Prepositions

Prepositions

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Preposition is a word or group of words that is used with a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase to show direction, location, or time, or to introduce an object.

The preposition on in "The keys are on the table" shows location.

Prepositions are used to refer to many types of relationship within the sentence including:

- agency: by train
- cause and effect: due to a strike, because of her illness, owing to the rain
- comparison: like your friend, as fast as the red car
- contrast: despite the noise, in spite of his anger
- examples: like everyone else, such as the manager
- exception: (everyone) but you, (all the people) except me
- movement/direction: to Miami, into the room, towards his house, through a tunnel
- place: at the airport, within the city walls, over the table
- possession: of my friends
- purpose: for tall men
- source: from the city, out of room
- time: in two weeks, during the night, after lunch

The noun does not necessarily come immediately after the preposition, however, since determiners and adjectives can intervene, such as after the storm, on white horses, under the old regime.

Whether or not there are any intervening determiners or adjectives, prepositions are almost always followed by a noun. In fact, this is so typical of prepositions that if they are not followed by a noun, we call them stranded prepositions:

Preposition: John talked about the new film.
Stranded Preposition: This is the film John talked about.

Marginal Prepositions are a number of prepositions that have affinities with other word classes. In particular, Marginal prepositions act like prepositions but derive from other word classes, primarily verb forms, such as concerning, considering, excluding, given, granted, pending. Non-verbal marginal prepositions include worth (it's worth ten pounds) and minus (ten minus two is eight).

PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE

Prepositional Phrase is a phrase that begins with a preposition and ends in a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase as an object of the verb.

In "He is from Russia," from Russia is a prepositional phrase.

Here are some Prepositional Phrase examples:

(a) Prepositional Phrase with a simple preposition:

He often talks about his job.
Prepositional Phrase: about his job
Preposition: about

or

(b) Prepositional Phrase with a complex preposition:

He helped me put out the fire.
Prepositional phrase: put out the fire
Preposition: put out

A Complex Preposition is a word group, such as in front of or on top of that functions like a simple, one-word preposition.

Complex prepositions can be divided into two groups:

• Compound Prepositions is a two-word units (a word + a simple preposition), such as apart from.

• Phrasal Prepositions is a three-word units (a simple preposition + a noun + a simple preposition), such as by means of.

All above means the prepositional phrase consists of two major parts:

- the preposition
- the object of the preposition

The object is the noun (or pronoun) attached to the sentence by the preposition. That noun might be a true noun, a noun phrase, or a noun clause. The entire unit then acts in two major ways:

- as an adjective
- as an adverb

Let’s look at various types of prepositional phrases. Note especially that various noun forms can serve as the object of the preposition:

Preposition	Object	Type of Noun	Example and Function of Prepositional Phrase
under	the table	true noun	The book under the table belongs to Juan. (adjective prepositional phrase modifying book)
of	winning with class	-ing verb phrase (gerund)	He is the model of winning with class. (adjective prepositional phrase modifying model)
of	whether this case applies	noun clause	The question of whether this case applies troubled the court. (adjective prepositional phrase modifying question)
because of	his diligence	true noun	Because of his diligence, he won the debate. (adverbial prepositional phrase modifying won)
according to	scientific principles	true noun	He conducted the experiment according to scientific principles. (adverbial prepositional phrase modifying conducted)

Try to banish the Complex prepositions from your style:

Compound Expression	Simple Expression
at that point in time	then
at this point in time	now
by means of	by
by reason of	because of
by virtue of	by, under
during the course of	during
for the purposes of [+ noun] for the purposes of [+ gerund]	for infinitive phrase
for the reason that	because
from the point of view of	from, for
in accordance with	by, under
in as much as	since
in a manner similar to	like
in excess of	more than, over
in favor of	for
in order to	to
in receipt of	received
in relation to	about, concerning
in routine fashion	routinely
in terms of	in
in the event that	if
in the nature of	like
in the immediate vicinity of	near
in close proximity with	near
on the basis of	by, from
prior to	before
pursuant to	under, according to
similar to	like
subsequent to	after
with a view to	to
with reference to	about, concerning
with regard to	about, concerning
with respect to	on, about, for, in, concerning, with, to, or some verbal expression

PREPOSITION COMBINATIONS

Prepositions and the rules concerning their usage can be confusing to learners of English as a second language. Basically, prepositions are connecting words that join objects to other parts of sentences. Preposition choice is determined by the noun, verb, adjective or particle which precedes it.

1) Noun + Preposition Combinations

English has many examples of prepositions coming after nouns. In such cases:

(a) The prepositions are often followed by a phrase containing a noun.

Scientists at the research institute think they are close finding a solution to the problem

.

Noun: solution
Preposition: to
Preposition Combination: solution to
Phrase containing a noun: the problem
Prepositional phrase: to the problem

(b) They can also be followed by a noun.

