Prepositions.Types

Prepositions of Time: at, on, and in

We use at to designate specific times.
The train is due at 12:15 p.m.

We use on to designate days and dates.
My brother is coming on Monday.
We're having a party on the Fourth of July.

We use in for nonspecific times during a day, a month, a season, or a year.
She likes to jog in the morning.
It's too cold in winter to run outside.
He started the job in 1971.
He's going to quit in August.

Prepositions of Place: at, on, and in

We use at for specific addresses.
Grammar English lives at 55 Boretz Road in Durham.

We use on to designate names of streets, avenues, etc.
Her house is on Boretz Road.

And we use in for the names of land-areas (towns, counties, states, countries, and continents).
She lives in Durham.
Durham is in Windham County.
Windham County is in Connecticut.

Prepositions of Location: in, at, and on

IN
(the) bed*
the bedroom
the car
(the) class*
the library*
school*
AT
class*
home
the library*
the office
school*
work
ON
the bed*
the ceiling
the floor
the horse
the plane
the train

* You may sometimes use different prepositions for these locations.





Prepositions of Movement: to
and No Preposition

We use to in order to express movement toward a place.
They were driving to work together.
She's going to the dentist's office this morning.

Toward and towards are also helpful prepositions to express movement. These are simply variant spellings of the same word; use whichever sounds better to you.
We're moving toward the light.
This is a big step towards the project's completion.

With the words home, downtown, uptown, inside, outside, downstairs, upstairs, we use no preposition.
Grandma went upstairs
Grandpa went home.
They both went outside.



To (Go to)a

Under (Create Subfolder under this Folder)a

In (The file is in the folder)a

As (Save as)a

From (Receive message from….) a

Common Prepositions:

about
above
across
after
against
around
at
before
behind
below
beneath
beside
besides
between
beyond
by
down
during
except
for
from
in
inside
into
like
near
of
off
on
out
outside
over
since
through
throughout
till
to
toward
under
until
up
upon
with
without
according to
because of
by way of
in addition to
in front of
in place of
in regard to
in spite of
instead of
on account of
out of





SOME OTHER TYPES of PREPOSITIONS

AGENT (or INSTRUMENT)--by and with

This poem was written by Walt Whitman.

The door is opened by a mechanical device.

Try opening the door with this key.

I can write better with my own pen.

ACCOMPANIMENT--with

He went with her to the store. II, 1--9

Try some of this sauce with your meat.

PURPOSE--for

This door is for emergency exits only.

I need to go to the store for a loaf of bread.


ASSOCIATION--of

The new wing of the building is almost completed.

We heard the news of your promotion from Bill.

MEASURE--of and by

I want three quarts of milk and a pound of cheese.

One-third of the students are from South America.

Coffee is sold by the pound, but ribbon is sold by the yard.

SIMILARITY--like

You look like your brother.

This material feels like silk.

It looks like rain.

IN THE CAPACITY OF--as

He got a job as an elevator operator.

Mr. Kingsley will serve as chairman of the committee.

She appeared as Desdemona in Othello