Prepositions

What are prepositions?

Prepositions help us understand the relationships between words. There are many types of prepositional relationships, but we will focus on the following:

• Direction
• Time
• Location
• Space

A preposition must go with a related noun or pronoun, which is called its object.

The complete pair (preposition + its object) is called a prepositional phrase.

Note that a prepositional phrase is not a complete sentence. It simply modifies the sentence, so it cannot stand alone.

Direction

To refer to direction, we use the prepositions “to,” “in,” “into,” “on,” and “onto.”

• Example → “He went to work.”
• Example → “You can come in.”
• Example → “The frog jumped onto the lily pad.”

Time

To refer to one point in time, we use the prepositions “in,” “at,” and “on.”

• Example → “I feed my cat at night.”
• Example → “I feed my dog in the morning.”
• Example → “I feed my snake on Saturdays.”

To refer to extended or ongoing time, we use the prepositions “since,” “for,” “by,” “during,” “from…to,” “from…until,” “with,” and “within.”

• Example → “She has not left the US since 1999.”
• Example → “She is backpacking for six months in Europe.”
• Example → “She will reach Berlin by midnight.”
• Example → “She will travel during the summer and fall.”
• Example → “She is in Germany from May to July.”
• Example → “She will be in France from July until September.”
• Example → “She will be back in the US within the year.”

Location

To refer to a location, we use the prepositions “in,” “at,” “on,” and “inside.”

• Example → “The tomato is in the fridge.”
• Example → “The man is at the grocery store.”
• Example → "The onions are on the table. "
• Example → “The soy sauce is inside the cabinet.”