositions in English that are all frequently used. Check out the list:
Prepositions of Time
Prepositions such as 'in', 'at', and 'on' answer the question 'when?' and refer to a point in time. Furthermore, we can use prepositions like 'since,' 'for', 'by', 'during', 'from...to', to refer to a period of time and answer the question 'how long?.' Take a look at the examples:
The bus comes at 15:33 p.m.
I worked there from January to June.
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. For example:
There's a cat under the car.
Look at the picture on the wall.
Preposition or Adverb?
Some words can function as both adverb and preposition, meaning they can belong to two different parts of speech but have the same form. Compare the examples:
Sally closed the door behind her. (preposition)
The car behind was hooting impatiently. (adverb)
Prepositional Phrase
A group of words that consist of a preposition and a noun or pronoun (object of the preposition) is considered a prepositional phrase. As you know, a phrase does not have a verb or a subject, as a result, it does not form a complete sentence; rather, it is used to complete the meaning of the sentence. Take a look at some examples:
Young people were swimming in the deep water.
This is the only thing on my mind.
Common Error
Be careful not to add an unnecessary 'at' to the end of questions about place. That is not grammatically correct.
Where are you going? (Not 'Where are you going at?')
Where is your mother? (Not 'Where is your mother at?')
Preposition: Position in a Sentence
Prepositions generally come before, or less commonly after nouns to establish a connection between them and the other elements of the sentence. However, in some cases, preposition stranding might happen, where the preposition is separated from its object and appears at the end of the clause. Preposition stranding mainly occurs in questions and relative clauses. While some strict grammarians believe it is incorrect to end a sentence with a preposition, it is now generally considered acceptable in modern English. For example:
What are you looking at?
That's the guy that I was telling you about.
Prepositions cannot appear before or after certain word classes. Check out the table for more details:
verb + preposition | ✓ | preposition + verb (gerund) | ✗ |
adjective + preposition | ✓ | preposition + adjective | ✓ (rare) |
preposition + noun | ✓ | noun + preposition | ✓ |
preposition at the end | ✓ | preposition + preposition | ✓ |
He was listening to his favorite song.
verb + preposition
I'm interested in this new method.
adjective + preposition
All our endevaours were in vain.
preposition + adjective (Keep in mind that preposition + adjective combinations are relatively rare and mostly used in fixed expressions)
I'll see you on Monday.
preposition + noun
We met some years ago.
noun + preposition
What was she referring to?
preposition at the end of the clause
The actors stepped on the stage from behind the curtain.
preposition + preposition
Review
Prepositions come before nouns to indicate a particular concept such as time, place, etc. Here are the most important categories of prepositions.
Prepositions of time
Prepositions of place
Prepositions of direction
Preposition of manner
Quiz:
Identify the word functioning as a preposition in this sentence: "The dog ran around the yard and then lay down."
the
around
then
down
In which sentence is "following" used as a participle preposition?
She is following the instructions carefully.
The dog was following its owner.
Following the storm, the roads were flooded.
The detective spent hours following the suspect.
Match each sentence to the correct preposition category.
Complete each sentence using the appropriate preposition from parentheses.
She's visiting her friend
the hospital. (at/to/including)
This is the project I was telling you
. (during/according to/about)
The deer ran
the forest. (upon/through/ago)
They communicated
email. (toward/under/by)
Fill the table by identifying the structural category of the preposition in each sentence.
We'll meet in spite of the rain. | |
The cat slept under the bed. | |
Considering the traffic, we left early. | |
He painted with great skill. |
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