Prepositions

◊ GRAMMAR

A preposition is a word like `at', `in', `on', or `with' which is normally followed by a noun group, forming a prepositional phrase. The noun group after a preposition is sometimes called the prepositional object.

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Prepositions are often used in phrases which indicate place and time.

She waited at the bus stop for over twenty minutes.

Tell me if you're coming to my party on Saturday.

They arrived at Scunthorpe in the morning.

See entries at ↑ Places and ↑ Time.

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◊ without a following noun group

There are some cases where a preposition is not followed by a noun group. The noun group it relates to comes earlier in the sentence. These cases are:

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• questions and reported questions

What will you talk about?

She doesn't know what we were talking about.

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See entries at ↑ Questions and ↑ Reporting.

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• relative clauses

...the job which I'd been training for.

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See entry at ↑ Relative clauses.

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• passive structures

Amateur theatricals have already been referred to.

See entry at ↑ The Passive.

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• after a complement and `to'-infinitive

She's very difficult to get on with.

The whole thing was just too awful to think about.

See entry at ↑ 'To'-infinitive clauses.

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◊ complex prepositional object

After a preposition, you can sometimes use another prepositional phrase or a `wh'-clause.

I had taken his drinking bowl from beneath the kitchen table.

I threw down my book and walked across the room to where she was sitting.

...the question of who should be President of the Board of Trade.

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◊ prepositions and adverbs

Some words that are used as prepositions are also used with a similar meaning as adverbs (that is, without a noun group after them).

I looked underneath the bed, but the box had gone.

Always put a sheet of paper underneath.

The door was opposite the window.

The kitchen was opposite, across a little landing.

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The following words can be used as prepositions or adverbs with a similar meaning:

aboard, about, above, across, after, against, along, alongside, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, beyond, by, down, in, in between, inside, near, off, on, on board, opposite, outside, over, past, round, since, through, throughout, under, underneath, up, within

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