Class #11B

PREPOSITIONS
• Compound Prepositions

Ahead of Except for Instead of Owing to

Apart from In addition to Due to Such as
As for In front of On account of Thanks to
As well as In place of On top of Up to
Because of In spite of Out of Outside of
Inside of

Exercise
Pick three prepositions you do not know how to use, find out what they mean and use each of
them in a different sentence.

Types
Prepositions can be classified according to their function. This refers to logical relations provided
by the preposition in a sentence. One single preposition can appear in more than one group
because its function is only determined by context.
◦ Direction: to, in, into, on, onto
She walked to the park.
I am in the house.
She is sitting on the grass.
I ran into a problem.
He thinks he is onto something.
◦ Time: in, at, on
They eat at noon.
I was born in 1990.
She works on weekdays.
◦ Spatial: in, at, on, inside, by, near, between, opposite
I am sitting in a chair.
She is standing at the corner.
 We put the food on the table.
My house is near a gas station.
She is standing between you and me.
The store is opposite this block.

Preposition Stranding
As we said at the beginning, English prepositions can also go at the end of a sentence. This kind
of syntax started as an informal usage, but over time became incorporated into English rules. It is
generally used in two occasions:
• Questions
Who do you want to talk to?
Where do you come from?
What is this for?
• When the traditional syntax is confusing
I was about to call when he called to say from where she came.
I was about to call when he called to say where she was coming from.
I would like to know from where she bought that hat.
I would like to know where she bought that hat from.

Exercise
In a certain town, which I have no reason to name, there is a workhose. There, the poor of the
town work without pay. On a date that does not matter, Oliver Twist was born in this sad place.
At first, there was some doubt that the baby would live. But after a few struggles, he breathed
and let out a loud cry that has heard across the entire workhouse and even beyond.
Instead of being born in a warm family, Oliver Twist was torn apart from his mother since he was
a baby. Unlike any normal kid, he got thrown towards a different life. As for the situation that he
was in, and the future that he could hope for, Oliver was doomed.
 EXTRAS

1
How to turn an active voice sentence into a passive voice sentence
An active voice sentence has the following structure:
John eats the cake.
Subject – Verb – Object
It is called an active voice sentence because the verb has a subject, so to turn it into a passive
voice sentence what we have to do is (1) remove the subject and (2) move the object to the
beginning of the sentence.
The cake – is – eaten – by John.
The cake – is – eaten.
But a sentence cannot be complete until it has a conjugated verb, so to solve that we have to (1)
add the verb to be and conjugate it to whatever tense you need, and (2) take the original verb to
the past participle.
eats = present simple, 3rd person
is + eaten = to be also in present simple, 3rd person + past participle of eat

2
TRANSLATION PAST SIMPLE
Écrire / Write I wrote
Être de bout / To be on the end They were at the end
Enseigner / Teach We taught
Prendre / Take You took
Coller / Paste She pasted
Déchirer / Tear off He tore off
Gagner / Win He won
Jurer / Swear They swore
Bouleverser / Shake up We shook up
Se retirer de l’argent / Withdraw money I withdrew money
Piquer / Sting He stung
Puer / Stink He stunk
Voler / Steal They stole
Dérober / Rob They robbed
Frapper / Hit We hit
Balayer / Brush She brushed
Dire / Say They said
Raconter / Tell They told
Penser / Think You thought
Jeter / Throw We threw
Comprendre / Understand They understood
Pleurer / Cry She cried