Everyone was surprised by his lack of concern.

Noun: lack
Preposition: of
Preposition Combination: lack of
Followed by noun: concern
Prepositional phrase: of concern

(c) They can also be followed by an -ing verb *
*If we want to use a verb after a preposition, it must be a gerund. It is impossible to use an infinitive after a preposition.

We need to call an expert at plumbing as soon as possible.

Noun: expert
Preposition: at
Preposition Combination: expert at
Followed by an -ing verb: plumbing
Prepositional phrase: at plumbing

Here are a few more nouns and prepositions which are used together:

the use of	a solution to	influence on	evidence of
the cost of	an increase in	a possibility of	danger of
the price of	a reason for	a supply of	a method of
a lack of	belief in	the cause of	difficulty with

2) Verb + Preposition Combinations

Many English prepositions also follow verbs.

(a) Sometimes they introduce a phrase that contains a noun.

I don't know how long we can depend on his generosity. He has already done so much for us.

Verb: depend
Preposition: on
Preposition Combination: depend on
Phrase that contains a noun: his generosity
Prepositional phrase: on his generosity

(b) They can also introduce a noun.

Many of the town's residents relied on neighbors for help during the flood.

Verb: relied
Preposition: on
Preposition Combination: relied on
Introduce a noun: neighbors
Prepositional phrase: on neighbors

c) They can introduce an -ing verb.

She believes in helping people who are less fortunate than her.

Verb: believes
Preposition: in
Preposition Combination: believes in
Introduce an -ing verb: helping
Prepositional phrase: in helping

Here are some other verbs and prepositions that are used together:

I insist on . . .	He can deal with . . .
This can result in . . .	Do you plan on . . .
We belong to . . .	This could lead to . . .
My answer will depend on . . .	You can rely on . . .
They fight for . . .	We fight against . . .
We contribute to . . .	I believe in . . .

3) Adjective + Preposition Combinations

English also has many instances of prepositions coming after adjectives.

(a) In many cases, the prepositions precede phrases containing nouns.

I was amazed at all the improvements.

Adjective: amazed
Preposition: at
Preposition Combination: amazed at
Phrases containing nouns: all the improvements
Prepositional phrase: at all the improvements.

(b) In many cases, the prepositions precede phrases containing pronouns.

We were all shocked by his behavior.

Adjective: shocked
Preposition: by
Preposition Combination: shocked by
Phrases containing pronouns: his behavior
Prepositional phrase: by his behavior

(c) It is also possible for the prepositions to precede an -ing verb.

Because the exam was more difficult than I expected, I'm worried about passing.

Adjective: worried
Preposition: about
Preposition Combination: worried about
Precede an -ing verb: passing
Prepositional phrase: about passing

Here are some more adjectives and prepositions that are used together:

proud of	identical to	different from	tired of
related to	opposed to	satisfied with	eager for
based on	famous for	necessary for	excited about

Common Sentence Errors with Prepositions

Using a preposition which doesn't fit the context of the sentence:

I was amazed from all the improvements. [Wrong!]
I was amazed at all the improvements. [Right!]

Omitting a preposition that belongs in a sentence:

I was amazed all the improvements. [Wrong!]
I was amazed at all the improvements. [Right!]

Adding a preposition which is not needed in the sentence:

I was amazed at that the improvements were done so quickly. [Wrong!]
I was amazed that the improvements were done so quickly. [Right!]

Serving as Other Parts of Speech

Prepositions Serving Double Duty

Many words that serve as prepositions also serve as other parts of speech. The word up, for example, acts as a preposition:

He looked up the tree. (prepositional phrase)

But the word up can also serve as an adverb:

He looked up. (adverb modifying looked)

And the word up can join a verb to form what’s called a complement verb, or phrasal verb, a verb consisting of a verb and a merged preposition (drop out, dredge up):

He looked up the word. (part of complement verb look up)

Some words can act as a preposition and a subordinating conjunction:

He left after the movie. (preposition)

After the movie ended, he left. (subordinating conjunction)

A SUMMARY OF PREPOSITIONS

In this section, we learned all about the preposition, whose primary role in life is to stick nouns on sentences. We met three basic kinds: simple, marginal, and compound. We learned that skilled writers don’t use too many compound prepositions like with respect to, in regard to, prior to, and pursuant to.

We learned that the preposition, when it sticks a noun on a sentence, forms a structure called the prepositional phrase. The noun stuck on the sentence is the object of the preposition. And if you stick a personal pronoun on a sentence with a preposition, that pronoun must appear in the objective case.

The noun sticking to a preposition might be a true noun, a noun phrase, or a noun clause.

And we learned that a preposition is often a good word to end a sentence with.

Finally, we learned that words serving as prepositions can often serve as other parts of speech as well. They can act as adverbs and subordinating conjunctions. And they can join with a verb to form a complement verb, also called a phrasal verb.

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