Definition: Prepositions are a class of words that indicate relationships between nouns, pronouns and other words in a sentence.

Most often they come before a noun. They never change their form, regardless of the case, gender etc. of the word they are referring to.

Some 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 without.

Prepositions typically come before a noun: For example:

after class at home before Tuesday in London on fire with pleasure

A preposition usually indicates the temporal, spatial or logical relationship of its object to the rest of the sentence. For example:

The book is on the table.

The book is beside 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. Prepositions are classified as simple or compound. Simple prepositions Simple prepositions are single word prepositions. These are all showed above. For example:

The book is on the table.

Compound prepositions Compound prepositions are more than one word. in between and because of are prepositions made up of two words - in front of, on behalf of are prepositions made up of three words. For example:

The book is in between War and Peace and The Lord of the Rings. The book is in front of the clock.

Examples:

The children climbed the mountain without fear. There was rejoicing throughout the land when the government was defeated. The spider crawled slowly along the banister.

The following table contains rules for some of the most frequently used prepositions in English: Prepositions of Time: English

Usage

Example

on in

days of the week months / seasons time of day year after a certain period of time (when?)

on Monday in August / in winter in the morning in 2006 in an hour

at

for night for weekend a certain point of time (when?) from a certain point of time (past till now)

at night at the weekend at half past nine since 1980

since

for

over a certain period of time

for 2 years

(past till now)

ago before

a certain time in the past earlier than a certain point of time

2 years ago before 2004

to past to / till / until

telling the time telling the time marking the beginning and end of a period of time

ten to six (5:50) ten past six (6:10) from Monday to/till Friday

till / until

in the sense of how long something is going to last

He is on holiday until Friday.

by

in the sense of at the latest up to a certain time

I will be back by 6 oclock.

By 11 o'clock, I had read five pages.

Prepositions of Place: English

Usage

Example

in

room, building, street, town, country

in the kitchen, in London in the book in the car, in a taxi in the picture, in the world

book, paper etc. car, taxi picture, world meaning next to, by an object for table for events place where you are to do something typical (watch a film, study, work)

at

at the door, at the station at the table at a concert, at the party at the cinema, at school, at work

on

attached for a place with a river being on a surface for a certain side (left, right) for a floor in a house for public transport

the picture on the wall London lies on the Thames. on the table on the left on the first floor on the bus, on a plane

for television, radio left or right of somebody or something

on TV, on the radio Jane is standing by / next to / beside the car.

by, next to, beside

under

on the ground, lower than (or covered by) something else

the bag is under the table

below

lower than something else but above ground

the fish are below the surface

over

covered by something else meaning more than getting to the other side (also across)

put a jacket over your shirt over 16 years of age walk over the bridge climb over the wall

overcoming an obstacle higher than something else, but not directly over it

above

a path above the lake

across

getting to the other side (also over)

walk across the bridge swim across the lake

getting to the other side something with limits on top, bottom and the sides

through

drive through the tunnel

to

movement to person or building

go to the cinema go to London / Ireland go to bed

movement to a place or country

for bed enter a room / a building movement in the direction of something (but not directly to it)

into towards

go into the kitchen / the house go 5 steps towards the house

onto

movement to the top of something

jump onto the table

from

in the sense of where from

a flower from the garden

Noun

Definition: A noun is a word used to refer to people, animals, objects, substances, states, events and feelings. Nouns can be a subject or an object of a verb, can be modified by an adjective and can take an article or determiner. For example:

Table Pencil The dog A white house

Nouns also denote abstract and intangible concepts. For example:

birth happiness evolution technology, etc.

Noun Plurals We are going to explain some rules that will help you to form the plural forms of the nouns. The general rule is to add "-s" to the noun in singular. For exaample:

Book - Books House - Houses Chair - Chairs

When the singular noun ends in: -sh, -ch, -s, -ss, -x, -o we form their plural form by adding "-es". For exaample:

sandwich - sandwiches brush - brushes bus - buses box - boxes potato - potatoes

When the singular noun ends in "y", we change the "y" for "i" and then add "-es" to form the plural form. But do not change the "y" for "ies" to form the plural when the singular noun ends in "y" preceded by a vowel. For exaample:

nappy - nappies day - days toy - toys

However, there are many Irregular Nouns which do not form the plural in this way: For exaample:

Woman - Women Child - Children Sheep - Sheep

Nouns may take an " 's " ("apostrophe s") or "Genitive marker" to indicate possession. If the noun already has an -s ending to mark the plural, then the genitive marker appears only as an apostrophe after the plural form. For example:

my girlfriend's brother John's house The Browns' house The boys' pens

The genitive marker should not be confused with the " 's " form of contracted verbs, as in John's a good student = John is a good student. Noun Gender Many common nouns, like "engineer" or "teacher", can refer to men or women. Once, many English nouns would change form depending on their gender. For example: A man was called an "author" while a woman was called an "authoress". For example:

David Garrick was a very prominent eighteenth-century actor. Sarah Siddons was at the height of her career as an actress in the 1780s. The manager was trying to write a want ad, but he couldn't decide whether he was advertising for a "waiter" or a "waitress"

Types of Nouns

Proper nouns are the names of specific things, people, or places, such as Jhon, France. They usually begin with a capital letter.

Common nouns are general names such as person, mansion, and book. They can be either concrete or abstract.

Concrete nouns refer to things which you can sense such as clock and telephone. Abstract nouns refer to ideas or qualities such as liberty and truth. Countable nouns refer to things which can be counted (can be singular or plural) Uncountable nouns refer to some groups of countable nouns, substances, feelings and types of activity (can only be singular)

PRONOUN
Definition: A pronoun usually refers to something already mentioned in a sentence or piece of text. A pronoun is a word that substitutes a noun or noun phrase used to prevent repetition of the noun to which they refer. One of the most common pronouns is it. Rule for Pronouns A pronoun must agree with the noun it refer. Therefore, if the noun is singular, therefore the pronoun must be singular; if the noun is plural, use a plural pronoun; if the noun is feminine, use a feminine pronoun, and so on. For example:

The train was late, it had been delayed. The trains were late, they had been delayed.

Types of pronouns English Pronouns are divided into sub-categories. These are Demonstrative, Personal, Reflexive, Possessive, Interrogative, Negative, Reciprocal, Relative and Quantifier Type Personal Pronoun Reflexive Pronoun About Takes the place of a specific or named person or thing. Adds information by pointing back to a noun or another pronoun. Demonstrative Pronoun Relative pronoun Begins a subordinate clause and relates the clause to a word in the main clause. Interrogative Pronoun Possessive Pronoun Used to substitute a noun and to show possession or ownership. Negative Pronoun nothing, no, nobody, etc.. Reciprocal pronoun Express an interchangeable or mutual action or relationship. Quantifier some, any, something, much, etc. each other, one another mine, yours, his, etc.. Is used to ask a question. who, whose, which, that, etc.. who, what, where, etc.. Points out a specific person, place, or thing. this, that, these, those Example I, you, he, she, etc.. Myself, yourself, etc..