Prepositions

Contents of Presentation
What is Preposition? Classifications of Preposition. Types of Preposition. Rules of Preposition. Preposition in the context of Sentences. Preposition at the end of Sentences.

What is Preposition?
A preposition links nouns, pronouns an d phrases to other words in a sentence. It usually indicates the time, direction, place or logical relationship of its object to the rest of the sentence. In other words, it links all the other words together, so the reader can understand how the pieces of the sentence fit.

Examples:
She went to the store. [to is a preposition which shows direction] They will be here at three o clock. [at is a preposition which shows time] It is under the table. [under is a preposition which shows place]

Classification

Simple Preposition
One-word unit, such as above, along, by, of etc.

Complex Preposition
two-word units (a word + a simple preposition), such as apart from three-word units (a simple preposition + a noun + a simple preposition), such as by means of

List of Preposition [Nonexhaustive]

Simple Preposition

Complex Preposition

Above At Before Behind During For In Of On Over To Under With Upon

Along with Due to Except for In front of In light of Instead of On behalf of In view of Such as Together with Prior to On account of Owing to Because of

Types of Prepositions
Preposition

of Time Preposition of Place Preposition of Location Preposition of Movement

Preposition of Time
At, on, for and in often serve as prepositions of time. We use at to designate specific times.
Examples: Meet me at five o'clock. I work all day on Saturdays. He likes to read in the evening. He worked for twenty years.

Preposition of Place
At, on, and in can also serve as prepositions of place. We use at for specific addresses.
Examples I live at 12th Downing Street. I live on Legendary Lane. I live in Malir Cantt.

Preposition of Location
At, on, and in can be used as prepositions of location. Their usage is specific to certain places.
Examples at class, at home, at the library, at the office, at school, at work on the bed, on the ceiling, on the floor, on the horse, on the plane, on the train in the bed, in the bedroom, in the car, in the class, in the library, in the room, in the school

Preposition of Movement
The preposition to and towards is used to express movement to a place.
Examples I am driving to work. We were working toward a common goal.

Rules of Preposition
There are 2 major rules when it comes to the use of prepositions. 1) The first major rule deals with preposition choice. Certain prepositions must follow certain words, (especially in case of Idioms). For instance able to, capable of, pre-occupied with, prohibited from. 2) Secondly, prepositions must be followed by nouns, and cannot be followed by a verb. Yet, if we want to follow a preposition by a verb, we must use the "-ing" form i.e. gerund or verb in noun form, however prepositions can only go on the end of the sentence in certain situations.

Preposition in context of Sentences

Prepositions must always be followed by a noun or pronoun. That noun is called the object of the preposition. A verb can't be the object of a preposition, unless gerund or infinitive. For e.g

The bone was for the dog. The preposition for is followed by the noun "dog. The bone was for walked. The preposition for is followed by a verb "walked." Walked can't be the object of a preposition.

Preposition at the end of Sentences

Prepositions usually can't be used at the end of a sentence.
However, there are certain circumstances where it is acceptable to end a sentence with a preposition. These exceptions exist where the preposition is not extraneous. In other words, the preposition needs to be there, and if it wasn't, the meaning of the sentence would change.

An example where it is perfectly acceptable to use a preposition to end a sentence: "I turned the TV on."
(if we remove the word on from the end of the sentence, it would change the meaning)

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Importance of Preposition (Ironically)