What are Prepositions – and How Do You Use Them?

Prepositions are the words that connect nouns, pronouns, and noun phrases in a sentence to make it complete. Since prepositions can be tricky to learn, learners should be aware while reading books or other documents, and make sure they are using the preposition correctly.

In sentences, prepositions are used to introduce an object or indicate a direction, location, or time. Prepositions can be small connecting words like on, in, with, to, or big connecting words like in addition to, according to, and from within for connecting pronouns, noun phrases, and nouns in a sentence.

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Preposition: Types and Examples

The word preposition derives from its meaning Pre (before) and Position (placement). There are five types of prepositions and they are as follows:

i) Simple Preposition:

The simple preposition in a sentence is one word that connects the nouns or pronouns. Most commonly used simple prepositions are provided in the table below:

about	between	onto
above	beyond	to
after	for	toward
against	in	under
at	into	up
before	of	upon
behind	off	with
beside	on	without

Example: The book is on the table.

ii) Double Preposition:

Double prepositions in a sentence are two prepositions used together. (Often used to indicate direction)

A list of a few double prepositions used is given in the table below:

Outside of	Out of
Out of	Throughout
Upon	Up to
Within	Before
Inside	Due to
Without	According to
Onto	From beneath
From behind	Next to
Because of	From above

Example: They ran out of fuel.

iii) Compound Preposition:

A compound preposition is a compound word that is made of a simple preposition and another part of speech. Some of the commonly used compound prepositions are:

According to	In favor of	But for
As to	In front of	Ahead of
Onto	Because of	Close to
Across	As for	Despite
After	Near to	Depending on
Beyond	Behind	Due to
Without	Along	In addition to
Opposite to	Outside	Next to
Away from	On account of	In between
Aside from	On behalf of	In case of
Owing to	Apart from	Outside of
Along with	In return for	Other than
Around	Out of	Together with
Between	Instead of	Up to
Above	About

Example: The test run was delayed due to rain.

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iv) Participle Preposition:

A participle preposition is a verb that functions like a preposition. A few of the commonly used participle prepositions are as follows:

Concerning	Excluding
Regarding	Respected
Failing	Provided
Considering	Pending
Barred	According
During	Barring
Accepting	Between
Notwithstanding	Taken
Expecting	Given
Following	Owing
Including

Example: She works part-time during the evening.

v) Prepositional Phrase:

A prepositional phrase is a group of words in a sentence that includes a preposition, an object, and the object’s modifier. Most commonly used prepositional phrases are given below:

In favor of	On behalf of
Owing to	In front of
According to	In any case
By means of	For the moment
In addition to	In love with
On the floor	In the end
On-time	For a while
To the fact that	Up the hill
In spite of	Considering
Concerning	On account of

Example: They would like a room with a view of the mountains.

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