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Prepositions cannot be distinguished by any formal features. A list
of prepositions will illustrate this point:
across, after, at, before, by, during, from, in, into, of, on, to,
under, with, without
We can, say, however, that prepositions typically come before a
noun:
across town
after class
at home
before Tuesday
by Shakespeare
for lunch
in London
on fire
to school
with pleasure
The noun does not necessarily come immediately after the
preposition, however, since determiners and adjectives can
intervene:
after the storm
on white horses
under the old regime
Whether or not there are any intervening determiners or adjectives,
prepositions are almost always followed by a noun. In fact, this is so
typical of prepositions that if they are not followed by a noun, we call
them "stranded" prepositions:
Preposition
John talked about the new film
Stranded Preposition
This is the film John talked
about
Prepositions are invariable in their form, that is, they do not take any
inflections.
Identify all the prepositions in the following extract.
Click on the words that you think are prepositions;
they will appear in the box below. You don't have to
type anything but you can click in the box to edit your answers if you
need to.
Dorothy Gilman attended the Pennsylvania
Academy of Fine Arts from 1940 to 1945, the
University of Pennsylvania, the Moore
Institute of Art, and the Arts Students' League
from 1963 to 1964. She worked as an
instructor of drawing in adult evening school
for two years at the Samuel Fleisher Art
Memorial. She has also worked as a
switchboard operator for the American Bell
Telephone Company, and as an instructor in
creative writing at Cherry Lawn School,
Darien, Connecticut, from 1969 to 1970.
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PREPOSITIONS
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Complex Prepositions
The prepositions which we have looked at so far have all consisted of
a single word, such as in, of, at, and to. We refer to these as SIMPLE
PREPOSITIONS.
COMPLEX PREPOSITIONS consist of two- or three-word
combinations acting as a single unit. Here are some examples:
according to
along with
apart from
because of
contrary to
due to
except for
instead of
prior to
regardless of
Like simple prepositions, these two-word combinations come before a
noun:
according to Shakespeare
contrary to my advice
due to illness
Three-word combinations often have the following pattern:
Simple Preposition + Noun + Simple Preposition
We can see this pattern in the following examples:
in aid of
on behalf of
in front of
in accordance with
in line with
in line with
in relation to
with reference to
with respect to
by means of
Again, these combinations come before a noun:
in aid of charity
in front of the window
in line with inflation
Marginal Prepositions
A number of prepositions have affinities with other word classes. In
particular, some prepositions are verbal in form:
Following his resignation, the minister moved to the country
I am writing to you regarding your overdraft
The whole team was there, including John
We refer to these as MARGINAL PREPOSITIONS. Other marginal
prepositions include:
concerning, considering, excluding, given, granted, pending
Non-verbal marginal prepositions include worth (it's worth ten pounds)
and minus (ten minus two is eight).
Conjunctions...
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Supported by RingJohn
Online Marketing UK
Präpositions are short words (on, in, to) that usually stand in front of nouns
(sometimes also in front of gerund verbs).
Even advanced learners of English find prepositions difficult, as a 1:1 translation is
usually not possible. One preposition in your native language might have several
translations depending on the situation.
There are hardly any rules as to when to use which preposition. The only way to learn
prepositions is looking them up in a dictionary, reading a lot in English (literature)
and learning useful phrases off by heart (study tips).
The following table contains rules for some of the most frequently used prepositions
in English:
An English preposition is a word that usually appears in front of a pronoun or a noun.
The preposition will express a relation with another word or an element within a
sentence. Also, prepositions will link elements of a sentence together.


He was beside himself
He left before dinner
Rules When Using English Prepositions
There is one rule that needs to be adhered to when using English prepositions; and,
unlike many other grammar rules within the English language, this one has absolutely
no exceptions.
The rule is: a preposition can never be followed by an English verb, but has to be
followed by a noun, pronoun, proper noun, gerund or a noun group.





Nouns – dog, cat, love, money
Proper Nouns – Sarah, Richard, England, France
Pronouns – us, you, her, him
Gerund – swimming
Noun Group – my first job
If a preposition has to be followed by a verb, it must be changed into a gerund or a
verb in noun form, which means adding ‘–ing’ as a suffix.
Roughly, there are around 150 prepositions in English. This may seem like a small
number when you compare to the amount of verbs and nouns in English; however,
prepositions play a very important part in the English language.
We use individual prepositions more often than other, individual words in the English
language. This is because prepositions help us tell the listeners and readers specific
information.
Prepositions Of Place
Examples of prepositions that describe a place are: at, on and in. As a general rule, the
preposition ‘at’ is used to describe an exact point; the preposition ‘in’ describes an
enclosed space; and, the preposition ‘on’ describes a surface.
English Preposition ‘At’