What is preposition?



What is preposition? 


Prepositions are words that show the relationship between a noun or a pronoun and some other word or element in the rest of the sentence.
For example: 
The ice-cream with chocolate is mine.

Preposition or adverb. 
Sometimes some words from preposition list aren’t used in prepositional phrases. They aren’t prepositions. 
For example: 
A. The cat ran down the tree. 
B. Put the ice-cream down. 

How do you think which one is preposition? Yes, the answer is A. Because, in sentence A, “down” is in the prepositional phrase “down the tree”. But in sentence B, down is in the end of the sentence and related to the verb “put” (put the ice-cream where? down), it is adverb. 

There are so many different prepositions in English language and as rest of its grammar prepositions also have exceptions. Here are some of the most useful  prepositions:


Word
Type
of
(preposition)
with
(preposition)
at
(preposition)
from
(preposition)
into

(preposition)
during
(preposition)
including
(preposition)
until
(preposition)
against
(preposition)
among
(preposition)
throughout
(preposition)
despite
(preposition)
towards
(preposition)
upon
(preposition)
concerning
(preposition)
to
(preposition, adverb)
in
(preposition, adverb)
for
(preposition, conjunction)
on
(preposition, adverb, adjective)
by
(preposition, adverb)
about
(preposition, adverb, adjective)
like
(preposition, verb, conjunction)
through
(preposition, adverb, adjective)
over
(preposition, adjective, noun)
before
(preposition, adverb, conjunction)
between
(preposition, adverb)
after
(preposition, adjective, adverb)
since
(preposition, adverb, conjunction)
without
(preposition, adverb, conjunction)
under
(preposition, adverb, adjective)
within
(preposition, adverb)
along
(preposition, adverb)
following
(preposition, noun, adjective)
across
(preposition, adverb, adjective)
behind
(preposition, adverb, adjective)
beyond
(preposition, noun)
plus
(preposition, adjective, noun)
except
(preposition, conjunction, idiom)
but
(conjunction, preposition, adverb)
up
(adverb, preposition, adjective)
out
(adverb, preposition, adjective)
around
(adverb, preposition)
down
(adverb, preposition, adjective)
off
(adverb, preposition, adjective)
above
(adverb, preposition, adjective)
near
(adverb, preposition, adjective)


The most used prepositions are “in”, “on” and “at” which mostly used with time expressions. Here is where we can use them:

1. Time expressions with at:

a. specific times - at three o’clock / at 5:13pm

b. points of the day - at noon / at midday / at night / at midnight

c. points of the day when things happen - at breakfast / at dinner / at lunchtime

d. festivals and special days - at Easter, at Eid

e. weekend - at the weekend

2. Time expressions with on:

a. specific dates - on 3rd May / on 13th October 

b. specific days - on Christmas Day / on New Year's Eve

c. days of the week - on Monday / on Mondays

3. Time expressions with in:

a. parts of the day - in the morning / in the afternoon / in the evening

b. seasons - in spring / in summer / in autumn / in winter

c. years - in 1996

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