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A word placed before a noun or a pronoun to show its relation to

another part of the sentence.

There is a cow in the field.

The preposition joins a Noun to another Noun

He is fond of tea.

The preposition joins a Noun to Adjective

The cat jumped off the chair.

The preposition joins a Noun to Verb.

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The Noun or Pronoun which is used with a Preposition is called its Object.

A preposition may have two objects.

The road runs over hill and plain.

A preposition is usually placed before its object, but sometimes it follows it.

1. Here is the watch that you asked for.

2. That is the boy whom I was speaking of.

3. What are you looking at?

4. What are you thinking of?

5. Which of these chairs did you sit on?

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 6. There is the school that he goes to.

7. I don’t know which school he goes to.

When the subject is the Relative Pronoun that, as in sentence 1, the

Preposition is always placed at the end.

The preposition is often placed at the end when the object is an

interrogative pronoun (as in sentences 3, 4, and 5) or a Relative
pronoun (as in sentence 2).

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6. There is the school that he goes to.

7. I don’t know which school he goes to.

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 Forms of preposition

1. One –part prepositions:

about before
above below
after beside
along between
around by
at down

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1. Two-part prepositions

According to Because of Owing to

Along with Due to Up to
As for Except for

Away from Out of

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3. Three-part preposition

By mean of
In comparison with
In front of

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 ‘about’

He told me about your problem. (preposition)

Stop rushing about. As an adverb (no following noun)

Is your father about? As an adverb (no following noun).

After the verb ‘to be’

I was just about to explain. As an adverb

Followed by ‘to-infinitive’

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 ‘for’

I bought some flowers for Clare. (preposition)

I told her to leave , for I was very tired (conjunction :

connecting to clauses)
‘After”

I went for a swim after breakfast. (preposition)

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 ‘After’

He died on June 3rd and was buried the day after. (adverb)

After you’d left, I got a phone call from Stuart.

(Conjunction: connecting two clauses)

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 ‘in’

The children are in the garden. (preposition)

They met in 2009. (preposition)

Come in and sit down. (adverb)

“Is Phiip in?” (adverb. After the verb ‘to be’).

It was the in thing to do. (adjective)

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Personal pronoun used as
the object of a preposition
….
Must be the object pronoun….

Me her you

it us them

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 single word ---
Simple
prepositon at, by, for, from---

I bought some flowers for Clare.

Complex two or more words

preposition

Ahead of close by next to out of

The vending machine is out of order.

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Types of Prepositions

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 Place
Went about the world
Ran across the road

Stood before the door

Leaned against the wall

Sat beside me

Within the house.

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 Time
referring to time

The women’s lacrosse tournament is at

Motspur Park on Saturday.

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 Time
They are expecting to announce the
sale within the next few days.
At about four o’clock in the morning, we
were ambushed.

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At about four o’clock in the morning,
we were ambushed.

One morning before dawn Ark was

beginning to wake me up a usual.

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 Movement and direction

indicating the place that someone or

something is going to, or the place they
are moving towards.

I’m going with her to Australia.

They dived into the water.

He saw his mother running towards him.

He screwed the lid tightly onto the top of
the jar.

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She stuck her needles into a ball of wool.

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 Manners

--- used to say something more about the

manner in which an action was
performed, or the way in which it should
be done.
“Oh yes,’ Etta sneered in an
offensive way.

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A bird can change direction by dipping
one wing and lifting the other.

He brushed back his hair with his

hand.

Fought with courage.

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Instruments/instrumentality

sent the parcel by post

was stunned by a blow

cut with a knife

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 Possession

The was no money on him

The mosque of Omar

A man of means

The boy with red hair.

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 Reason/cause

Can be used to say something about the

reason for an action, or the cause or
purpose of it.

In 1923, the Prime Minister resigned

because of ill health. He was dying of
pneumonia.

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‘as’ function/purpose of something

He worked as a truck driver.

During the war they used the theater as

a warehouse.

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 Concession
(Showing opposite effect)

After every effort, one may fail.

For one enemy he has a hundred

friends.

For (in spite of) all his wealth he is

not content.
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