Prepositions

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Prepositions
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What are prepositions?

• What do they look like?
• Short words (e.g. at, for, in, to)
• Longer words and short phrases (e.g. despite,
  except, according to, out of, in terms of, in the
  event of)
• Participles (e.g. assuming, concerning, given,
  granted, regarding)
• Given your schedule, I think you should book
  decent hotel rooms.
• I wrote to you last week concerning your offer
• We cant recognize prepositions just from the
  form of the words.

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• Where do they come in sentences?
• General Use
• Immediately before a noun or ing form (e.g. to
  work, of cooking)
• At the beginning of a phrase including a noun
  (e.g. at the cinema). ? occur in various sentence
  positions
• Immediately after a verb (e.g. arrive at),
  adjective (e.g. fond of) or noun (e.g. interest
  in).
• PrepV-ing (e.g. Im afraid of crying).

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• In Other Positions
• At the end of clauses

Questions with what, who or which What are you staring at? Who do you live with? Which one is it like?
Passive constructions Every possible surface had been drawn on.
Relative clauses I dont know who you were playing with.
Infinitive clauses Its a funny thing to ask about.
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• Direct questions prepa question word. (formal
  and old-fationed)
• With whom did she come?
• At what time did she leave?
• ? Who did she come with?
• Preprelative pronoun. (formal context)
• A company with whom we have successfully been
  conducting business.
• The master under whose guidance he had been
  studying.

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What do they do?

• Place and Time
• Prepositions which have concrete meanings
  that we can show or demonstrate. ? Define place,
  position or movement, e.g. between the columns,
  towards the door.
• Many of these prepositions can also refer to
  time.
• Place at the bus stop, in the room
• Time at 1000, in March

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• Prepositions which can refer to both place and
  time generally have a similar meaning in both
  cases.
• In expressions which refer to the future, in can
  mean later than now, e.g. in six months, in a
  few minutes.
• Other prepositions (e.g. after, before, by,
  during, since, till, until) can refer to time,
  but not usually place, e.g. after Saturday,
  during the week.

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• Logical Relationships
• Cause and effect (e.g. because of, due to, owing
  to, as a result of)
• I left as a result of his speech.
• Contrast (e.g. despite, in spite of)
• You slept despite the noise.
• Exemplification (e.g. like, such as)
• Go somewhere like Crete or Corfu.
• Exception (e.g. apart from, except)
• Ask anyone apart from me.

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• Multiple meanings
• A number of prepositions have several
  meanings. These are not necessarily closely
  related.
• They went for a walk by the canal. (i.e.
  near/along) It has to be ready by the weekend.
  (i.e. on or before)
• She made it with eggs and cheese. (i.e. using)
  She went there with her mother. (i.e. accompanied
  by)

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• Dependent prepositions
• Adjectives afraid of, crazy about
• Nouns process of, difficulty in
• Verbs combine with, listen to, accuse sb of,
  protect sb from
• Follow with to look forward (be/get) used
  object (be) committed consent

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• Idiomatic preposition phrases
• Prepositions in fixed, idiomatic expressions
  containing a noun.
• The noun may be sing., pl. or uncountable.
• May or may not be separated from the preposition
  by a/an, the, some or an adjective (often good or
  bad).
• at times on good
  terms
• Beneath contempt out of use
• For the time being to some extent
• In (good) time under offer

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Variation

• Choice
• Sometimes choose between two prepositions without
  making any difference to the meaning.
• Come and see me in/during the week.
• I got covered with/in paint.
• Style
• Some prepositions are used primarily in a formal
  and generally professional or academic context,
  e.g. notwithstanding.
• Till spoken form
• Until written form

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• Geographical, social and individual variation
• U.S.A. throughtill/until (through Friday)
• Than is used after different (different than)
• No preposition before days of the week (Ill see
  you Monday)
• Australia on? normal preposition to use before
  the weekend (Lets meet on the weekend)
• Variant
  Standard
• Different to different
  from
• Speak with speak to
• Similar with similar
  to
• Obvious of obvious to
  
• Intimidated with intimidated
  by

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Word Class

• Some words can function both as prepositions and
  as adverbs.

Prepositions Adverbs
They ran along the stream. They passed it along
He ran past the house. He ran past.
A few words can function both as prepositions and
as conjunctions.
Prepositions Conjunctions
They went out despite the rain. They went out although it was raining.
They stayed in because of the foul weather. They stayed in because the weather was so foul.
Several prepositions have conjunction
equivalents, e.g. despite/although because
of/because during/while.
Prepositions Conjunctions
They phoned after/before dinner. They phoned after/before they got home.
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Exercise

• Class __________ Name___________
  NO.____________
• 1. He was a horrible man I couldnt see any good
  ____him.
• ? of ? in ? either could be used here
• 2. I left it____ the classroom.
• ? in ? at
• 3. The children were____ the playground.
• ? in ? at
• 4. I saw her ____Christmas.
• ? in ? on ? at
• 5. I saw her ____Christmas day.
• ? in ? on ? at

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• 6. Shell be away ____next week.
• ? since ? at ? until
• 7. He was tried ____murder and found guilty.
• ? for ? to
• 8. He complained ____chest pains and went to
  hospital.
• ? about ? of
• 9. The bridge goes ____the river.
• ? above ?over ?Either could be used here.
• 10. We waited for nearly an hour and ____the end
  we went without her.
• ? at ?in ?on
• 11. Shell be here at five, ____ which time I
  expect you to have finished the work.
• ? by ?until

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• 12. Hes jealous____ her success.
• ? with ?by ?of ?for
• 13. The decrease____ demand has caused a huge
  drop in their profits.
• ? on ?in ?of
• 14. The storm did a lot of damage ____ the roof.
• ? at ?of ?to
• 15. Green pepper is rich____ vitamin C.
• ? of ?in ?from
• 16. Act
• ? to ?by ?on
• 17. Side
• ? with ?into ?onto

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