Prepositions

Preposition is a word or group
of words that express a
relationship between a noun or
a pronoun and another word in
a sentence, and we use them
to show places, position, time
or movement.

There are about 150 prepositions
in English.
The prepositions of, to and in are
among the ten most frequent
words in English.

•At refers to a place where
someone/something is:
Tom’s at the door
My sister is at school

•In refers to the inside of a
place, for example a room,
town or container:
He is in the kitchen.
 We live in Oberá.

•On is used when something is
touching a surface:
The bread is on the table.
There is a photo on the wall.
We also use on in these phrases: on
the left/right, on the first/second/top
floor, on the other side of the road.

•Other prepositions of place include:
Above: at a higher level “The plane flew above the
clouds.”
Below: at a lower level “The divers went 100 feet
below the surface of the ocean.”
Beside: near, at the side of “There is a small table
beside my bed.”
Next to: right beside, close to “Sam sat next to his
boss at the meeting.”
(In) between: in the space that separates two objects
“She parked her car (in) between the two trucks.”
Behind: at the back of “In baseball, the umpire stands
behind the catcher.”
In front of: at the front of “There is a beautiful oak
tree in front of our office.”

•To and towards show
movement in the direction of
a place:
 we drove to London.
 He ran towards the door.

•Into and out of show
movement towards or away
from the inside of something:
 she jumped into the pool.
 He climbed out of the pool.

•Onto and off show movement towards
or away from a surface:
the glass fell onto the floor.
I took the photo off the wall.

•Other prepositions of movement include
across, along, over, through, up and down:
she walked across the street (= from one
side to the other).
 He walked along the pavement (staying
on the pavement).
 she climbed over the fence (across the
top of)
 He walked out through the door (from
one side to the other).

Important to consider
• At or in? Let’s meet at the restaurant (inside or
outside). Let’s meet in the restaurant (inside).
•Arrive at or arrive in? We arrive in a country, city or
town; but we arrive at a building or other place:
the plane arrived in Madrid. We arrived at the airport.
• On or in? We travel on a train, bus or plane; but in a
car: I always read when I am on the train. The journey
takes an hour in a car.

•At is used with clock times, periods of
time and to refer to somebody’s age:
 at nine,
 at lunch time,
 at night,
 at weekend,
 at the age 33.

•In is used:
•With parts of the day, months, seasons, years
and centuries:
 in the morning, in May, in the summer, in 2005,
in the 19th century.
•To talk about things that will happen at the end of
a period of time:
I will be back in an hour/in a week/in a few
minutes.
•To refer to the lengths of time something takes:
I read the book in four hours.
We got back in 20 minutes.

•On is used with days and dates:
 On Monday,
 On 12th October,
 On Saturday afternoon,
 On New Year’s Day,
 On weekdays.

Other prepositions of time:
• Before: taking place at an earlier time:
call me before 10 o’clock.
• After: taking place at a later time: I will
see you after the match.
• By: at or before a point in time: We
must leave by six.
• Since: starting from a point in time: we
have been here since Thursday.

•For: lasting a period of time: we waited
for an hour.
• During: happening in or over a period
of time: I shared a flat during my stay in
London. I fell asleep during the play.
• Until/till up to a certain time: we will
work until six o’clock and then we will go
home.
• Past (a point in time): It’s past midnight.
• Through (a period of time): they worked
through the night.

As, like
We use as when we describe someone’s job or the main
purpose/function of something:
She works as a teacher.
• Like means:
•‘Similar to’:
His car is like mine.
She looks like her brother.
Rubbish, like glass and paper, can be recycled.
We say the same as (not the same like):
your car’s the same as mine.
•We also use what + be / look / sound / smell / taste + like to ask
for a description of someone or something: what’s Tom like? What
does curry taste like?

A prepositional phrase will begin with
a preposition and end with a noun,
pronoun, gerund, or clause, (the "object"
of the preposition).
•The object of the preposition will often have
one or more modifiers to describe it. These are
the patterns for a prepositional phrase:
Preposition + noun, pronoun, gerund or clause
Preposition + modifier (s) + noun, pronoun, gerund
or clause.

Here there are some examples of the most basic
prepositional phrase:
• At home
At = preposition; home = noun.
• In time
In = preposition; time = noun.
• From Richie
From = preposition; Richie = noun.
• With me
With = preposition; me = pronoun.

• By singing
By = preposition; singing = gerund.
• About what we need
About = preposition; what we need = noun clause.
Important to remember
• We say in cash but by cheque/ credit card: would you
like to pay in cash or by cheque.
• We say on purpose but by accident/ chance: he was
late on purpose.
I met Anna by chance.
• Compare on time and in time: the train arrived on time
(= at the correct time)
We got to the station in time to catch our train (= early
enough).

Thanks for your attention…!!!

Prepositions

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Prepositions