What is a preposition?

What is a preposition?

Preposition is a word that shows relation between two other two nearby words.

There are approximately 80 to 100 prepositions in the English language. Prepositions are words that introduce information to the reader. This information can include where something takes place (such as 'at' the store), when or why something takes place (such as 'before' dinner), or general descriptive information (such as the girl 'with' the cool tattoo).

Examples of Prepositions

Here are some examples of commonly-used prepositions:

about	above	across	after	against
along	behind	below	beneath	beside
besides	between	down	during	except
for	from	in	off	on
onto	opposite	out	outside	till
to	toward	under	underneath	until
with	within	without

Prepositions don't stand alone. They work in groups of words that we call prepositional phrases. A prepositional phrase begins with a preposition and ends in a noun. That noun is called the object of the preposition.

Prepositional Phrases

Here are some examples of prepositional phrases:

'Under' the desk
'during' the lecture
'across' the yard
'after' lunch
'behind' the tree

The word in quotes is the preposition and the words that follow the preposition make up the prepositional phrase. Think about a mountain, for instance. A prepositional phrase is just about anything that we can say in relation to a mountain, like 'to the mountain,' 'over the mountain,' 'under the mountain,' 'toward the mountain.' This is a good way to test a group of words in order to see if they do, indeed, fit the definition of prepositional phrases.

The object of the preposition is the noun that follows the preposition. It is also the stopping point for each prepositional phrase. For instance, we might say, 'to the store.' The word 'to' is the preposition and 'store' is the object of the preposition. Here's another example, 'in the light.' The word 'in' is the preposition and 'light' is the object of the preposition.