PREPOSITIONS AND IT’S TYPES

Preposition

● A preposition is a word or group of words

used before a noun, pronoun, or noun
phrase to show direction, time, place,
location, spatial relationships, or to
introduce an object.
● Some examples of prepositions are words
like in, at, on, of, and to etc.
 Difference between Preposition and Adverb

● Certain words are used both as a prepositions and adverbs.

The difference between them depends on their position and
function in a sentence.
● For example
He goes into the office.
In this sentence into acts as a preposition because it is followed
by a noun and tell us about the position of the pronoun with
respect to the noun.
He goes in.
In this example in acts as an adverb of place as it is not followed
by any noun.
 Rules of Prepositions
● In most of the cases a preposition is followed by a noun, pronoun, gerund, a phrase or a
clause.
● For example
• The cat ran under the car.
In this sentence under is a preposition followed by a noun.
• Ali sits beside me in the class.
Beside is a preposition followed by a pronoun.
• He told the joke without laughing.
Without is a preposition followed by a gerund.
• We drove the car to lush green fields.
Here to is a preposition followed by a phrase.
• The book is about where dinosaurs laid their eggs.
About is a preposition followed by a clause.
 Preposition “to”
● The word “to” can be used as a preposition as well as
to form infinitives( to+ 1st form verb).
● For example
• He locked the door to keep everyone out.
In this example to keep is an infinitive and there the word
to is not used as preposition.
• Bashir gave 1000 rupees to Salman and me to go to the
store.
In this example the first and last underlined word to is a
preposition as they are followed by nouns, whereas, the
highlighted to is used to make an infinitive as it is
followed by 1st form of verb.
 Types of Prepositions

● There are five different types of prepositions:

• Simple prepositions
• Double prepositions
• Compound prepositions
• Participle prepositions
• Phrase prepositions
 Simple Prepositions

● Simple prepositions are words

like at, for, in, off, on, over, and under. These common
prepositions can be used to describe a location, time or
place.
● Some examples of common prepositions used in
sentences are:
• He sat on the chair.
• There is some milk in the fridge.
• She was hiding under the table.
• The cat jumped off the counter.
• He drove over the bridge.
 Double Prepositions

● Double prepositions are two simple prepositions used

together, often indicating direction. Some examples
are into, upon, onto, out of.
• Once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess.
• The baby climbed onto the table.
• It is up to us to find the answer.
• She never leaves without her phone.
• The bird sat atop the oak tree.
 Compound Prepositions

● Compound prepositions (or complex prepositions)

consist of two or more words, usually a simple
preposition and another word, to convey location.
Some examples are in addition to, on behalf of, and in
the middle of.
• I attended the meeting on behalf of my company.
• We were in the middle of the storm.
• He has gym class in addition to his regular classes
today.
 Participle Prepositions

● Participle prepositions have endings such as -ed and -

ing. Examples are words such
as considering, during, concerning, provided.
• She is interested in anything concerning horses.
• He works one job during the day and another at night.
• The dog kept following him home.
• All the neighbors were there including the new one.
• The principal was asking questions regarding her
behavior.
• Considering his age, he did a great job.
 Phrase Prepositions

● Phrase prepositions (or prepositional phrase) include a

preposition, an object, and the object's modifier.
Examples include phrases like on time, at home, before
class, and on the floor.
• I will get to the conference on time.
• The baseball game was canceled after the heavy rain.
• John found his homework under the bed.
• The children loved the gifts from their grandparents.
• He succeeded with a little help.
• We met to discuss the project before class.