Prepositions - LinguoDan

Prepositions — a part of speech in English that, together with the case endings of nouns, pronouns, and numerals, expresses the relationship between words in a sentence. Prepositions do not have an independent lexical meaning, so they do not act as members of a sentence. With regard to nouns, numerals, pronouns, they are secondary part of the sentence. Prepositions are used to express the relationship of a noun or pronoun (or other parts of a sentence) to the rest of the sentence.

Prepositions usually come before a noun, pronoun, numeral or gerund and after a verb. If the sentence has a direct object, the preposition is used after it:

Our teacher is in the classroom
There is a tree in front of our house

Prepositions IN, ON, AT

The prepositions in, on, at are plural. They can be used in various phrases to indicate location, time.

In, on, at (location)

Where?
in	The mouse is in the box Granny is in her room The children are in the yard
Where?
on	The mouse is on the box The cat is on the sofa Your book is on my table
at(near, by)	The mouse is at the box My desk is at (by) the window Не lives near the university

Meaning

In	On	At
in the kitchen	sit on the floor	sit at the desk
work in the garden	a number on the door	wait at the station
swim in the pool	a book on the table	at the crossroads
in a town/а city/ a country	on a floor	at a place on a journey
in a street (GB)	on a street (US)	at a house/ an address
	on a road or river	at an event

In & at in phrases related to buildings

In and at can be used when a location inside a room is meant:

There are 50 people in the theatre
We were waiting for you in the caf

The preposition at is used when talking about events that are happening, but the important thing is not the place where they happen, but the events themselves:

We were at the theatre

Some established phrases

in prison/hospital

in a book/newspaper

in the photo/picture

in the country

in the middle

in the back/front of smth

in a queue/line/row

on the platform

on the farm

on the page/map

on the screen

on the island/beach/coast

on the right/left

at the station/airport

at home/work/school

at the seaside

at the top/bottom

at the end

When talking about transport, the following prepositions are used in English:

By	air, bicycle/bike, boat, bus, car, coach, ferry, helicopter, plane, rail, sea, ship, taxi, train, tube
In	the/my/your car, a helicopter, a taxi
On	my bicycle/bike, the boat, the bus, the ferry, the plane, the ship, the train

In, on, at (time)

In	On	At
in 4- year/ month/ season	on 4- day/date	at + clock time/meal time
in 1996	on Saturday	at three o’clock
in September	on 1^th November	at that time
in winter	on that day	at lunch
in the 21^stcentury	on 4 + a single day	at the moment
in + a week or more	on Christmas Eve	at + two or three days
in the holiday	on + day + part of a day	at Christmas
in the summer term	on Sunday morning	at Easter
in + part of a day	(US on the weekend)	at the weekend
in the morning
in the evening
Somebody rang in the night		My granny cannot sleep at night

In time OR on time

In time means “quite early, in advance, at the last moment”:

We got to the station in time to buy tickets.
Не was about to leave home when in time he remembered the documents.

On time — «according to schedule»:

Му friend is never on time
The train arrived on time

OTHER PREPOSITIONS OF PLACE AND DIRECTION

The following prepositions of place are also used in English:

The bird is in/inside the cage
Nick is diving in/into the water
Не is getting out of the car
We’re standing outside the shop
The song is on the top of the chart
Ann is putting her doll on/onto the trolley
Не fell off the chair
The table is by/beside the bed
We stopped near the shop
She went to school
The letter is from Lviv
Our friends were walking towards the sun
Children were running away from the forest
There is a bridge over the river
The ball is under the table
The plane is above the clouds

Prepositions expressing the grammatical dependence of words in a sentence

Preposition	Example
of	At the end of the lesson the teacher told the marks
to	I returned the dog to its owner
with by	Why are you writing the dictation with a pencil? This book was written by Jack London
about	Tell me about this man

During OR while?

During — it is a preposition meaning “during”. It is used before nouns:

We read and write during the lesson.
I always visit my grandparents during spring holidays.

