Nicolás Moreno Murcia

z
PREPOSITIONS
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DEFINITION

 Prepositions are short words that usually stand in front of

nouns (sometimes also in front of gerund verbs).
 Indicate relationships between other words in a sentence
 Many prepositions tell you where something is or when something
happened
 Ending a sentence with a preposition is not a grammatical error
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Prepositions of Time
 English Usage Example
• on •days of the week •on Monday
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• in •months / seasons •in August / in winter
•time of day •in the morning
•year •in 2006
•after a certain period •in an hour
of time (when?)
• at •for night •at night
•for weekend •at the weekend
•a certain point of •at half past nine
time (when?)
• since •from a certain point of •since 1980
time (past till now)
• for •over a certain period •for 2 years
of time (past till now)
• ago •a certain time in the •2 years ago
past
• before •earlier than a certain •before 2004
point of time
• to •telling the time •ten to six (5:50)
• past •telling the time •ten past six (6:10)
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English Usage Example

• to / till / until •marking the beginning and •from Monday to/till Friday
end of a period of time

• till / until •in the sense of how long •He is on holiday until
something is going to last Friday.

• by •in the sense of at the latest •I will be back by 6 o’clock.

•up to a certain time •By 11 o'clock, I had read
five pages.
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Prepositions of Place
English Usage Example
• in •room, building, street, town, •in the kitchen, in London
z country •in the book
•book, paper etc. •in the car, in a taxi
•car, taxi •in the picture, in the world
•picture, world
• at •meaning next to, by an object •at the door, at the station
•for table •at the table
•for events •at a concert, at the party
•place where you are to do •at the cinema, at school, at work
something typical (watch a film,
study, work)
• on •attached •the picture on the wall
•for a place with a river •London lies on the Thames.
•being on a surface •on the table
•for a certain side (left, right) •on the left
•for a floor in a house •on the first floor
•for public transport •on the bus, on a plane
•for television, radio •on TV, on the radio
• by, next to, beside •left or right of somebody or •Jane is standing by / next to /
something beside the car.
• under •on the ground, lower than (or •the bag is under the table
covered by) something else
English Usage Example
• zbelow •lower than something else but •the fish are below the surface
above ground
• over •covered by something else •put a jacket over your shirt
•meaning more than •over 16 years of age
•getting to the other side •walk over the bridge
(also across) •climb over the wall
•overcoming an obstacle
• above •higher than something else, but •a path above the lake
not directly over it
• across •getting to the other side •walk across the bridge
(also over) •swim across the lake
•getting to the other side
• through •something with limits on top, •drive through the tunnel
bottom and the sides
• to •movement to person or building •go to the cinema
•movement to a place or country •go to London / Ireland
•for bed •go to bed
• into •enter a room / a building •go into the kitchen / the house
English
z Usage Example

• towards •movement in the direction of •go 5 steps towards the

something (but not directly to house
it)

• onto •movement to the top of •jump onto the table

something

• from •in the sense of where from •a flower from the garden
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Other prepositions
English Usage Example
z • from •who gave it •a present from Jane
• of •who/what does it belong to •a page of the book
•what does it show •the picture of a palace
• by •who made it •a book by Mark Twain
• on •walking or riding on •on foot, on horseback
horseback •get on the bus
•entering a public transport
vehicle
• in •entering a car  / Taxi •get in the car
• off •leaving a public transport •get off the train
vehicle
• out of •leaving a car  / Taxi •get out of the taxi
• by •rise or fall of something •prices have risen by 10
•travelling (other than walking percent
or horseriding) •by car, by bus
• at •for age •she learned Russian at 45
• about •for topics, meaning what •we were talking about you
about
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Exercises

 https://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/prepositions/exercises
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 https://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/prepositions/exercises
?08
 https://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/prepositions/exercises
?18
 https://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/vocabulary/since-for