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Prepositions
What are prepositions?
What do they look like?
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Short words (e.g. at, for, in, to)
Longer words and short phrases (e.g. despite, except,
according to, out of, in terms of, in the event of)
Participles (e.g. assuming, concerning, given, granted,
regarding)
Given your schedule, I think you should book decent
hotel rooms.
I wrote to you last week concerning your offer…

We can’t recognize prepositions just from the form of
the words.
Where do they come in sentences?
General Use
 Immediately before a noun or –ing
form (e.g. to work, of cooking)
 At the beginning of a phrase
including a noun (e.g. at the
cinema).  occur in various
sentence positions
 Immediately after a verb (e.g.
arrive at), adjective (e.g. fond of)
or noun (e.g. interest in).
 Prep+V-ing (e.g. I’m afraid of
crying).
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In Other Positions
At the end of clauses:
Questions with what,
who or which
Passive constructions:
Relative clauses:
Infinitive clauses:
What are you staring at?
Who do you live with?
Which one is it like?
Every possible surface
had been drawn on.
I don’t know who you
were playing with.
It’s a funny thing to ask
about.

Direct questions: prep+a question
word. (formal and old-fationed)
With whom did she come?
At what time did she leave?
 Who did she come with?

Prep+relative pronoun. (formal
context)
A company with whom we have
successfully been conducting
business.
The master under whose guidance he
had been studying.
What do they do?
Place and Time
Prepositions which have concrete
meanings that we can show or
demonstrate.  Define place,
position or movement, e.g. between
the columns, towards the door.

Many of these prepositions can also
refer to time.
Place: at the bus stop, in the room
Time: at 10:00, in March
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Prepositions which can refer to both place
and time generally have a similar meaning in
both cases.
In expressions which refer to the future, in
can mean ‘later than now’, e.g. in six months,
in a few minutes.
Other prepositions (e.g. after, before, by,
during, since, till, until) can refer to time, but
not usually place, e.g. after Saturday, during
the week.
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Logical Relationships
Cause and effect (e.g. because of, due to,
owing to, as a result of)
I left as a result of his speech.

Contrast (e.g. despite, in spite of)
You slept despite the noise.
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Exemplification (e.g. like, such as)
Go somewhere like Crete or Corfu.

Exception (e.g. apart from, except)
Ask anyone apart from me.
Multiple meanings
A number of prepositions have several
meanings. These are not necessarily closely
related.
They went for a walk by the canal. (i.e.
near/along) It has to be ready by the
weekend. (i.e. on or before)
She made it with eggs and cheese. (i.e. using)
She went there with her mother. (i.e.
accompanied by)
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Dependent prepositions
Adjectives: afraid of, crazy about
Nouns: process of, difficulty in
Verbs: combine with, listen to, accuse
sb of, protect sb from
Follow with to: look forward (be/get)
used object (be) committed
consent
Idiomatic preposition phrases
 Prepositions in fixed, idiomatic expressions containing
a noun.
 The noun may be sing., pl. or uncountable.
 May or may not be separated from the preposition by
a/an, the, some or an adjective (often good or bad).
at times
on good terms
Beneath contempt
out of use
For the time being
to some extent
In (good) time
under offer
Variation
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Choice
Sometimes choose between two prepositions without
making any difference to the meaning.
Come and see me in/during the week.
I got covered with/in paint.
Style
 Some prepositions are used primarily in a formal and
generally professional or academic context, e.g.
notwithstanding.
Till: spoken form
Until: written form
Geographical, social and individual variation
 U.S.A.: through=till/until (through Friday)
Than is used after different (different than)
No preposition before days of the week (I’ll
see you Monday)
 Australia: on normal preposition to use
before the weekend (Let’s meet on the
weekend)
Variant
Standard
Different to
Speak with
Similar with
Obvious of
Intimidated with
different from
speak to
similar to
obvious to
intimidated by
Word Class
Some
words can function both as prepositions and as adverbs.
Prepositions
Adverbs
They ran along the stream.
They passed it along
He ran past the house.
He ran past.
A few words can function both as prepositions and as
conjunctions.
Prepositions
Conjunctions
They went out despite the rain.
They went out although it was raining.
They stayed in because of the foul
weather.
They stayed in because the weather
was so foul.
Several prepositions have ‘conjunction equivalents’, e.g.
despite/although; because of/because; during/while.
Prepositions
Conjunctions
They phoned after/before dinner.
They phoned after/before they got home.
Exercise
Class: __________ Name:___________ NO.:____________
1. He was a horrible man; I couldn’t see any good ____him.
□ of □ in □ either could be used here
2. I left it____ the classroom.
□ in □ at
3. The children were____ the playground.
□ in □ at
4. I saw her ____Christmas.
□ in □ on □ at
5. I saw her ____Christmas day.
□ in □ on □ at
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6. She’ll be away ____next week.
□ since □ at □ until
7. He was tried ____murder and found guilty.
□ for □ to
8. He complained ____chest pains and went to hospital.
□ about □ of
9. The bridge goes ____the river.
□ above □over □Either could be used here.
10. We waited for nearly an hour and ____the end we went
without her.
□ at □in □on
11. She’ll be here at five, ____ which time I expect you to have
finished the work.
□ by □until
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12. He’s jealous____ her success.
□ with □by □of □for
13. The decrease____ demand has caused a huge drop in their
profits.
□ on □in □of
14. The storm did a lot of damage ____ the roof.
□ at □of □to
15. Green pepper is rich____ vitamin C.
□ of □in □from
16. Act
□ to □by □on
17. Side
□ with □into □onto
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