English Plus Topic: PREPOSITIONS OF TIME, PLACE, DIRECTION and AGENT What is a preposition? A preposition assists to create a relation of a noun or pronoun with another noun, adjective or verb in a sentence. Prepositions are words that help link either the noun or the pronoun with another word in the sentence in order to describe their relationship. They help to understand the connection between the two words. What are the kinds of prepositions? The kinds of prepositions are as follows: I. A preposition of time is a preposition that permits you to discuss or converse a specific time period such as a date on the calendar, one of the days of the week, or the actual time a certain thing takes place. Prepositions of time are the same words as prepositions of place, however they are used in a different way. You can easily make a distinction of these prepositions, as they always talk over times rather than places. Prepositions of time here's a list of the time words that need ‘on’, ‘in’, ‘at’ and some that don't need any preposition. in the next century in the Ice Age in the summer in 1987eee . On - This Preposition of time is used to discuss certain days of the week or Fone SOF ays of the week, specific dates, and special days’ such ae "co Ne, Year's Day.” OR We © use for + a period of time expressing duration for seven years - for three hours - for a week €x/ I’ve lived in this house for eight years. They have been watching TV for four hours. /UNTIL/ TILL We use until{till to say how long a situation continues &- Let's wait unti it stops snowing. 1 stayed in bed until half past nine. 7 DURING We use during + noun to say when something happens x, during the big screen - during our holiday - during the night We met a lot of interesting people during our vacation. T fell asleep during the picture. INCE We use since + a starting point, a specific time &- since April - since 1987 - since 7 0! clock It has been raining since ten o' clock. They've known each other since they were at school. JanoM -TO We use from - to + beginning and end of a period Last evening we watched TV from 4 to 7 o' clock. |O PREPOSITION ° next week, year, month etc. ° fast night, year etc. ° this:morning, month oe every day, night, years etc. 2 today, tomorrow, yesterday *Note that in some varieties of English people say "on the weekend" and "on Ohristmas". ieNS" call You, this evening, (not in this evening} eposition which is u: 1. There re to discuss an almost infinite number of plac ‘ue ed to-show. the position or location of one thing v question (Where. itions of Place th another. It answers the 2s Of place allow you to be very © in stories ise when talking about where an action ‘kes pk er when discussing important details for communication Purposes. 5 At=A preposition of place which is used to discuss a certain location/ point &% - 5 In~A preposition of place which is used to discuss an fenced / enclosed space * ON A preposition of time which is used to discuss a surfa Examples: at Point in Enclosed Space’ on surface at the corner inthe garden ona ship at the top of the page in my wallet on the floor at the crossroads in London on the carpet at the end of theroad ina car on the menu at home ina boat ona page at the entrance in the newspaper on an elephant. Below we have some jfiore examples of Prepositions of Place In front of + Aband plays their music in front of an audience. * The man standing in the line in front of me smells good. Behind Behind is the opposite of In front of, It means at the back (part) of something. . Who is that person behind the mask? i . T slowly down because there was a Police car behind me. Between i Between normally refers to something in the middle of two objects or things (or laces), Fr fe number 5 is between the number 4 and 6. . ‘There is a sea between England and France. = site i ee oe mean the same thing. It usually refers to something being in front of something else BUT there is normally something between them like a street or table. It is similar to saying that someone (or @ place) is on the other side of something. . live agross from a supermarket (= itis on the other side of the road) ° The chess players sat opposite each other before they began their game.(= They are in front of each other and there is a table between them) ree ee Beside mean the same thing. ‘At usually refers to a thing (or person) that is at the side of another thing. ea Page 3 of 8 Atty, Erick Surposa Cabuslay oJown the street Iked beside me a W footpath beside the road so you have to be the same thing, It is similar to next to / beside but there is en the two thing t nist is near the front door dur house is close to a supermarket On means that something is in a position that is physically touching, covering or ething he clock on the wall is slow. told not to walk on the grass. Above / Over Above and Over have a similar meaning. They both mean "at a higher position than X" but above normally refers to being directly (vertically) above you. ines normally fly above the clouds. + Our neighbours in the apartment above us are rally noisy. Over can also mean: physically covering the surface of something and is often used with the word All as in All over. + There water all over the floor. + accidentally spilled red wine all over the new carpet. Over is often used as a Preposition of Movement too. Under / Below Under and Below have a similar meaning. They mean at a lower level. (Something is above it). + Your legs are under the table. Miners work below the surface of the Earth. n of direction tells where to go or where to put something. Some towards and through are used to describe the to where or in which direction something III, A preposi examples are to, on, onto, in, into, direction. Prepositions of direction show us moves. The basic preposition of a direction is "to." “To” indicates orientation toward a goal. When the goal is real, such as a destination, involves movement in the order of the goal. When the goal is not a physical place, for instance, an action, “to” marks a verb; it is dedicated as a participle and states purpose. The preposition may happen alone or in the phrase in order. Propostbie ‘also occur together in a single sentencprWe flew from elder brother. The two uses can Weetermines the meaning of the preposition of direction, enttoward a surface Nt toward the interior of a acity directional esition toward, and the two mean about the same oy 2 directional meaning and can be used along with “onto” and "into. Per went into the litter car 'e Paper is in the garbage can. hale washed up onto the seashore, : the whale is on the shore Tn other cases, "to" is used as an ordinary Preposition. Verbs of communication: dsten, speak (but not tell), relate, appeal (in the sense of Plead, ' not ‘be attrac tive’) Xo Verbs of movement: move, transfer, go, \ Note that ‘up to" is often used to express movement to a person. The preposition ‘to’ is somenyies used to indicate a spect position, especially if a person or object is facing { something. The preposition towards indicates movement in a Particular