Prepositions

I. General information.
Prepositions can be formed from one or more words. We use prepositions to describe the
relationship between two or more objects. They can express things such as time, place,
movement, reason, etc.
E.g. The bus will pick up the students at noon. (Time)
Your lunch is on the table. (Place)
Walk down the road and you will see the bus stop. (Movement)

She is off work due to illness. (Reason)

Observation: Some prepositions and adverbs are very similar, but prepositions are most
often followed by noun. Remember gerunds are also considered nouns.

E.g. Tom walks past the bakery every day and buys a sandwich. (Preposition + Noun)

I was in the bakery when Tom walked past. (Adverb)

Thank you for buying me a sandwich today.

Observation: In some structures the preposition comes at the end of a clause or a

sentence. This is most commonly seen in questions, relative clauses and infinitive clauses.

E.g. Who are you talking to? (Question)

I don’t know the man that she is sitting with. (Relative clause)

My brother is a difficult person to buy for. (Infinitive clause)

Observation: A prepositional phrase is a preposition with a noun, a pronoun or a noun

phrase.

E.g. Thank you for your present! (Preposition + Noun)

These flowers are for you. (Preposition + Pronoun)

We are having dinner at a wonderful Indian restaurant. (Noun Phrase)

Observation: We can also follow prepositions with a “wh clause”.

E.g. Thank you for what you did!

 II. Other uses of prepositions
The prepositions can be also used in the following situations:

- To show reason: because of, due to, from, out of, owing to.

E.g. Owing to his lack of interpersonal skills, he wasn’t given the job.

- To show contrast: against, beside, contrary to.

E.g. Contrary to popular belief, there are advantages to both parents working.

- To show purpose: for.

E.g. This fluid is for cleaning screens.

- To show how something happened: through.

E.g. He recovered the use of his right arm through physiotherapy.

- To talk about what we use to do something: by, with.

E.g. Tom always travels by train as he doesn’t drive.

- To introduce the person who did something: by.

E.g. This is a novel by Sandra Brown.

- The preposition “between” is used within a range of numbers, dates and ages.

E.g. Chose a number between one and ten.

- To compare: like.

E.g. Mary acts like my mother, yet she is only two years older than me!

- To show concession: despite, in spite of.

E.g. In spite of feeling unwell, Tony went to work.

Despite what everyone else says, I believe you.

- To show the role of someone or something: as.

E.g. As a teacher, John is brilliant.

 - To mean in addition to: besides.

E.g. Have you done anything else today besides playing video games?

- “According to” is used to report what someone has said.

E.g. According to the local paper, we are going to have heat wave this weekend.

- To show who or what will benefit from something we do: for the sake of.

E.g. For the sake of those injured in the disaster, please give generously.

- To show that we are representing someone or something else, we use “on behalf of”.

E.g. On behalf of the company, we hope you enjoy your retirement.

- To show that something is “not within” certain limits, we use: beyond, outside, out of.

E.g. This house is outside of our budget!

- To show that something is not included we use: apart from and except for.

E.g. Apart from David, everyone at work has a degree.

- To show what material has been used: of, from, with.

E.g. The garden shed was made of wood.

Paper is made from wood.

This milkshake is made with low fat milk.

III. Verbs without preposition

The verbs below are not followed by prepositions:

1. To approach.

E.g. The dog approached me cautiously.

The dog approached to me cautiously.

2. To discuss.

E.g. We discussed the current political situation.

We discussed about the current political situation.

 3. To enter.

E.g. She entered the room quietly.

She entered into the room quietly.

4. Married to.

E.g. Rebecca married her childhood sweetheart.

Rebecca married with her childhood sweetheart.

5. To resemble.

E.g. She resembles her grandmother in many ways.

She resembles to her grandmother in many ways.