Chapter 6

Prepositions
Grammar
Prepositions connect or join nouns or pronouns to the rest of the sentence.
They answer time (after, during, before, since, on, until), manner (with, like, for, of) or where (above,
between, in, on, around, through, under, over).
Function of a preposition
In itself a word like in or after is rather meaningless. In sentences, we find prepositions almost always in
combination with other words. We call them prepositional phrases. Since prepositions combine with other
words and create what are called prepositional phrases, there can be infinite variety of prepositional
phrases. But their structure can be classified and understood. If you look at these combinations more
carefully you will see that there is some method in this madness.
We can understand their structure by looking at a prepositional phrase like in the classroom: in + the +
classroom, i.e. preposition + determiner + noun. If I change it to in the large hall, the formula seems to
be: preposition + determiner + adjective + noun.
Though prepositional phrases can be made up of a million different words, they tend to have the same
structure: a preposition followed by a determiner and an adjective or two, followed by a pronoun or noun
(called the object of the preposition).
This phrase often takes on a modifying role telling us the time, manner, place about a noun or a pronoun.
Common Prepositions:
about, above, across, after, against, around, at, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, besides,
between, beyond, by, down, during, except, for, from, in, inside, into, like, near, of, off, on, out,
outside, over, since, through, throughout, till, to, toward, under, until, up, upon, with, without,
according to, because of, by way of, in addition to, in front of, in place of, in regard to, in spite of,
instead of, on account of, out of

Usage Notes on Prepositions

Prepositions do create troubles for students for whom English is a second language (all of us).
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.
In the hospital and at the hospital have different meanings. This difference in meaning is brought about by
the preposition used. The difference in meaning cannot be explained through grammatical or logical
reasoning it is a matter of usage. And your awareness of the difference in meaning is a result of your
instinctive mastery of this form which is instinctive and achieved through your previous experience with
the language. This, then, is the learning: mastery of the prepositions and their usage has to come through
reading and use.

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