direction. dtive/ run/ swim/ walk/ride/ fly, travel “Through” usually suggests movement across an entire space, from one side of something to another. The preposition "into” refers to movement from the outside to the inside of a three dimensional space. X Preposition of Direction Definition The most common prepositions used when expressing movement toward something are 10, On (to), In (to). To, into, and onto relate to the prepositions of location at, in, and on. The core function of the preposition in is as an indicator of the position of something in relation to the three-dimensional space that surrounds it. However, can also be used to express movement towards the inside of a container, place or area. Uses of "Onto’ "Onto" can generally be replaced by "on" with verbs of motion. Some verbs of motion express the idea that the subject causes itself or some physical object to be located in a certain place Exe i ae The plane landed of the runway. (not “onto” the runway) Maria hung the decoration ofthe Christmas tree. (not "onto" the tree) 5 Joanna spilled her Coke of the rug. (not "onto" the rug) ° Sammy moved the chair on(to) the deck. gets ° The farmer scattered seed on(to) the fertile ground. ° We're adding 9p.a wing at the back of the building. ° We're adding a porch onto the house.Jown the street Iked beside me a W footpath beside the road so you have to be the same thing, It is similar to next to / beside but there is en the two thing t nist is near the front door dur house is close to a supermarket On means that something is in a position that is physically touching, covering or ething he clock on the wall is slow. told not to walk on the grass. Above / Over Above and Over have a similar meaning. They both mean "at a higher position than X" but above normally refers to being directly (vertically) above you. ines normally fly above the clouds. + Our neighbours in the apartment above us are rally noisy. Over can also mean: physically covering the surface of something and is often used with the word All as in All over. + There water all over the floor. + accidentally spilled red wine all over the new carpet. Over is often used as a Preposition of Movement too. Under / Below Under and Below have a similar meaning. They mean at a lower level. (Something is above it). + Your legs are under the table. Miners work below the surface of the Earth. n of direction tells where to go or where to put something. Some towards and through are used to describe the to where or in which direction something III, A preposi examples are to, on, onto, in, into, direction. Prepositions of direction show us moves. The basic preposition of a direction is "to." “To” indicates orientation toward a goal. When the goal is real, such as a destination, involves movement in the order of the goal. When the goal is not a physical place, for instance, an action, “to” marks a verb; it is dedicated as a participle and states purpose. The preposition may happen alone or in the phrase in order. Propostbie ‘also occur together in a single sentencprWe flew from elder brother. The two uses can WeTil be home in a minute. Tl be home in a few jours. logical to be on a bus or a train or a plane, yet that’s the way we say it 4 are on the plane, i.e. inside the plane, there is also a logo on the plane, and plane, though they‘re not inside with you. To/towards The asition t " tion to indicates movement with the aim of a specific destination, which can 2 or an event We went to London last week He came up to me and asked me what the time was. She was carrying a suitcase and walking towards him. He kicked the balll towards the goal. Through and into The preposition through refers to movement within a space which can be thought of as three-dimensional He put the money in / into his pocket. Water runs through pipes to your house. She swerved and crashed into the fence Across, over and along The prepositions across and over are used to talk about movement from one side of a place to another. They usually refer to movement in relation to places which can be thought of as two-dimensional, such as surfaces (e.g: a lawn) or lines (e.g: a river), for example: The thief climbed over the fence. Til jump over the wall and open the gate. There was a mirror above/over the sink. ° 1 followed Mr Jackson along the corridor. Across is sometimes used to express position in relation to something which stretches from one side of a place to another. Across, like over, is also used to show when. something is positioned on the opposite side of a place in relation to the speaker. The preposition along is used to show movement following a line. It is also sometimes used to show a specific position in relation to a line, or to show when a group of things are positioned in a line next to something. XPrepositions of place and direction Preposition Use above higher than something (The } ae ea eee cs - z aes pen ‘one side to the othe ou mustn't go this ‘ \ ‘ { | ee ca Re aie { _ After you. after “one follows the [paleattran alter the Atty, Erick Surposa Cabuslay. ie Page7 of 8J from one Point to Tt They're walking along the beach. another; ina line : ina grou I like being among birds { ‘ He lives in the house by the river. at the back of Our house is behind the church. lower than Death Valley is 86 metres below sea level. tween IS on ench side Our house is between the forest and =e the school uh Our house is beside the church. near Our house is close to the mall. from high to low He came down the hill. the place where it starts Do you come from Japan? Witton ore eee eae Our house is in front of the mall into entering You shouldn't go into the castle. inside Opposite of outside You shouldn't stay inside the dorm. next to beside Our house is next to the temple. near close to Our house is near the temple. onto moving to a place The cat jumped onto the roof. out of leaving The cat jumped out of the window. off away from The cat jumped off the roof. opposite —_on the other side Our house is opposite the bakery. over above The cat jumped over the wall. outside opposite of inside Can you wait outside? past going near Go past the bank. round ina circle We're sitting round the campfire. through Bog TO one Point fo the You shouldn't walk through the forest. towards in the direction of We ran towards the play store, to towards Can you come to me? to towards I like going to Dubai. up from low to high He went up the hill. under below The cat is under the table. 'V. Preposition for agent is used for a thing which is a cause of another thing in the sentence. An "Agent Phrase" indicates someone or something that does an action on the subject of the sentence wherein the action is always a passive verb. Different prepositions are used by different devices, instruments or machines. These prepositions are applied to indicate that an action conducted on a noun is caused by another noun, when used in a sentence. The agent prepositions are “by” and “with”. Examples: This book is written by Shakespeare, The room was decorated by Jack. The tub is filled with water. Atty. Erick Surposa Cabuslay