Prepositions cannot be distinguished by any formal features. A list of prepositions will illustrate this point:
across, after, at, before, by, during, from, in, into, of, on, to, under, with, without
We can, say, however, that prepositions typically come before a noun:
across town
after class
at home
before Tuesday
by Shakespeare / for lunch
in London
on fire
to school
with pleasure
The noun does not necessarily come immediately after the preposition, however, since determiners and adjectives can intervene:
after the storm
on white horses
under the old regime
Whether or not there are any intervening determiners or adjectives, prepositions are almost always followed by a noun. In fact, this is so typical of prepositions that if they are not followed by a noun, we call them "stranded" prepositions:
Preposition / Stranded Preposition
John talked about the new film / This is the film John talked about
Prepositions are invariable in their form, that is, they do not take any inflections.
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Identify all the prepositions in the following extract.
Click on the words that you think are prepositions; they will appear in the box below. You don't have to type anything but you can click in the box to edit your answers if you need to.
Dorothy Gilman attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts from 1940 to 1945, the University of Pennsylvania, the Moore Institute of Art, and the Arts Students' League from 1963 to 1964. She worked as an instructor of drawing in adult evening school for two years at the Samuel Fleisher Art Memorial. She has also worked as a switchboard operator for the American Bell Telephone Company, and as an instructor in creative writing at Cherry Lawn School, Darien, Connecticut, from 1969 to 1970.
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Complex Prepositions
/ PREPOSITIONS PAGE 2/2The prepositions which we have looked at so far have all consisted of a single word, such as in, of, at, and to. We refer to these as SIMPLE PREPOSITIONS.
COMPLEX PREPOSITIONS consist of two- or three-word combinations acting as a single unit. Here are some examples:
according to
along with
apart from
because of
contrary to / due to
except for
instead of
prior to
regardless of
Like simple prepositions, these two-word combinations come before a noun:
according to Shakespeare
contrary to my advice
due to illness
Three-word combinations often have the following pattern:
Simple Preposition + Noun + Simple Preposition
We can see this pattern in the following examples:
in aid of
on behalf of
in front of
in accordance with
in line with / in line with
in relation to
with reference to
with respect to
by means of
Again, these combinations come before a noun:
in aid of charity
in front of the window
in line with inflation
Marginal Prepositions
A number of prepositions have affinities with other word classes. In particular, some prepositions are verbal in form:Following his resignation, the minister moved to the country
I am writing to you regarding your overdraft
The whole team was there, including John
We refer to these as MARGINAL PREPOSITIONS. Other marginal prepositions include:
concerning, considering, excluding, given, granted, pending
Non-verbal marginal prepositions include worth (it's worth ten pounds) and minus (ten minus two is eight).
Conjunctions...
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Präpositions are short words (on, in, to) that usually stand in front of nouns (sometimes also in front of gerund verbs).
Even advanced learners of English find prepositions difficult, as a 1:1 translation is usually not possible. One preposition in your native language might have several translations depending on the situation.
There are hardly any rules as to when to use which preposition. The only way to learn prepositions is looking them up in a dictionary, reading a lot in English (literature) and learning useful phrases off by heart (study tips).
The following table contains rules for some of the most frequently used prepositions in English:
An English preposition is a word that usually appears in front of a pronoun or a noun. The preposition will express a relation with another word or an element within a sentence. Also, prepositions will link elements of a sentence together.
· He was beside himself
· He left before dinner
Rules When Using English Prepositions
There is one rule that needs to be adhered to when using English prepositions; and, unlike many other grammar rules within the English language, this one has absolutely no exceptions.
The rule is: a preposition can never be followed by an English verb, but has to be followed by a noun, pronoun, proper noun, gerund or a noun group.
· Nouns – dog, cat, love, money
· Proper Nouns – Sarah, Richard, England, France
· Pronouns – us, you, her, him
· Gerund – swimming
· Noun Group – my first job
If a preposition has to be followed by a verb, it must be changed into a gerund or a verb in noun form, which means adding ‘–ing’ as a suffix.
Roughly, there are around 150 prepositions in English. This may seem like a small number when you compare to the amount of verbs and nouns in English; however, prepositions play a very important part in the English language.
We use individual prepositions more often than other, individual words in the English language. This is because prepositions help us tell the listeners and readers specific information.
Prepositions Of Place
Examples of prepositions that describe a place are: at, on and in. As a general rule, the preposition ‘at’ is used to describe an exact point; the preposition ‘in’ describes an enclosed space; and, the preposition ‘on’ describes a surface.