Prepositions

A preposition describes a relationship between other words in a sentence. In itself, a word like "in" or "after" is rather meaningless and hard to define in mere words.

Consider the professor's desk and all the prepositional phrases we can use while talking about it. You can sit before the desk (or in front of the desk). The professor can sit on the desk (when he's being informal) or behind the desk, and then his feet are under the desk or beneath the desk. He can stand beside the desk (meaning next to the desk), before the desk, between the desk and you, or even on the desk (if he's really strange). If he's clumsy, he can bump into the desk or try to walk through the desk (and stuff would fall off the desk). Passing his hands over the desk or resting his elbows upon the desk, he often looks across the desk and speaks of the desk or concerning the desk as if there were nothing else like the desk. Because he thinks of nothing except the desk, sometimes you wonder about the desk, what's in the desk, what he paid for the desk, and if he could live without the desk. You can walk toward the desk, to the desk, around the desk, by the desk, and even past the desk while he sits at the desk or leans against the desk.

All of this happens, of course, in time: during the class, before the class, until the class, throughout the class, after the class, etc. And the professor can sit there in a bad mood [another adverbial construction].
 

List of common prepositions
 
about
above
across
after
against
around
at
before
behind
below
beneath
beside
besides
between
beyond		 by
down
during
except
for
from
in
inside
into
like
near
of
off		 on
out
outside
over
since
through
throughout
till
to
toward
under
up
upon
with
without		 according to
because of
by way of
in addition to
in front of
in place of
in regard to
in spite of
instead of
on account of
out of 

Is it any wonder that prepositions create such troubles for students for whom English is a second language? We say we are at the hospital to visit a friend who is in the hospital. We lie in bed but on the couch. We watch a film at the movies but on television. For native speakers, these little words present little difficulty, but try to learn another language, any other language, and you will quickly discover that prepositions are troublesome wherever you live. This page contains some interesting (sometimes troublesome) prepositions with brief usage notes.

 Prepositions of Time: at, on, and in
We use at to designate specific times.
The train is due at 12:15 p.m.

We use on to designate days and dates.
My brother is coming on Monday.
We're having a party on the Fourth of July.

We use in for nonspecific times during a day, a month, a season, or a year.
She likes to jog in the morning.
It's too cold in winter to run outside.
He started the job in 1971.
He's going to quit in August.

 Prepositions of Place: at, on, and in
We use at for specific addresses.
Grammar English lives at 55 Boretz Road in Durham.

We use on to designate names of streets, avenues, etc.
Her house is on Boretz Road.

And we use in for the names of land-areas (towns, counties, states, countries, and continents).
She lives in Durham.
Durham is in Windham County.
Windham County is in Connecticut.
 
 
Prepositions of Location: in, at, and on
and No Preposition
IN
(the) bed*
the bedroom
the car
(the) class*
the library*
school*		 AT
class*
home
the library*
the office
school*
work		 ON
the bed*
the ceiling
the floor
the horse
the plane
the train		 NO PREPOSITION
downstairs
downtown
inside
outside
upstairs
uptown
* You may sometimes use different prepositions for these locations.

Prepositions of Movement: to
and No Preposition
We use to in order to express movement toward a place.
They were driving to work together.
She's going to the dentist's office this morning.

 With the words home, downtown, uptown, inside, outside, downstairs, upstairs, we use no preposition.
Grandma went upstairs
Grandpa went home.
They both went outside.

 Prepositions of Time: for and since
We use for when we measure time (seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years).
He held his breath for seven minutes.
She's lived there for seven years.
The British and Irish have been quarreling for seven centuries.

We use since with a specific date or time.
He's worked here since 1970.
She's been sitting in the waiting room since two-thirty.


 

Prepositions with nouns, adjectives, and verbs.
Prepositions are sometimes so firmly wedded to other words that they have practically become one word. (In fact, in other languages, such as German, they would have become one word.) This occurs in three categories: nouns, adjectives, and verbs.
 
 
NOUNS and PREPOSITIONS
approval of
awareness of
belief in
concern for
confusion about
desire for		 fondness for
grasp of
hatred of
hope for
interest in
love of		 need for
participation in
reason for
respect for
success in
understanding of
ADJECTIVES and PREPOSITIONS
afraid of
angry at
aware of
capable of
careless about
familiar with		 fond of
happy about
interested in
jealous of
made of
married to		 proud of
similar to
sorry for
sure of
tired of
worried about

VERBS and PREPOSITIONS
apologize for
ask about
ask for
belong to
bring up
care for
find out		 give up
grow up
look for
look forward to
look up
make up
pay for		 prepare for
study for
talk about
think about
trust in
work for
worry about

A combination of verb and preposition is called a phrasal verb. The word that is joined to the verb is then called a particle.

 Idiomatic Expressions with Prepositions

Unnecessary Prepositions
In everyday speech, we fall into some bad habits, using prepositions where they are not necessary. It would be a good idea to eliminate these words altogether, but we must be especially careful not to use them in formal, academic prose.
Original page is located at http://webster.commnet.edu/HP/pages/darling/grammar/prepositions.htm
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