Apr eposit

ioni
sawor dorasetofwordsthatindi
cat
esthelocat
ionorsomeot her
rel
ationbetweenanounorapr onounandotherpart
softhesentence.Ther
ulesof
preposit
ionsandthei
rcorr
ectusagegoasf ol
lows:

1.Apr
eposi
ti
onmusthav
eanobj
ect

Allpreposi
ti
onshav eobject
s.Ifa"preposi
ti
on"doesnothaveanobj
ectiti
snota
preposit
ion—it
'sprobablyanadverb.Apreposi
ti
onal way
shasanobject
.Anadver
b
neverhasanobj ect.Lookattheseexamplesentences:

Theyar
eint
heki
tchen.(
preposi
ti
oni
nhasobj
ectt
heki
tchen)

Pl
easecomei
n.(
adv
erbi
nhasnoobj
ect
;itqual
i
fiescome)

Ther
ewasadoor
waybef
oreme.(
preposi
ti
onbef
orehasobj
ectme)

Ihadnev
erseeni
tbef
ore.(
adv
erbbef
orehasnoobj
ect
;itqual
if
iesseen)

Iwi
llcal
laf
terwor
k.(
preposi
ti
onaf
terhasobj
ectwor
k)

Hecal
ledsoonaf
ter
.(adv
erbaf
terhasnoobj
ect
;itqual
if
iescal
led)

2.pr
e-posi
ti
onmeanspl
acebef
ore

Thename“preposi
ti
on”i
ndi
cat
est
hatapr
eposi
ti
on(
usual
ly
)comesbef
oresomet
hing
(i
tsobj
ect
):

Iputi
tint
hebox.

Butev
enwhenapr
eposi
ti
ondoesnotcomebef
orei
tsobj
ect
,iti
sst
il
lcl
osel
yrel
ated
toi
tsobj
ect
:

Whodi
dyout
alkt
o?/It
alkedt
oJane.

3.Apr
onounf
oll
owi
ngapr
eposi
ti
onshoul
dbei
nobj
ectf
orm

Thenounorpr onounthatf
oll
owsapr
eposi
ti
onfor
msa‘preposi
ti
onalobject
’.I
fiti
sa
pronoun,itshouldther
efor
ebeint
heobj
ect
ivef
orm(me,her,t
hem),notsubject
ive
form(I,she,they)
:

Thi
sisf
rom mywi
feandme.

That
’sbet
weenhi
m andher
.

Mar
ygav
eitt
othem.
4.Pr
eposi
ti
onf
orms

Pr
eposi
ti
onshavenopar
ti
cularf
orm.Themaj
ori
tyofpreposi
ti
onsar
eone-wor
d
pr
eposi
ti
ons,
butsomearetwo-orthr
ee-
wor
dphrasesknownascomplex-
pr
eposi
ti
ons:

one-
wor
dpr
eposi
ti
ons(
bef
ore,
int
o,on)

compl
expr
eposi
ti
ons(
accor
dingt
o,butf
or,
inspi
teof
,onaccountof
)

5.t
opr
eposi
ti
onandt
oinf
ini
ti
vear
enott
hesame

Donotconf
usethei
nfi
nit
ivepar
ti
cle“
to”(
tosi
ng,
tol
iv
e)wi
tht
hepr
eposi
ti
on“
to”(
to
London,
tome).

t
oaspr
eposi
ti
on

Il
ookf
orwar
dtol
unch

Il
ookf
orwar
dtoseei
ngy
ou

Il
ookf
orwar
dtoseey
ou

Theyar
ecommi
tt
edt
othepr
oject
.

Theyar
ecommi
tt
edt
okeepi
ngt
hepr
icedown.

Theyar
ecommi
tt
edt
okeept
hepr
icedown.

Iam usedt
ocar
s.

Iam usedt
odr
ivi
ng.

Iam usedt
odr
ive.

t
oasi
nfi
nit
ivepar
ti
cle

Theyusedt
oli
vei
nMoscow.

Theyl
ovet
osi
ng.

6.Thegol
denpr
eposi
ti
onr
ule

Apr
eposi
ti
oni
sfol
lowedbya"
noun"
.Iti
sNEVERf
oll
owedbyav
erb.

Ther
eisonev er
ysi
mpl
erul
eaboutpr
eposi
ti
ons.And,
unl
ikemostr
ules,
thi
srul
ehas
noexcept
ions.
Rul
e:Apr
eposi
ti
oni
sfol
lowedbya"
noun"
.Iti
snev
erf
oll
owedbyav
erb.

By"
noun"wei
ncl
ude:

noun(
dog,
money
,lov
e)

pr
opernoun(
name)(
Bangkok,
Mar
y)

pr
onoun(
you,
him,
us)

noungr
oup(
myf
ir
stj
ob)

ger
und(
swi
mmi
ng)

Apreposi
ti
oncannotbefol
lowedbyaver
b.Ifwewanttof
oll
owapreposi
ti
onbya
ver
b,wemustusethe"-i
ng"for
m whi
chisreal
lyager
undorver
binnounf
orm.

Her
ear
esomeexampl
es:

subj
ect+v
erb pr
eposi
ti
on "
noun"
not
e

Thef
oodi
s on t
het
abl
e. noun

Shel
iv
es i
n Japan. pr
opernoun

Tar
aisl
ooki
ng f
or y
ou. pr
onoun

Thel
ett
eri
s under y
ourbl
uebook. noungr
oup

Pascali
sused t
o Engl
ishpeopl
e.

Shei
sn'
tused t
o wor
king.
ger
und

Iat
e bef
ore comi
ng.