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The term preposition is derived from Latin: prae (“before”) and ponere (“to put”). These refer to ‘the situation’ in Latin, Greek and in English, where such words are placed preceding their complement (except sometimes in Ancient Greek), and are hence “pre-positioned”.
Prepositions function generally as the first constituent of a prepositional phrase. The second constituent is the complement (or object) of the prepositional phrase. Interestingly, prepositions and postpositions, together called adpositions (or broadly, in English, simply prepositions), are a class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (in, under, towards, before) or mark various semantic roles (of, for). A preposition or a postposition typically combines with a noun or pronoun, or more generally a noun phrase, this being called its complement, or sometimes object. A preposition comes before its complement; a postposition comes after its complement. English grammar has prepositions rather than postpositions – words such as ‘in’, ‘under’ and of precede their objects, such as in England, under the table, of Jane – although there are a few exceptions including “ago” and “notwithstanding”, as in “three days ago” and “financial limitations notwithstanding”.
Examples:
As an adjunct to a noun:
The weather in March
Cheese from France with live bacteria
As a predicative expression (complement of a copula)
The key is under the stone.
The cricketer was given out leg before wicket.
As an adjunct to a verb:
Sleep throughout the winter
Danced atop the tables for hours
As an adjunct to an adjective:
Happy for them
Sick until recently
Prepositions can be divided into:
Simple prepositions
Compound prepositions
Phrase prepositions
Simple Prepositions
aboard, about, above, absent (law), across, cross (archaic), after, against, ‘gainst, gainst (poetic or archaic); again, gain (archaic), ‘long (abbreviation), alongst (archaic), amid, mid, midst (poetic or archaic); among, amongst (in US, English poetic or archaic), ‘mong, mong, ‘mongst (abbreviations), apropos (rare for apropos of), apud (formal), around, ’round, round (abbreviations), as, astride, at, atop, bar, before, afore (dialectal or archaic), behind, ahind (dialectal or archaic), below, ablow, allow (dialectal or archaic), beneath, ‘neath, neath (dialectal or archaic), between, atween (dialectal or archaic), betwixt (“dialectal or archaic’), beyond, ayond (dialectal or archaic), but, by, chez (rare), circa, come, dehors (law), despite, spite (abbreviation), down, during, except for, from, in, into, less, like, minus, near, nearer (comparative), nearest (superlative), anear (archaic), of, o’ (poetic or eye-dialect), off, on, onto, opposite, out, outen (archaic or dialectal), over, o’er (poetic), pace (formal), past, per, plus, post (often hyphenated), pre (often hyphenated), pro (often hyphenated), qua (formal), sans (formal), save, sauf (archaic), short, since, sithence (archaic), than, through, thru (abbreviation), throughout (abbreviation), till, to, toward, towards, under, underneath, until, ’til, til (abbreviations), unto (obsolete, poetic), up, upon, ‘pon, pon (abbreviations), versus, via, vice (formal), vis-à-vis (formal) …
Compound Preposition
Alongside, notwithstanding, outside, inside, throughout, unlike, upside, within, without, ontop, around, amidst, beside, besides …
Phrase Preposition
according to, across from, adjacent to, ahead of, along with, apart from, as for, as of, as per, as regards, aside from, back to, base on, because of, close to, counter to, down on, due to, except for, far from, inside of, instead of, left of, near to, next to, opposite of, opposite to, other than, out from …
Prepositions exhibit various kinds of relations. The most important among them are the following:
Place
They ran across the road.
The student fell among the thorns.
They were at the foot of the hill.
The thief was hiding behind the car.
Time
We have a meeting at noon.
You must come back before sunset.
Wait till next day.
We waited for years.
Method and manner
The letter came by post.
She cut the cake with a knife.
We fought with courage.
They succeeded by hard work.
Reason and Purpose
He died of malaria..
Smoking is injurious to health.
Possession
He is a man of principles.
Mumbai is the financial capital of India.
I saw a boy with red hair.
Direction and Motion
He fell into the well.
He climbed up the tree.
She walked towards the market.
The moon moves around the earth.
Objects of prepositions
The object of a preposition may be a noun, a pronoun, a gerund, an infinitive or a noun clause. Follow the examples:
The house was built near a river. (Noun)
She was talking to him. (Pronoun)
We were prevented from entering the house. (Gerund)
What would you like to do besides watch a movie? (Infinitive)
I am content with what I have. (Noun clause)
Exercises
1. Fill in the blanks with appropriate prepositions.
a. They walked ……………………… the edge of the river.
b. It is another three weeks …………………………. the holidays.
c. I don’t know how she manages to support such a large family. She has nothing …………………………….. her pension.
d. Are you wearing anything ………………………. your sweater?
e. We should arrive ……………………… their place ……………………. time …………………… lunch.
f. They live ………………………. a small one bedroom flat ………………….. the third floor.
g. Granny is arriving ………………………. the 3.30 train.
i. Last year, there were a large number of mangoes ……………………. the tree.
j. His house is ……………………….. the way from Mumbai to Thane.
k. A few days after the accident she died ……………………….. the injuries.
l. My friend is good ……………………….. playing volleyball.
m. She complains ……………………….. bullying.
n. They are afraid ……………………….. losing the match.
o. She doesn’t feel ……………………….. working on the computer.
p. We are looking forward ……………………….. going out at the weekend.
q. Laura dreams ……………………….. living on a small island.
r. Andrew apologized ……………………….. being late.
s. I don’t agree ………………………..hunting.
t. The girls insisted ……………………….. going out with Kerry.
