PREPOSITION

A preposition links nouns, pronouns and phrases to other words in a sentence. The word or phrase that the preposition introduces is called the object of the preposition. A preposition usually indicates the temporal, spatial or logical relationship of its object to the rest of the sentence as in the following examples: The book is on the table. The book is beneath the table. The book is leaning against the table. The book is beside the table. She held the book over the table. She read the book during class. In each of the preceding sentences, a preposition locates the noun "book" in space or in time. A prepositional phrase is made up of the preposition, its object and any associated adjectives or adverbs. A prepositional phrase can function as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb. The most common prepositions are "about," "above," "across," "after," "against," "along," "among," "around," "at," "before," "behind," "below," "beneath," "beside," "between," "beyond," "but," "by," "despite," "down," "during," "except," "for," "from," "in," "inside," "into," "like," "near," "of," "off," "on," "onto," "out," "outside," "over," "past," "since," "through," "throughout," "till," "to," "toward," "under," "underneath," "until," "up," "upon," "with," "within," and "without." Why prepositions are important? Unfortunately, most of our early encounters with written form of communication is via Instant Messaging or SMS services. These modes of communication are essentially one to one form of online communication. These forms of online communications are primarily personal in nature. Official communication calls for proper channels of communication following the rules of grammar. To achieve proper grammar, one has to identify the basic parts of speech. Prepositions are one of the eight parts of speech. Each of the highlighted words in the following sentences is a preposition:

The children climbed the mountain without fear. In this sentence, the preposition "without" introduces the noun "fear." The prepositional phrase "without fear" functions as an adverb describing how the children climbed. There was rejoicing throughout the land when the government was defeated. Here, the preposition "throughout" introduces the noun phrase "the land." The prepositional phrase acts as an adverb describing the location of the rejoicing. The spider crawled slowly along the banister. The preposition "along" introduces the noun phrase "the banister" and the prepositional phrase "along the banister" acts as an adverb, describing where the spider crawled. The dog is hiding under the porch because it knows it will be punished for chewing up a new pair of shoes. Here the preposition "under" introduces the prepositional phrase "under the porch," which acts as an adverb modifying the compound verb "is hiding." The screenwriter searched for the manuscript he was certain was

somewhere in his office. Similarly in this sentence, the preposition "in" introduces a prepositional phrase "in his office," which acts as an adverb describing the location of the missing papers?

PREPOSITION OF DIRECTION
About (abut) around (arund) before (bifr) after (fter) during (diring) over (uver) for (for) throughout (zruut)

ABOUT /AROUND
The doctor will be here about three o'clock. They promised to be here about Friday. Mary should arrive around four o'clock.

BEFORE Mary left before dinner.

They will be here before the weekend. . The engineers will complete the project before March.

DURING
Trees blossom during the spring. Jimmy will be working during the morning.

The people yawned during the politician's speech.

OVER
This vaccine has been tested over the past ten years. We saw him several times over the weekend. Thousands of tourists will be coming over the holidays.

FOR
Jews celebrate Passover for seven or eight days. They intend to stay there for two weeks. Sales have increased for the past two months.

THROUGHOUT
Bill slept throughout the conference.

It was rainy throughout the summer.

 SINCE

Sales will increase throughout the next quarter.

Jack has lived in London since 1994. It has been raining since yesterday

TO UNTIL

The population has increased a lot since the last census.

It's only five minutes to six. How long is it to dinner? Its a quarter to three.

Why don't you stay until tomorrow? Can you work today till nine? The letter will not be sent until Friday.

PAST BETWEEN /AND He sleeps between five and six hours per day. The letter should arrive between Tuesday and Friday. This bank is open between one and give in the afternoon. It's five past nine now. We didn't eat till past midnight. It was past midnight when they arrived.

WITHIN They have to build the house within a month. I'll be back within three weeks. The show will start within an hour.

FROM...TO/TILL/UNTIL FROM / AS OF BY BEYOND The workers should not work beyond five o'clock. I don't think they will stay beyond Friday. Applications will not be accepted beyond the deadline. They will be here by five o'clock PM. The letter will be delivered by Friday. Try to be there by Thursday. They will be living here as from Saturday. As of Monday, I will follow a new diet. As from July, the store will be open till ten. We lived in Colombia from 1987 till 1998. She stayed from Monday until Friday. She works from nine to five every day.

ON AT Bill gets up at 7 o'clock every morning. Everybody in the company has lunch at noon. I left work at ten o'clock last night. Everybody here goes to church on Sundays. The trial will be held on Tuesday morning. Bill celebrates his birthday on the 7th of July.

IN That monument was built in May / in 1893. I study in the morning / afternoon / evening. I will see you in two weeks.