EXTRA LESSON – 50 MOST COMMON PREPOSITIONS

VOCABULARY

About Above Across After Against Along

Among Around At Before Behind Below

Beneath Beside Between By Down During

Except For From In In front of Inside

Instead Into As Near Of Off On Onto

Out of Outside Over Past Since Through To

Toward Under Underneath Until Up Upon

With Within Without According to

A 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.” Simply put,
prepositions are connector words. These connectors customarily tie a noun to an idea.
Often a preposition is a short word such as on, in, or to. This standard is not the only option;
it can also be a longer word, multiple words, or a short phrase.
The word directly following a preposition is called its complement, and how it relates to the
preposition determines what type of preposition you are using.
A transitive preposition always uses a complement with a preposition. Like “she lived
amongst the wildflowers”.
Intransitive prepositions do not need to use the complement to complete the thought. You
could add a complement to this, “She lived outside the city limits,” but it is unnecessary
when using it.
Conjunctive prepositions use a clause as the complement. One common example of a
conjunctive preposition is the word “because.”

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The argument for intransitive prepositions parallels the use of transitive or intransitive
verbs.
When two or more words form a preposition, they are a complex preposition. This type of
preposition is also referred to as a compound preposition.
Complex prepositions are mostly found at the beginning and the middle of a sentence, but
rarely at the end.
Sometimes called prepositional phrases, phrase prepositions contain the preposition, the
object, and the optional object’s modifier (extra details about the object such as “smooth” to
describe a table).

Difference between prepositions and postpositions

As mentioned earlier, a preposition is a word connecting an idea or action to a noun. When
this comes after the complement, instead of being called a PREposition, this is called a
POSTposition. Post means “after,” and the postposition comes after the complement.

ENGLISH POSTPOSITIONS

Ago Apart Aside Aslant Away Hence

Notwithstanding On Over Short Through Withal

Now build sentences using the PREPOSITIONS and the POSTPOSITIONS:

1.______________________________________________________________________.
2.______________________________________________________________________.
3._________________________________________________ _____________________.
4.______________________________________________________________________.
5.______________________________________________________________________.
6.______________________________________________________________________.
7.______________________________________________________________________.
8.______________________________________________________________________.
9.______________________________________________________________________.

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 Prepositions - Place
English Usage Example

Left or right of an object or The school is next to the

BY, NEXT, TO, BESIDE
person church.

On the ground or lower than

UNDER The ants are under the rock.
something else

The glasses go below the

BELOW Lower than something else
cups in the pantry.

Put a blanket over your lap.

Covered by something else
You can drive if you are
Meaning more than
OVER over 16 years of age.
Getting to the other side
Drive over the bridge.
Overcoming an obstacle
Climb over the wall.

Higher than something else, The plates go above the

ABOVE
but not directly over it glasses in the pantry.

Walk across the bridge.

ACROSS Go to other side
Swim across the pool.

To move from one place to Drive through the tunnel.

THROUGH another by enetering the Enter through the

inside of something breezeway.

Movement to person, Go to the restaurant.

TO
building, place or country Go to California.

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 Can also indicate bedtime Go to bed.

Go into the house. Once

INTO Enter a room or a building
there, go into the bedroom.

Movement in the direction

She walked towards the
TOWARDS of something, as opposed to
house.
away from it

Moving to the top of

ONTO Jump onto the bench.
something

We bought a fruit from the

FROM Where did object come from
grocery store.

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 Prepositions - Time
English Usage Example

SINCE From a certain point of time Since 1999.

in the past

FOR A certain past time until For 10 years.

present

AGO A time in the past 4 years ago.

BEFORE Earlier than a specified date Before 2020.

TO Telling the time Ten to 10 (9:50)

PAST Telling the time Ten past five (5:10)

TO / TILL / UNTIL The beginning and end of a From wednesday to/till

period of time Friday.

TILL / UNTILL How long something is He is on vacation until

going to last Sunday.

BY Indicating the latest I will be done with work by

something will happen by 6 o’clock.

Up to a certain time By 7 pm, I had finished my

chores.