Prepositions

Prepositions

by Patrícia de O. Lucas and David Hughes

Prepostions show relantionships such as

direction, time, location, or ownership

Most prepositions are one word (of, from, in, on), but some prepositions are two

words (next to, because, according to) or even three

words (in front of, in addition to). Here is a list of common

prepositions.

aboutabove

according toacrossafter

againstalong

along withamongaround

as well asat

because ofbeforebehindbelow

beneathbeside

betweenbeyond

bydespitedowndue toduringexcept

except forfor

fromin

in addition toin back of

in front ofinside

in spite ofinstead of

intolikenear

next toofoffon

ontoout

out ofoutside

over

pastsince

throughthroughtout

tillto

towardunder

underneathunlikeuntilup

uponwith

withinwithout

Examples

Movies are all about making money these days.

What’s she so angry about?

They arrived late at the airport.

She’s at Tom’s (Tom’s house).

There’s a letter for you.

We got a new table for the dining room.

The kids were playing in the street.

She was lying in bed.

The love of a mother for her child.

The role of the teacher.

There’s a mark on your skirt.

The diagram on page 5.

I walked to the office.

He gave it to her sister.

She lives with her parents.

A girl with (= who has) red hair.

Preposition + noun

A preposition is usually combined with a noun or noun phrase to make a prepositional

phrase

The library is on this floor

It is unusual to see a person with green eyes

Verb + Preposition

Prepositions also occur in combination with verbs. Some

of these combinations have idiomatic meanings and follow

special rules; they are called phrasal verbs.

look atlook up to

look down tolook forward to

look after

The following verbs are usually followed by a particular

preposition. Could you try to guess what the prepostion is?

I listen ____ the radio a lot.

My brother never agrees ____ me.

I may go to the beach; it depends ____ the weather.

She suffers ____ a type of diabetes.

He got married ____ a woman he met in Brazil.

I’m going to apolozige ____ the mistakes we made.

She has applied ____ a new job.

They were waiting ____ me when I arrived.

Don’t worry ____ your exam; it’ll be OK.

She complained ____ the waiter ____ the food.

He spends a lot of money ____ clothes and CDs.

That dictionary belongs ____ Maria.

Changes in meaning

Sometimes a different preposition changes the

meaning of a verb.

He shouted to me.

He shouted at me.

She threw the ball to me.

She threw the ball at me.

Adjective + Preposition

There are many idiomatic adjective + preposition

combinations

good athappy about

tired ofinterested inmarried to

Examples

I was never very good ____ math.

He is afraid ____ flying.

I’m crazy ____ cats.

She is similar ____ her sister, but very different ____ her brother.

He’s very interested ____ antique furniture.

I was surprised ____ (or ____) his reaction. I thought he’d be happy to hear the

news.

I think she is aware ____ the problems in her class.

I’m tired ____ studying foreign languages.

The streets are full ____ trash.

There’s something wrong ____ this TV.

Special Tips!

1. To can be a preposition or part of an infinitive.

We went to the supermarket to buy some fruit.

The first to is a preposition. It is followed by a noun phrase (the

supermarket). The second to is parti of the infinitive to buy.

2. Some prepositions are also subordinating conjunctions

A subordinating conjunction is followed by a subject and a verb, and a preposition is

followed by a noun or noun phrase. There is no verb after a

preposition.

We went shopping after we ate lunch.

After = subordinating conjunction

we = subject

ate = verb

We went shopping after lunch

after = preposition

lunch = noun

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.

Sometimes the prepostion goes at the end of a clause or sentence.

Social usage: the preposition at the end is common in (speech) and (informal writing). But some people regard it as

“more correct” to put the preposition at the front of the clause. This is possible

for (I) and (II).

(I) For whom is she working? (formal)

(II) The town in which he was born. (rather formal)

But the preposition at the front is common only in (formal

writing). In general, do not be afraid to put the preposition at

the end.

Position of prepositions in different kinds of sentence.

In (I) – (VIII), the first example in each section 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.

(I) Question: Who is she working for? (She’s working

for a friend)

(II) Relative clause: the town (that) he was born in. (He was

born in the town of Omsk)

(III) Indirect question: I wonder which team he plays for. (He plays for the

home team)

(IV) Exclamation: What a terrible situation she’s in! (She’s in a terrible

situation)

(V) Passive: He’s being well looked after. (They’re looking after him well)

(VI) Comparative: She’s been to more countries than I’ve been to. (I’ve been

to fewer countries)

(VII) Infinite: This pen is difficult to write with. (It’s difficult to write with

this pen)

(VIII) Emphatic word order: Some games I’m quite good at...but I’m

hopeless at golf

Common patterns

Many expressions are formed by a preposition + noun.

ExamplesA play by Shakespeare, a movie by

Steven Spielberg, a song by Madonna.

You can go for a walk, for a dinner.

You can go in the morning, at night.

Fixed Expressions

Sometimes it is difficult to know why particular

prepositions are used, so you have to learn them as fixed

expressions.

I took your pen by mistake.

I met them by chance.

I can’t talk. I am in a hurry.

In time or on time?

Sometimes two prepositions can be used with the same noun, but the meaning is

different.

We got home in time for / in time to see The Voice. (early

enough)

Class begins at 8:30 and I always arrive on time. (at 8:30)

In the end, we went home. (finally, after a long period)

At the end of the book, they get married.

The two people are in business. (They are

businesspeople)

The two people are in Mexico on business. (They are there

for work, not on vacation)

I’ll see you in a moment. (very soon)

I can’t speak to you at the moment. (right now)

Time to Practice

Thanks for coming!