English Preposition

Preposition

Rule
A preposition is followed by a "noun".

By "noun" we include:

• noun (dog, money, love)
• proper noun (name) (Bangkok, Mary)
• pronoun (you, him, us)
• noun group (my first job)
• gerund (swimming)

A preposition cannot be followed by a verb. If we want to follow a preposition by a verb, we must use the "-ing" form which is really a gerund or verb in noun form.

Prepositions are short words (on, in, to) that usually stand in front of nouns (sometimes also in front of gerund verbs).

Prepositions – Time

English	Usage	Example
on	days of the week	on Monday
in	months / seasons time of day year after a certain period of time (when?)	in August / in winter in the morning in 2006 in an hour
at	for night for weekend a certain point of time (when?)	at night at the weekend at half past nine
since	from a certain point of time (past till now)	since 1980
for	over a certain period of time (past till now)	for 2 years
ago	a certain time in the past	2 years ago
before	earlier than a certain point of time	before 2004
to	telling the time	ten to six (5:50)
past	telling the time	ten past six (6:10)
to / till / until	marking the beginning and end of a period of time	from Monday to/till Friday
till / until	in the sense of how long something is going to last	He is on holiday until Friday.
by	in the sense of at the latest up to a certain time	I will be back by 6 o’clock. By 11 o'clock, I had read five pages.

Prepositions – Place (Position and Direction)

English	Usage	Example
in	room, building, street, town, country book, paper etc. car, taxi picture, world	in the kitchen, in London in the book in the car, in a taxi in the picture, in the world
at	meaning next to, by an object for table for events place where you are to do something typical (watch a film, study, work)	at the door, at the station at the table at a concert, at the party at the cinema, at school, at work
on	attached for a place with a river being on a surface for a certain side (left, right) for a floor in a house for public transport for television, radio	the picture on the wall London lies on the Thames. on the table on the left on the first floor on the bus, on a plane on TV, on the radio
by, next to, beside	left or right of somebody or something	Jane is standing by / next to / beside the car.
under	on the ground, lower than (or covered by) something else	the bag is under the table
below	lower than something else but above ground	the fish are below the surface
over	covered by something else meaning more than getting to the other side (also across) overcoming an obstacle	put a jacket over your shirt over 16 years of age walk over the bridge climb over the wall
above	higher than something else, but not directly over it	a path above the lake
across	getting to the other side (also over) getting to the other side	walk across the bridge swim across the lake
through	something with limits on top, bottom and the sides	drive through the tunnel
to	movement to person or building movement to a place or country for bed	go to the cinema go to London / Ireland go to bed
into	enter a room / a building	go into the kitchen / the house
towards	movement in the direction of something (but not directly to it)	go 5 steps towards the house
onto	movement to the top of something	jump onto the table
from	in the sense of where from	a flower from the garden

Other important Prepositions

English	Usage	Example
from	who gave it	a present from Jane
of	who/what does it belong to what does it show	a page of the book the picture of a palace
by	who made it	a book by Mark Twain
on	walking or riding on horseback entering a public transport vehicle	on foot, on horseback get on the bus
in	entering a car  / Taxi	get in the car
off	leaving a public transport vehicle	get off the train
out of	leaving a car  / Taxi	get out of the taxi
by	rise or fall of something travelling (other than walking or horseriding)	prices have risen by 10 percent by car, by bus
at	for age	she learned Russian at 45
about	for topics, meaning what about

Single words

a abaft aboard about above absent across afore after against along alongside amid amidst among amongst an (see "a" for usage in front of consonants) apropos ("apropos of" is a common derived term) around as (also an adverb and a conjunction)

aside astride at athwart atop barring before behind below beneath beside besides between betwixt beyond but by circa (sometimes abbreviated as "c." or "ca.") concerning despite down during

except excluding failing following for from given in including inside into lest like mid (from "amid". Usually used poetically.) midst (from "amidst". Usually used poetically.) minus modulo near next

notwithstanding (also used postpositionally) of off on onto opposite out outside over pace past per plus pro qua regarding round sans save since than through, thru (informal)

throughout, thruout (informal) till times to toward towards under underneath unlike until unto up upon versus, commonly abbreviated as "vs.", or (principally in law or sports) as "v." via vice, meaning "in place of"[1] with (sometimes written as "w/") within (sometimes written as "w/in" or "w/i") without (sometimes written as "w/o") worth

