01.07.

2017 Prepos t ons: Locators n T me and Place

P : Select from the follow ng

L
T P

A prepos t on descr bes a relat onsh p between other words n a sentence. In tself, a word
l ke " n" or "after" s rather mean ngless and hard to def ne n mere words. For nstance, when
you do try to def ne a prepos t on l ke " n" or "between" or "on," you nvar ably use your hands
to show how someth ng s s tuated n relat onsh p to someth ng else. Prepos t ons are nearly
always comb ned w th other words n structures called prepos t onal phrases. Prepos t onal
phrases can be made up of a m ll on d fferent words, but they tend to be bu lt the same: a
prepos t on followed by a determ ner and an adject ve or two, followed by a pronoun or noun
(called the object of the prepos t on). Th s whole phrase, n turn, takes on a mod fy ng role,
act ng as an adject ve or an adverb, locat ng someth ng n t me and space, mod fy ng a noun,
or tell ng when or where or under what cond t ons someth ng happened.

Cons der the professor's desk and all the prepos t onal phrases we can use wh le talk ng
about t.

You can s t before the desk (or n front of the desk). The professor can s t
on the desk (when he's be ng nformal) or beh nd the desk, and then h s feet
are under the desk or beneath the desk. He can stand bes de the desk
(mean ng next to the desk), before the desk, between the desk and you, or
even on the desk ( f he's really strange). If he's clumsy, he can bump nto the
desk or try to walk through the desk (and stuff would fall off the desk).
Pass ng h s hands over the desk or rest ng h s elbows upon the desk, he
often looks across the desk and speaks of the desk or concern ng the desk
as f there were noth ng else l ke the desk. Because he th nks of noth ng
except the desk, somet mes you wonder about the desk, what's n the desk,
what he pa d for the desk, and f he could l ve w thout the desk. You can
walk toward the desk, to the desk, around the desk, by the desk, and even
past the desk wh le he s ts at the desk or leans aga nst the desk.

All of th s happens, of course, n t me: dur ng the class, before the class,
unt l the class, throughout the class, after the class, etc. And the professor
can s t there n a bad mood [another adverb al construct on].

Those words n bold blue font are all prepos t ons. Some prepos t ons do other th ngs bes des
locate n space or t me "My brother s l ke my father." "Everyone n the class except me got
the answer." but nearly all of them mod fy n one way or another. It s poss ble for a
prepos t on phrase to act as a noun "Dur ng a church serv ce s not a good t me to d scuss
p cn c plans" or "In the South Pac f c s where I long to be" but th s s seldom appropr ate n
formal or academ c wr t ng.

Cl ck HERE for a l st of common prepos t ons that w ll be easy to pr nt out.

You may have learned that end ng a sentence

w th a prepos t on s a ser ous breach of
grammat cal et quette. It doesn't take a grammar an
to spot a sentence-end ng prepos t on, so th s s an
easy rule to get caught up on (!). Although t s
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01.07.2017 Prepos t ons: Locators n T me and Place

often easy to remedy the offend ng prepos t on,

somet mes t sn't, and repa r efforts somet mes
result n a clumsy sentence. "Ind cate the book you
are quot ng from" s not greatly mproved w th
"Ind cate from wh ch book you are quot ng."

Based on shaky h stor cal precedent, the rule tself

s a latecomer to the rules of wr t ng. Those who
d sl ke the rule are fond of recall ng Church ll's
rejo nder: "That s nonsense up w th wh ch I shall
not put." We should also remember the ch ld's
compla nt: "What d d you br ng that book that I don't
l ke to be read to out of up for?"

Is t any wonder that prepos t ons create such troubles for students for whom Engl sh s a
second language? We say we are at the hosp tal to v s t a fr end who s n the hosp tal. We l e
n bed but on the couch. We watch a f lm at the theater but on telev s on. For nat ve speakers,
these l ttle words present l ttle d ff culty, but try to learn another language, any other language,
and you w ll qu ckly d scover that prepos t ons are troublesome wherever you l ve and learn.
Th s page conta ns some nterest ng (somet mes troublesome) prepos t ons w th br ef usage
notes. To address all the potent al d ff cult es w th prepos t ons n d omat c usage would
requ re volumes, and the only way Engl sh language learners can beg n to master the
ntr cac es of prepos t on usage s through pract ce and pay ng close attent on to speech and the
wr tten word. Keep ng a good d ct onary close at hand (to hand?) s an mportant f rst step.

Prepos t ons of T me: at, on, and n

We use at to des gnate spec f c t mes.
The tra n s due at 12:15 p.m.

We use on to des gnate days and dates.

My brother s com ng on Monday.
We're hav ng a party on the Fourth of July.

We use n for nonspec f c t mes dur ng a day, a month, a season, or a year.

She l kes to jog n the morn ng.
It's too cold n w nter to run outs de.
He started the job n 1971.
He's go ng to qu t n August.

