PREPOSITIONS

Definition :

A preposition is a word which is usually placed before a noun or pronoun to show the latter’s relation to some word in the sentence.

e.g

Pronoun	Verb	Prep.	Noun
They	meet	before	lunch

Article	Noun	Prep.	Pronoun
A	letter	for	you

By definition, a preposition is placed before a word ("prepositioned") to indicate the word’s meaning within the context of the sentence

e.g

of the world

for a friend

at a hotel

Some Common Prepositions:

about	as	but
above	at	by
across	before	down
after	below	for
along	beside	from
around	between	in
into	of	onto
like	off	over
near	on	past
per	than	under
since	through	untill
till	to	up
with	without

e.g

He walked	across	the forest
	around
	beyond
	into
	near
	toward
	out

Position

As its name tells us, a preposition is normally ‘placed before’ a noun phrase or some other element. The preposition + noun phrase together form a PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE.

Position of prepositions in different kinds of sentence:

e.g

Who is she working for?

She’s working for a friend

In the first example shows the preposition at the end of the sentence, and the second example shows the preposition in its usual position, at the front of its noun phrase.

Prepositional Adverb

Many word forms which are prespositions are also adverbs. These adverbs are called Prepositonal Adverbs. Most of them are adverbs of place.

Some Common Prepositional Adverbs:

about	by	round
above	down	since
across	in	through
after	inside	throughout
around	near	under
before	on	up
behind	opposite	within
below	outside	without
between	past	over
beyond

Prepositions are usually in front of a noun phrase, whereas prepositional adverbs usually stand alone, wihtout a following noun phrase.

Preposition	She stayed in the house
Adverb	She stayed in
Preposition	The guests were standing around the room
Preposition	The guests were standing around

Prepositional adverbs are always stressed. Prepositions are frequently unstressed.

Prepositional Verb

We use the term prepositional verb for an IDIOM made up of verb + preposition.

add to	care for	look for
agree with	consent to	pay for
aim at / for	deal with	pray for
allow for	decide on	refer to
apply for	hope for	rely on
approve of	insist on	run for
ask for	listen to	stand for
attend to	live on	take after
believe in	long for	take to
belong to	look after	wish for
call for / on	look at

The verb and preposition express a single idea.

e.g

He takes after his grandfather (resembles)

We have asked for help (request)

I have to look after the house (take care of)

The verb and preposition are often together at the end of a sentence

e.g

I do not know who this book belong to

We scarcely have enough to live on

Have the new chairs been paid for?

Kinds of Prepositions

Simple Prepositions

Compound Prepositions

Phrasal Prepositions

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