Multiple words

Two words

according to ahead of apart from as for as of as per as regards aside from back to because of close to due to except for far from in to (contracted as into) inside of (note that inside out is an adverb, not a preposition)

instead of left of near to next to on to (contracted as onto) out from out of outside of owing to prior to pursuant to regardless of right of subsequent to thanks to that of up to where as

Three words

• as far as
• as well as
• as long as

Preposition + (article) + noun + preposition

English has a number of idiomatic expressions which act as prepositions, but can be analyzed as a preposition followed by a noun (sometimes preceded by the definite or, occasionally, indefinite article) followed by another preposition.^[2] Common examples include:

• by means of
• for the sake of
• in accordance with
• in addition to
• in case of
• in front of
• in lieu of
• in order to
• in place of
• in point of
• in spite of
• on account of
• on behalf of
• on top of
• with regard to
• with respect to
• with a view to

Preposition-like modifiers of quantified noun phrases

• apart from
• but
• except
• plus
• save

What are Adverb Particles?

Words like in, out, up, down etc., are not always prepositions. Read the sentences given below.
He was driving down the street.
Please sit down.
He climbed up the stairs.
She is not up yet.
He is in the room.
You can come in.
In the expressions ‘down the street’, ‘up the stairs’ and ‘in the room’, the words down, up and in are prepositions. Note that prepositions are always followed by nouns which act as their objects. For example, in the sequence ‘down the street’, the noun street is the object of the preposition down.
In the expressions ‘sit down’, ‘she is not up’ and ‘come in’, the words down, up and in have no objects. They are adverbs and not prepositions.
Small adverbs like these are often called adverb particles or adverbial particles. Examples are: above, about, in, out, up, down, before, across, off, on, below, behind etc. Note that many words of this kind can be used as both adverb particles and prepositions.

able to absent from accompany at according to accuse of accustom to accustomed to admiration for advantage of affection for afraid of agree with ahead of allowance for amazed in angry with annoyed with anxious about apart from apologize for apply for approve of argue about argue with ashamed of ask after ask for astonished at attached to attitude to attitude towards attraction of aware of away from bad at base on believe in belong to blame for blind to boast about borrow from capable of care about care of careful to careful with careless with certain of characteristic of charge for charge with choose between comment on compare with complain about composed of concentrate on

confidence in congratulations on conscious of consist of contrast with convinced of correspond to correspond with crazy about critical of cruelty to disapprove of displeased with dissatisfied with distinguish between distinguish by disturbed about doubtful about dressed in drink to eager to engaged in engaged to enthusiastic about envious of equal to equivalent to excess of excited about exclude from excuse me for experience in experience of experienced in expert on failure in faith in famous for fed up with feel about feel like fond of forget about forgive for friendly with frightened of deal with decide against delay in delighted with depend on despair on different from difficult to difficulty with disagree with disappointed with

generous with gentle with genuine in go with gossip about grumble about guilty of habit of hear about hope of identify with impress on improvement in independent of information about innocence of insist on intention of interested in interfere with involve with involved in jealous of joke about kind to laugh at lean on lend to liking to link with long for look after look like lose to make for married to matter with mixture of name after native of news of notice of object to opinion about opposite of part with pay for pessimistic about pleased with popular with prepare for present with prevent from protect against protect from protest about proud of

provide with punish for puzzled about qualified for quarrel about rank among reaction to recover from related to relief from rely on report on respect for responsible for result of rhyme with rid of room for safe from save from serious about sick of smile at solution to sorry for stand for subtract from succeed in suffer from sufficient for suitable for suspicious of sympathetic with take after talk about talk into talk out of tax on thank for think of tired of trouble with trust in truth about unite in unkind to unknown to unwilling to use of used to victims of vote for warn about worry about wrong with zest for