While — is a conjunction that is usually used at the beginning of a subordinate clause:

I often read while I am eating.

Between OR among?

The prepositions between and among are translated as “among“. The difference between them is that between has the meaning “between two”, among – “between several”:

Poltava is between Kyiv and Kharkiv
The house is among the trees

Where?

among

The mouse is among the flowers

There is a village among the hills

There is an adult among the children

between

The mouse is between two pieces of cheese

There is a small dog between two boys

There is a TV set between the windows

The table with the main prepositions

Preposition	How It’s Used	Example
Showing Time
At	exact times meal times parts of the day age	at 3pm at dinner at sundown at age 21
By	a limit in time in the sense of at the latest	by sundown by the due date
In	seasons months years durations after a certain period of time	in the summer in November in 1992 in the same year in an hour
On	days of the week parts of the day where the day is named dates	on Wednesday on Friday night on December 4th
Ago	a certain time in the past	2 years ago
After	a point in time that follows another point in time	after the game; after the surgery
Before	a point in time that precedes another point in time	before leaving; before breakfast; before 2004
During	something that happened/will happen in a specific period of time	during the night; during war
For	over a certain period in the past	for 2 years
Past	telling the time	ten past six (6:10)
Since	from a certain period of time	since 1980; since the accident
Throughout	something that happened/will happen continuously in a specific period of time	throughout the year; throughout the ordeal
To	telling time from an earlier time to a later time	ten to six (5:50) 1pm to 3pm
Until	up to a certain point in time how long something is going to last	until the end; until sunrise
Up (to)	from an earlier point to a later point	up (to) now
Showing Place
At	an object’s settled position or position after it has moved meeting place or location point of direction a target	at the airport; at the ceremony at home; at the desk turning at the intersection throwing the snowball at Lucy
By	close to alongside of	by the school by the window
In	in an enclosed space in a geographic location in a print medium	in the garage; in an envelope in San Diego; in Texas in a book; in a magazine
On	for a certain side for a river/lake for a floor in a house for public transport for television, radio	on the left London lies on the Thames on the floor on a bus on the air; on TV
About	around or outside of at but not exactly on related to	about town about five feet tall about my father’s business
Above	suspended higher than something else superior to	above the door above me in rank
After	pursuit a point further from an earlier point	chasing after the robbers the corner after the big house
Against	leaning on opposite to or facing	against the door against the wall
Along	tracing the length of, without emphasis on the ends	along the hallway; along the river
Among	in the company of (three or more) in a crowd the end of a long list	among friends among the masses among other things
Around	location of something explaining a period of time	drive around the block around 3 o’clock
Before	in the front in terms of space	before the emperor; before God
Behind	on the back side of a point in space	behind the car; behind her smile
Below	something lower than or underneath something else	below the stairs; below expectations
From	in the sense of where from	a flower from the garden
Into	enter a room/building	go into the kitchen/house
Onto	movement to the top of something	jump onto the table
Over	covered by something else “more than” “getting to the other side” overcoming an obstacle	put a jacket over your shirt over 16 years of age walk over the bridge climb over the wall
Through	something with limits on top, bottom and the sides	drive through the tunnel
Towards	movement in the direction of something (but not directly to it)	go 5 steps towards the house
Other Important Prepositions
About	for topics, meaning what about	we were talking about you
At	For age	she learned Russian at 45
By	who made it rise or fall of something travelling (other than walking or horseriding)	a book by Mark Twain prices have risen by 10 percent by car, by bus
From	who gave it	a present from Jane
In	entering a car/taxi	get in the car
Of	who/what did it belong to what does it show	a page of the book the picture of a place
Off	leaving a public transport vehicle	get off the train
On	walking or riding on horseback entering a public transport vehicle	on foot, on horseback get on the bus
Out of	leaving a car/taxi	get out of the taxi

Prepositions of PLACE ? IN / ON / AT / BY ? Common English Grammar Mistakes