Prepos t ons of Place: at, on, and n

We use at for spec f c addresses.
Grammar Engl sh l ves at 55 Boretz Road n Durham.

We use on to des gnate names of streets, avenues, etc.

Her house s on Boretz Road.

And we use n for the names of land-areas (towns, count es, states, countr es, and cont nents).
She l ves n Durham.
Durham s n W ndham County.
W ndham County s n Connect cut.

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01.07.2017 Prepos t ons: Locators n T me and Place

Prepos t ons of Locat on: n, at, and on

and No Prepos t on
IN AT ON NO
(the) bed* class* the bed* PREPOSITION
the bedroom home the ce l ng downsta rs
the car the l brary* the floor downtown
(the) class* the off ce the horse ns de
the l brary* school* the plane outs de
school* work the tra n upsta rs
uptown
* You may somet mes use d fferent prepos t ons for these locat ons.

Prepos t ons of Movement: to

and No Prepos t on
We use to n order to express movement toward a place.
They were dr v ng to work together.
She's go ng to the dent st's off ce th s morn ng.

Toward and towards are also helpful prepos t ons to express movement. These are s mply
var ant spell ngs of the same word; use wh chever sounds better to you.
We're mov ng toward the l ght.
Th s s a b g step towards the project's complet on.

W th the words home, downtown, uptown, ns de, outs de, downsta rs, upsta rs, we use no
prepos t on.
Grandma went upsta rs
Grandpa went home.
They both went outs de.

Prepos t ons of T me: for and s nce

We use for when we measure t me (seconds, m nutes, hours, days, months, years).
He held h s breath for seven m nutes.
She's l ved there for seven years.
The Br t sh and Ir sh have been quarrel ng for seven centur es.

We use s nce w th a spec f c date or t me.

He's worked here s nce 1970.
She's been s tt ng n the wa t ng room s nce two-th rty.

Prepos t ons w th Nouns, Adject ves, and Verbs.

Prepos t ons are somet mes so f rmly wedded to other words that they have pract cally
become one word. (In fact, n other languages, such as German, they would have become one
word.) Th s occurs n three categor es: nouns, adject ves, and verbs.

NOUNS and PREPOSITIONS

approval of fondness for need for
awareness of grasp of part c pat on n
bel ef n hatred of reason for
concern for hope for respect for
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01.07.2017 Prepos t ons: Locators n T me and Place

confus on about nterest n success n

des re for love of understand ng of

ADJECTIVES and PREPOSITIONS

afra d of fond of proud of
angry at happy about s m lar to
aware of nterested n sorry for
capable of jealous of sure of
careless about made of t red of
fam l ar w th marr ed to worr ed about

VERBS and PREPOSITIONS

apolog ze for g ve up prepare for
ask about grow up study for
ask for look for talk about
belong to look forward to th nk about
br ng up look up trust n
care for make up work for
f nd out pay for worry about

A comb nat on of verb and prepos t on s called a phrasal verb. The word that s jo ned
to the verb s then called a part cle. Please refer to the br ef sect on we have prepared on
phrasal verbs for an explanat on.

Id omat c Express ons w th Prepos t ons

agree to a proposal, w th a person, on a pr ce, n pr nc ple
argue about a matter, w th a person, for or aga nst a propos t on
compare to to show l kenesses, w th to show d fferences (somet mes s m lar t es)
correspond to a th ng, w th a person
d ffer from an unl ke th ng, w th a person
l ve at an address, n a house or c ty, on a street, w th other people

Unnecessary Prepos t ons

In everyday speech, we fall nto some bad hab ts, us ng prepos t ons where they are not
necessary. It would be a good dea to el m nate these words altogether, but we must be
espec ally careful not to use them n formal, academ c prose.

She met up w th the new coach n the hallway.

The book fell off of the desk.
He threw the book out of the w ndow.
She wouldn't let the cat ns de of the house. [or use " n"]
Where d d they go to?
Put the lamp n back of the couch. [use "beh nd" nstead]
Where s your college at?

Prepos t ons n Parallel Form

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01.07.2017 Prepos t ons: Locators n T me and Place

(Cl ck HERE for a def n t on and d scuss on of parallel sm.) When two words or phrases
are used n parallel and requ re the same prepos t on to be d omat cally correct, the prepos t on
does not have to be used tw ce.
You can wear that outf t n summer and n w nter.
The female was both attracted by and d stracted by the male's dance.

However, when the d omat c use of phrases calls for d fferent prepos t ons, we must be careful
not to om t one of them.
The ch ldren were nterested n and d sgusted by the mov e.
It was clear that th s player could both contr bute to and learn from every game he played.
He was fasc nated by and enamored of th s begu l ng woman.

Recogn z ng Prepos t ons

Qu z on Prepos t ons

Prepos t ons at the Crossword

Prepos t ons at the Crossword II

Prepos t ons at the Crossword III

Gu de to Grammar Pr nc ples of Index

and Wr t ng Compos t on
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01.07.2017 Prepos t ons: Locators n T me and Place

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