Definition: Prepositions are a class of words that indicate relationships between nouns, pronouns and other words in a sentence. Most often they come before a noun. They never change their form, regardless of the case, gender etc. of the word they are referring to.
Prepositions of Time: at, on, and in
We use at to designate specific times.
The train is due at 12:15 p.m.
We use on to designate days and dates.
My brother is coming on Monday.
We're having a party on the Fourth of July.
We use in for nonspecific times during a day, a month, a season, or a year.
She likes to jog in the morning.
It's too cold in winter to run outside.
Prepositions of Place: at, on, and in
We use at for specific addresses.
Grammar English lives at 55 Boretz Road in Durham.
We use on to designate names of streets, avenues, etc.
Her house is on Boretz Road.
And we use in for the names of land-areas (towns, counties, states, countries, and continents).
She lives in Durham.
Durham is in Windham County.
Windham County is in Connecticut.
Prepositions of Location: in, at, and on
and No Preposition
IN
(the) bed*
the bedroom
the car
(the) class*
the library*
school* | AT
class*
home
the library*
the office
school*
work | ON
the bed*
the ceiling
the floor
the horse
the plane
the train | NO PREPOSITION
downstairs
downtown
inside
outside
upstairs |
Prepositions of Movement: to and No Preposition
We use to in order to express movement toward a place.
They were driving to work together.
She's going to the dentist's office this morning.
Toward and towards are also helpful prepositions to express movement. These are simply variant spellings of the same word; use whichever sounds better to you.
We're moving toward the light.
This is a big step towards the project's completion. With the words home, downtown, uptown, inside, outside, downstairs, upstairs, we use no preposition.
Grandma went upstairs
They both went outside.
Prepositions of Time: for and since
We use for when we measure time (seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years).
He held his breath for seven minutes.
She's lived there for seven years.
We use since with a specific date or time.
He's worked here since 1970.
She's been sitting in the waiting room since two-thirty.
Prepositions with Nouns, Adjectives, and Verbs.
Prepositions are sometimes so firmly wedded to other words that they have practically become one word. (In fact, in other languages, such as German, they would have become one word.) This occurs in three categories: nouns, adjectives, and verbs.
NOUNS and PREPOSITIONS |
approval of
awareness of
belief in
concern for
confusion about
desire for | fondness for
grasp of
hatred of
hope for
interest in
love of | need for
participation in
reason for
respect for
success in
understanding of
|
ADJECTIVES and PREPOSITIONS |
afraid of
angry at
aware of
capable of
careless about
familiar with | fond of
happy about
interested in
jealous of
made of
married to | proud of
similar to
sorry for
sure of
tired of
worried about |
VERBS and PREPOSITIONS |
apologize for
ask about
ask for
belong to
bring up
care for
find out | give up
grow up
look for
look forward to
look up
make up
pay for | prepare for
study for
talk about
think about
trust in
work for
worry about |
A combination of verb and preposition is called a phrasal verb. The word that is joined to the verb is then called a particle. Please refer to the brief section we have prepared on phrasal verbs for an explanation.
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Idiomatic Expressions with Prepositions
- agree to a proposal, with a person, on a price, in principle
- argue about a matter, with a person, for or against a proposition
- compare to to show likenesses, with to show differences (sometimes similarities)
- correspond to a thing, with a person
- differ from an unlike thing, with a person
- live at an address, in a house or city, on a street, with other people
Preposition Exercise 1
Use the prepositions from the review sheet to complete the following sentences (there could be more than one right answer).
- I was the mall last night.
- I am going to go the movies tonight.
- Yesterday, the teacher gave the class a pop quiz and told them they had fifteen minutes to do it.
- Last weekend I went for a walk in the woods my dogs.
- My parents are going to be out the country for a whole week.
- I was waiting the corner Tim Horton’s for over an hour!
- My parents are cheering the Maple Leafs this season.
- I am scheduled to work 4:30 pm. every day Friday when I finish at 3:00 pm.
- At the concert, I didn’t like the person who sat me.
- In order to catch the train I must leave five o’clock.
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