The Art of Prepositions: Enhancing Your Language Mastery

Prepositions are a word or group of words that link nouns, pronouns, and phrases to other words in sentence. It indicates location, direction, time, manner, or other details. Some common prepositions in English include in, about, or, for, of, on, by. Three types of prepositions are used in general:

1. Simple Prepositions: These are the prepositions commonly used in most of the sentences. Such as in, on, for, at, to.
2. Compound Prepositions: These prepositions are formed by prefixing a preposition with a noun, adjective, or adverb. Such examples include inside, above, around.
3. Phrase Prepositions: These are the group of words linked together to serve as prepositions. Common examples are in front of, according to, in addition to, along with.

Remember that prepositions are used before a noun or a pronoun, and the pronoun must be in objective case. Similarly, the noun or a pronoun which follows a preposition is called object.

Cases of Pronoun

Before studying prepositions, let’s have a look at the objective and subjective case of pronoun.

Person	Subjective Case	Objective Case
1st Person Singular	I	Me
2nd Person Singular	You	You
3rd Person Singular	He/She/It/Any Singular	Him/Her/It
1st Person Plural	We	Us
2nd Person Plural	You	You
3rd Person Plural	They	Them

Common Prepositions Used for Time

Preposition	Usage	Example
in	History Years Months/Weeks/Years/Season Times of day	in the 21st century. in 2023. in winter/March/two years. in the morning.
at	Time of day Noon, night, and midnight Mealtimes Age	at 2 p.m. at noon/night/midnight. at lunch/dinner. at 2 years.
on	Days of the week.	on Monday
since	When we know the time.	since March 2023, since 2014.
for	When we don’t know the time.	for one week/two days.
from… to…	Used for the starting point/time and deadline/endpoint.	from Monday to Friday/from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
until	Linked with another action in the sentence.	I cannot write until I finish reading.
by	When there’s a due date/day mentioned.	The assignment is due by Monday.

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Common Prepositions Used for Place (Location and Direction)

Preposition	Usage	Examples
in	something enclosed in a place or within limits.	in the class. in the book. in a photo.
at	something located at a specific point. for events. a place where you’re to do something typical action.	at school. at the party. at cinema/work.
on	on a surface (open). public transport. floors of a building. for television or radio.	on the table. on the bus/taxi.
to	when moving/ending towards a specific point or a place.	He’s flying to London. A road to library.
from	when moving/starting from a specific point or a place.	He’s working from home.
towards	moving in direction of something.	a bull running towards him.
across	moving from one side to another.	a shop across the road.
through	moving from one to another using ‘something’	through the market. through opened door.
between	a place in the middle of something or someone.	He was standing between his two friends. a door between the pillars.
among	surrounded by two or more people together as a group.	Germany is among the countries of Europe.

Prepositions Used for Making Connections

Preposition	Usage	Example
with	connecting a particular feature of the first. when people or things are together. for things used to perform an action.	He’s writing with a black pen. He’s meeting with one of his friends.
by	describing an action more specifically.	He was bitten by a snake last night.
of	between noun phrases. relationships. reason or motive.	a book of poetry. mother of this girl. principal of the college.
between	making a connection.	relationship between Physics and Chemistry. Relationship between art and artist.

Prepositions are the unsung heroes of sentence structure, providing clarity and precision to our expressions. By understanding their functions and practicing their usage, you can elevate your command of the English language.