A preposition is one of a small but very common group of words that relate different items to each other. Most English prepositions have a number of meanings that are particular to each preposition.
Simple prepositions consist of one word, e.g. in, on, under.
Complex prepositions consist of more than one word, e.g. due to, together with, on top of, in spite of, out of.
Prepositions enable us:
- to express movement to or from a place.
- to express location and time.
The list below shows all the common simple prepositions:
aboard, about, above, across, after, against, along, alongside, amid, among, around, as, at, atop, bar, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, between, beyond, by, despite, down during, for, from, in, inside, into, like, near, of, off, on, onto, opposite, outside, over, past, pending, per, prior, pro, re, regarding, round, since, than, through, throughout, till, to, towards, under, underneath, until, unto, up, upon, via, with, within, without.
Some words can be either prepositions or adverbs, depending on how they are used and what they combine with. These are the prepositions that can also be used as adverbs:
aboard, about, above, across, after, along, alongside, around, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, between, beyond, by, down , in, inside, near, off, on, opposite, outside, over, past, round, since, through, throughout, under, underneath, up, within, without.
Prepositions are normally followed by:
- a noun phrase.
She looked over the edge.
The dog lay under the table.
Jenny sat opposite her.
- an -ing clause.
Thanks for looking.
He picked up some extra cash by working in a bar at night.
- a relative pronoun (WH- word).
He’s married to Rachel, with whom he has one daughter.
In everyday speech, a preposition may end a relative clause rather than come before it.
That’s the girl we were talking about.
That’s the man (who) I gave the money to.
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