Prepositions

Prepositions: uses

We commonly use prepositions to show a relationship in space or time or a logical relationship between two or more people, places or things.

Prepositions are most commonly followed by a noun phrase or pronoun (underlined):

• The last time I saw him he was walking down the road*.*
• I’ll meet you in the cafe opposite the cinema*.*
• It was difficult to sleep during the flight*.*
• It was the worst storm since the 1980s*.*
• Give that to me*.*

There are over 100 prepositions in English. The most common single-word prepositions are:

about	beside	near	to
above	between	of	towards
across	beyond	off	under
after	by	on	underneath
against	despite	onto	unlike
along	down	opposite	until
among	during	out	up
around	except	outside	upon
as	for	over	via
at	from	past	with
before	in	round	within
behind	inside	since	without
below	into	than
beneath	like	through

Although most prepositions are single words, some pairs and groups of words operate like single prepositions:

• They were unable to attend because of the bad weather in Ireland.
• Jack’ll be playing in the team in place of me.
• In addition to getting a large fine, both brothers were put in prison for three months.
• I always get nervous when I have to speak in front of an audience.
• We estimate that there’ll be up to 10,000 people at the concert.

The most common prepositions that consist of groups of words are:

ahead of	except for	instead of	owing to
apart from	in addition to	near to	such as
as for	in front of	on account of	thanks to
as well as	in place of	on top of	up to
because of	in spite of	out of
due to	inside of	outside of

Prepositions or conjunctions?

Some words which are prepositions also function as conjunctions. When we use a preposition that is followed by a clause, it is functioning as a conjunction; when we use a preposition that is followed by a noun phrase, it stays as a preposition. Among the most common are after, as, before, since, until:

• After I’d met him last night, I texted his sister at once. (conjunction)
• After the meeting last night, I texted his sister at once. (preposition)
• We’ll just have to wait until they decide what to do. (conjunction)
• Okay, we’ll wait here until six o’clock. (preposition)

Prepositions or adverbs?

Several words which are prepositions also belong to the word class of adverbs. These include: about, across, around, before, beyond, in, inside, near, opposite, outside, past, round, through, under, up, within:

• There were lots of people waiting for a taxi outside the club. (preposition)
• A: Where’s your cat?
• B: She’s outside. (adverb)
• The gallery is opposite the Natural History Museum. (preposition)
• A: Can you tell me where the bus station is?
• B: It’s over there, just opposite. (adverb)

Prepositions and abstract meanings

Common prepositions that show relationships of space often have abstract as well as concrete meanings.

Compare

That map you need is behind the filing cabinet.(basic spatial sense or position)	Everyone is behind the government.(behind = gives support)
Beyond the hotel were beautiful mountains.(basic spatial sense or position)	Learning Chinese in a year was beyond them all.(beyond = too difficult for)

Some common prepositions such as at, in and on can have abstract meanings:

• I think you will both need to discuss the problem in private.
• All three singers were dressed in black.
• You now have the next day at leisure and can do whatever you wish.
• Our dog stays on guard all night, even when he’s sleeping!

Prepositions and adjectives

We commonly use prepositions after adjectives. Here are the most common adjective + preposition patterns.

adjectives	preposition	examples
aware, full	of	They weren’t aware of the time.
different, separate	from	Is French very different from Spanish?
due, similar	to	This picture is similar to the one in our living room.
familiar, wrong	with	What’s wrong with Isabelle?
good, surprised*	at	We were really surprised at the price of food in restaurants on our holiday.
interested	in	Lots of people are interested in Grand Prix racing but I’m not.
responsible, good	for	Exercise is good for everyone.
worried, excited	about	We’re really excited about our trip to Argentina.

*We can also say surprised by

Prepositions and nouns

Many nouns have particular prepositions which normally follow them:

• There’s been a large increase in the price of petrol.
• Does anyone know the cause of the fire?

See also

• Nouns and prepositions
• Nouns

Prepositions and verbs

Many verbs go together with prepositions to make prepositional verbs. These always have an object:

• I just couldn’t do without my phone.
• Robert accused her of stealing his idea.

Phrasal-prepositional verbs contain a verb, an adverb particle and a preposition (underlined). We cannot separate the particle and the preposition:

• The taxi is due any minute. Can you listen out for it?
• I can’t put up with this noise any longer.

See also

• Prepositional verbs
• Phrasal-prepositional verbs
• Prepositional phrases

Prepositions: position and stranding

Traditional grammatical rules say that we should not have a preposition at the end of a clause or sentence. However, we sometimes do separate a preposition from the words which follow it (its complement). This is called preposition stranding, and it is common in informal styles:

• She was someone to whom he could talk. (formal)
• She was someone who he could talk to. (informal)
• Which room are they having breakfast in? (informal)
• In which room are they having breakfast? (formal)

If we leave out words that are clear from the context (ellipsis), we can use *wh-*questions with a *wh-*word + stranded preposition:

• A: The office is moving next year.

• B: Really, where to?

• A: I’m going to buy some flowers online.

• B: Who for?

• A: My mother.

See also

• Word order and focus
• Ellipsis