Prepositions

What are prepositions?

What do they look like? Short words (e.g. at, for, in, to) Longer words and short phrases (e.g. despite,

except, according to, out of, in terms of, in the event of)

Participles (e.g. assuming, concerning, given, granted, regarding)

Given your schedule, I think you should book decent hotel rooms.

I wrote to you last week concerning your offer… We can’t recognize prepositions just from the

form of the words.

Where do they come in sentences?General Use

Immediately before a noun or –ing form (e.g. to work, of cooking)

At the beginning of a phrase including a noun (e.g. at the cinema). occur in various sentence positions

Immediately after a verb (e.g. arrive at), adjective (e.g. fond of) or noun (e.g. interest in).

Prep+V-ing (e.g. I’m afraid of crying).

In Other Positions At the end of

clauses:Questions with what, who or which

What are you staring at? Who do you live with? Which one is it like?

Passive constructions: Every possible surface had been drawn on.

Relative clauses: I don’t know who you were playing with.

Infinitive clauses: It’s a funny thing to ask about.

Direct questions: prep+a question word. (formal and old-fationed)

With whom did she come?At what time did she leave?

Who did she come with?

Prep+relative pronoun. (formal context)

A company with whom we have successfully been conducting business.

The master under whose guidance he had been studying.

What do they do?Place and Time

Prepositions which have concrete meanings that we can show or demonstrate. Define place, position or movement, e.g. between the columns, towards the door.

Many of these prepositions can also refer to time.

Place: at the bus stop, in the room

Time: at 10:00, in March

Prepositions which can refer to both place and time generally have a similar meaning in both cases.

In expressions which refer to the future, in can mean ‘later than now’, e.g. in six months, in a few minutes.

Other prepositions (e.g. after, before, by, during, since, till, until) can refer to time, but not usually place, e.g. after Saturday, during the week.

Logical Relationships Cause and effect (e.g. because of, due

to, owing to, as a result of)I left as a result of his speech. Contrast (e.g. despite, in spite of)You slept despite the noise. Exemplification (e.g. like, such as)Go somewhere like Crete or Corfu. Exception (e.g. apart from, except)Ask anyone apart from me.

Multiple meanings A number of prepositions have several

meanings. These are not necessarily closely related.

They went for a walk by the canal. (i.e.

near/along) It has to be ready by the weekend. (i.e. on or before)

She made it with eggs and cheese. (i.e. using) She went there with her mother. (i.e. accompanied by)

Dependent prepositions Adjectives: afraid of, crazy about Nouns: process of, difficulty in Verbs: combine with, listen to, accuse s

b of, protect sb from Follow with to: look forward (be/get) u

sed object (be) committed consent

Idiomatic preposition phrases Prepositions in fixed, idiomatic expressions

containing a noun. The noun may be sing., pl. or uncountable. May or may not be separated from the

preposition by a/an, the, some or an adjective (often good or bad).

at times on good terms Beneath contempt out of useFor the time being to some extentIn (good) time under offer

VariationChoice

Sometimes choose between two prepositions without making any difference to the meaning.

Come and see me in/during the week.I got covered with/in paint.

Style Some prepositions are used primarily in a

formal and generally professional or academic context, e.g. notwithstanding.

Till: spoken form Until: written form

Geographical, social and individual variation U.S.A.: through=till/until (through Friday)Than is used after different (different than)No preposition before days of the week (I’ll

see you Monday) Australia: on normal preposition to use

before the weekend (Let’s meet on the weekend)

Variant StandardDifferent to different fromSpeak with speak to Similar with similar toObvious of obvious to Intimidated with intimidated by

Word Class

Prepositions Conjunctions

They went out despite the rain.

They went out although it was raining.

They stayed in because of the foul weather.

They stayed in because the weather was so foul.

Prepositions Conjunctions

They phoned after/before dinner.

They phoned after/before they got home.

Prepositions Adverbs

They ran along the stream. They passed it along

He ran past the house. He ran past.

Some words can function both as prepositions and as adverbsSome words can function both as prepositions and as adverbs..

A few words can function both as prepositions and as A few words can function both as prepositions and as conjunctions.conjunctions.

Several prepositions have ‘conjunction equivalents’, e.g. Several prepositions have ‘conjunction equivalents’, e.g. despite/although; because of/because; during/whiledespite/although; because of/because; during/while..

ExerciseClass: __________ Name:___________ NO.:____________1. He was a horrible man; I couldn’t see any good ____him.□ of □ in □ either could be used here2. I left it____ the classroom.□ in □ at 3. The children were____ the playground.□ in □ at 4. I saw her ____Christmas.□ in □ on □ at5. I saw her ____Christmas day.□ in □ on □ at

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6. She’ll be away ____next week.□ since □ at □ until7. He was tried ____murder and found guilty.□ for □ to 8. He complained ____chest pains and went to hospital.□ about □ of9. The bridge goes ____the river.□ above □over □Either could be used here.10. We waited for nearly an hour and ____the end we went with

out her.□ at □in □on11. She’ll be here at five, ____ which time I expect you to have f

inished the work.□ by □until

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12. He’s jealous____ her success.□ with □by □of □for13. The decrease____ demand has caused a huge drop in their p

rofits.□ on □in □of14. The storm did a lot of damage ____ the roof.□ at □of □to15. Green pepper is rich____ vitamin C.□ of □in □from16. Act □ to □by □on17. Side□ with □into □onto

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