Prepositions: Locators in Time and Place

A preposition describes a relationship between other words in a sentence. In itself, a word like "in" or "after" is rather meaningless and hard to define in mere words. For instance, when you do try to define a preposition like "in" or "between" or "on," you invariably use your hands to show how something is situated in relationship to something else. Prepositions are nearly always combined with other words in

structures called prepositional phrases. Prepositional phrases can be made up of a

million different words, but they tend to be built the same: a preposition followed by a determiner and an adjective or two, followed by a pronoun or noun (called the object of the preposition). This whole phrase, in turn, takes on a modifying role, acting as an adjective or an adverb, locating something in time and space, modifying a noun, or telling when or where or under what conditions something happened.

Consider your desk and all the prepositional phrases we can use while talking about it:

You can sit before the desk (or in front of the desk). You can sit on the desk (informally) or behind

the desk, and then your feet are under the desk or beneath the desk. You can stand beside the
desk (meaning next to the desk), before the desk, between the desk and your partner, or even on the desk (in a Dead Poets Society kind of thing). If youre clumsy, you can bump into the desk or try to walk through the desk (and stuff would fall off the desk). Passing your hands over the desk or resting your elbows upon the desk, you often look across the desk and speak of the desk or concerning the desk as if there were nothing else like the desk. Because you think of nothing except the desk, sometimes you wonder about the desk, what's in the desk, what they must have paid for the desk, and if you could live without the desk. You can walk toward the desk, to the desk, around the desk, by the desk, and even past the desk while you sit at the desk or lean against the desk.

All of this happens, of course, in time: during the class, before the class, until the class, throughout the class, after the class, etc. And you can sit there in a bad mood [another adverbial construction].

Those words in bold font are all prepositions. Some prepositions do other things besides locate in space or time "My brother is like my father." "Everyone in the class except me got the answer." but nearly all of them modify in one way or another. It is possible for a preposition phrase to act as a noun "During a church service is not a good time to discuss picnic plans" or "In the South Pacific is where I long to be" but this is seldom appropriate in formal or academic writing.

Is it any wonder that prepositions create such troubles for students for whom English is a second language? We say we are at the hospital to visit a friend who is in the hospital. We lie in bed but on the couch. We watch a film at the theater but on television. For native speakers, these little words present little difficulty, but try to learn another language, any

other language, and you will quickly discover that prepositions are troublesome wherever
you live and learn. To address all the potential difficulties with prepositions in idiomatic usage would require volumes, and the only way English language learners can begin to master the intricacies of preposition usage is through practice and paying close attention to speech and the written word. Keeping a good dictionary close at hand is an important first step.

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. He started the job in 1971. He's going to quit in August.

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 uptown

* You may sometimes use different prepositions for these locations.

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 Grandpa went home. 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. The British and Irish have been quarreling for seven centuries. We use since with a specific date or time. He's worked here since 1970. She's been sitting in the waiting room since twothirty.

Prepositions with Nouns, Adjectives, and Verbs. Prepositions are sometimes so firmly wedded to other words that they have practically become one word.

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 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 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 proud of similar to sorry for sure of tired of worried about need for participation in reason for respect for success in understanding of

A combination of verb and preposition is called a phrasal verb. The word that is joined to the verb is then called a particle.

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 Unnecessary Prepositions In everyday speech, we fall into some bad habits, using prepositions where they are not necessary. It would be a good idea to eliminate these words altogether, but we must be especially careful not to use them in formal, academic prose. She met up with the new coach in the hallway. The book fell off of the desk. He threw the book out of the window. She wouldn't let the cat inside of the house. [or use "in"] Where did they go to? Put the lamp in back of the couch. [use "behind" instead] Where is your college at? Prepositions in Parallel Form When two words or phrases are used in parallel and require the same preposition to be idiomatically correct, the preposition does not have to be used twice. You can wear that outfit in summer and in winter. The female was both attracted by and distracted by the male's dance. However, when the idiomatic use of phrases calls for different prepositions, we must be careful not to omit one of them. The children were interested in and disgusted by the movie. It was clear that this player could both contribute to and learn from every game he played. He was fascinated by and enamored of this beguiling woman.

Exercises on Prepositions
1 He made his escape by jumping ______ a window and jumping ______ a waiting car. over / into between / into out of / between out of / into up to / out of 2 To get to the Marketing department, you have to go ______ those stairs and then ______ the corridor to the end. over / into between / into out of / between out of / into up / along 3 I saw something about it ______ television. in on at through with 4 I couldn't get in ______ the door so I had to climb ______ a window. through / in between / into out of / between out of / into up / along

5 She took the key ______ her pocket and put it ________ the lock. over / into between / into out of / in by / on up to / out of 6 He drove ______ me without stopping and drove off ______ the centre of town. from / into towards / over along / up past / towards in / next to 7 I took the old card ______ the computer and put ______ the new one. through / in out of / in out of / between out of / into up / along 8 I went ______ him and asked him the best way to get ______ town. from / into towards / over along / up by / on up to / out of
9 It's unlucky to walk ______ a ladder in my culture. I always walk ______ them. through / in out of / in under / around out of / into up / along

10 The restaurant is ______ the High Street, ______ the cinema. through / in out of / in under / around in / next to up / along 11 Sally left school ______ the age of 16 and went to work ______ a bank. through / in out of / in under / around in / next to at / in 12 He jumped ______ the wall and ______ the garden. over / into towards / over along / up by / on up to / out of 13 He was driving ______ 180 miles per hour when he crashed ______ the central barrier. at / into out of / in under / around in / next to at / in 14 She ran ______ the corridor and ______ the stairs to the second floor. from / into towards / over along / up by / on in / next to

15 John is the person standing ______ the window, ______ the woman with the long blonde hair. at / into beside / next to under / around in / next to at / in 16 When the bull ran ______ me, I jumped ______ the fence. from / into towards / over beside / next to by / on in / next to 17 Look, that car's ______ fire. through with in into on 18 He saw a parking space ______ two cars and drove ______ it. over / into between / into along / up by / on up to / out of 19 Harry comes to work ______ car but I prefer to come ______ foot. at / into beside / next to by / on in / next to at / in

20 He took the book ______ the shelf and put it ______ his bag. from / into at / into beside / next to by / on in / next to