Preposition

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Preposition is a word or group of words that express a relationship between a noun or a pronoun and another word in a sentence, and we use them to show places, position, time or movement.

There are about 150 prepositions in English.

The prepositions of, to and in are among the ten most frequent words in English.

Prepositions of place

•At refers to a place where someone/something is:

Tom’s at the door

My sister is at school

•In refers to the inside of a place, for example a room, town or container:

He is in the kitchen.

We live in Oberá.

•On is used when something is touching a surface:

The bread is on the table. There is a photo on the wall. We also use on in these phrases: on the left/right, on the first/second/top floor, on the other side of the road.

•Other prepositions of place include:Above: at a higher level “The plane flew above the clouds.”Below: at a lower level “The divers went 100 feet below the surface of the ocean.”Beside: near, at the side of “There is a small table beside my bed.”Next to: right beside, close to “Sam sat next to his boss at the meeting.”(In) between: in the space that separates two objects “She parked her car (in) between the two trucks.”Behind: at the back of “In baseball, the umpire stands behind the catcher.”In front of:  at the front of “There is a beautiful oak tree in front of our office.”

Prepositions o

f

movement

•To and towards show movement in the direction of a place:

we drove to London.

He ran towards the door.

•Into and out of show movement towards or away from the inside of something:

she jumped into the pool.

He climbed out of the pool.

•Onto and off show movement towards or away from a surface:

the glass fell onto the floor.

I took the photo off the wall.

•Other prepositions of movement include across, along, over, through, up and down:

she walked across the street (= from one side to the other). He walked along the pavement (staying on the pavement). she climbed over the fence (across the top of) He walked out through the door (from one side to the other).

Important to consider

• At or in? Let’s meet at the restaurant (inside or outside). Let’s meet in the restaurant (inside).

•Arrive at or arrive in? We arrive in a country, city or town; but we arrive at a building or other place: the plane arrived in Madrid. We arrived at the airport.

• On or in? We travel on a train, bus or plane; but in a car: I always read when I am on the train. The journey takes an hour in a car.

Prepositions of tim

e

•At is used with clock times, periods of time and to refer to somebody’s age: at nine, at lunch time, at night, at weekend, at the age 33.

•In is used: •With parts of the day, months, seasons, years and centuries: in the morning, in May, in the summer, in 2005, in the 19th century.•To talk about things that will happen at the end of a period of time: I will be back in an hour/in a week/in a few minutes.•To refer to the lengths of time something takes: I read the book in four hours. We got back in 20 minutes.

•On is used with days and dates: On Monday, On 12th October, On Saturday afternoon, On New Year’s Day, On weekdays.

Other prepositions of time:• Before: taking place at an earlier time: call me before 10 o’clock.• After: taking place at a later time: I will see you after the match.• By: at or before a point in time: We must leave by six.• Since: starting from a point in time: we have been here since Thursday.

•For: lasting a period of time: we waited for an hour.• During: happening in or over a period of time: I shared a flat during my stay in London. I fell asleep during the play.• Until/till up to a certain time: we will work until six o’clock and then we will go home.• Past (a point in time): It’s past midnight.• Through (a period of time): they worked through the night.

As, likeWe use as when we describe someone’s job or the main purpose/function of something: She works as a teacher.

• Like means:

•‘Similar to’: His car is like mine. She looks like her brother.Rubbish, like glass and paper, can be recycled.

We say the same as (not the same like): your car’s the same as mine.

•We also use what + be / look / sound / smell / taste + like to ask for a description of someone or something: what’s Tom like? What does curry taste like?

Prepositional phrases

A prepositional phrase will begin with a preposition and end with a noun, pronoun, gerund, or clause, (the "object" of the preposition).

•The object of the preposition will often have one or more modifiers  to describe it. These are the patterns for a prepositional phrase:Preposition + noun, pronoun, gerund or clausePreposition + modifier (s) + noun, pronoun, gerund or clause.

Here there are some examples of the most basic prepositional phrase:

• At homeAt = preposition; home = noun.

• In timeIn = preposition; time = noun.

• From RichieFrom = preposition; Richie = noun.

• With meWith = preposition; me = pronoun.

• By singingBy = preposition; singing = gerund.

• About what we needAbout = preposition; what we need = noun clause.

Important to remember•We say in cash but by cheque/ credit card: would you

like to pay in cash or by cheque.•We say on purpose but by accident/ chance: he was

late on purpose.I met Anna by chance.•Compare on time and in time: the train arrived on

time (= at the correct time) We got to the station in time to catch our train (= early

enough).

Thanks for your attention…!!!