List of Common Prepositions

List of Common Prepositions

Examples That Show Location

✓ Try not to sit across from your brother at the function.

✓ Please set up the chairs along the far wall.

✓ It's good to be among friends than keeping oneself aloof.

✓ He's waiting for you at the entrance.

✓ The coffee mugs are by the water glasses.

✓ Please don't sit next to her.

✓ Would someone please get this bug off me?

✓ Let's go sit on that short compound wall.

✓ Matilda went through the looking glass.

✓ He's going to the store.

✓ Look up at the hot air balloon.

Examples That Show Time

✓ Let's go out for dinner after the show is over.

✓ It will take around an hour to repair your car.

✓ Maria got to work at 9 am.

✓ Did she arrive before he completed?

✓ We'll be there between 9:00 am and 10:00 am.

✓ Do not talk during meditation.

✓ The American Civil War lasted from 1861 to 1865.

✓ I will be there in five minutes.

✓ It is already an hour past my arrival.

✓ Teenagers can't drive until they're 18 years old.

TITBITS

"From" is followed by "to"

"Between" is followed by "and"

Examples That Show Connections Between Ideas

✓ Tell me about the book which you finished reading.

✓ I'm voting against the candidate who is corrupt.

✓ Nora works as a librarian for Texas University.

✓ Everyone went to Paris but Amy.

✓ I would take you home, except I am running late.

✓ That cake is for the birthday party tonight.

✓ She looks just like her grandmother in her young age.

✓ You remind me of my distant relative.

✓ My brothers were fighting over the four wheeler.

I. The proposition is always placed at the end of the sentence when its object is the relative pronoun that:

E.g.

Here is the book that you were looking for.

This is a song that I am very fond of.

II. The preposition is usually placed at the end, when its object is an interrogative pronoun:

E.g.

What are you talking about?

Whom are you thinking of?

III. The preposition is placed at the end, when its object is a relative pronoun, understood and not started:

E.g.

There is the man I was speaking of

That is the poet I was referring to

IV. Phrase prepositions or conglomerate prepositions

In addition to single-word prepositions like on, in about, above, outside, underneath, etc., there are some word groups which function as prepositions: e.g. in front of, in spite of, by means of, in order to, owing to, instead of, for the sake of, on behalf of, in the course of, with regard to etc., These are called phrase prepositions or conglomerate prepositions.

V. In technical writing, the prepositions (in, at, for, with, on through, by, against, etc) are usually placed before relative pronouns such as which, whom, where etc., and not at the end of the sentence.

E.g.

1. Jet engines with which most modern aircraft are equipped develop thrust.

2. The air passes to the compressor where (in which) it is compressed.

3. After burners are provided where by the hot gases are again ignited. (by means of which)

4. the foundation on which the structure is raised in strong.

5. iron is converted into steel by various processes all of which involve heating it to a high temperature.