Grammar: Word classes: Prepositions

Overview

What is a preposition?

Prepositions are found in many different grammatical contexts, doing many different jobs. The two most important contexts are to introduce information about how / when / where / why some event took place or something happened, and to introduce additional information about the 'Thing' in the noun group.

Telling how / when / where / why

Prepositions tell us how / when / where / why some event took place or something happened:

Kitty was reading          in         her room.
                         preposition [place]

Bozo went           to               school every day.
                 preposition [movement]

Bobby finished his homework        at          five o'clock.
                                           preposition [time]

Dotty wrote her poem          with        a brush.
                               preposition [means]

For more information on place, movement and time, click on the menu on the left: 

Word classes: Prepositions: Indicating place (in)
Word classes: Prepositions: Indicating movement (to)
Word classes: Prepositions: Indicating time (at)

Note that when prepositions express how / when / where / why meanings, they always work together with a noun group, forming a 'prepositional phrase' (in her room, to school, at five o'clock, with a brush).

For more information on prepositional phrases, see Grammar: Groups & phrases: Prepositional phrases: Overview

Adding information about the 'Thing'

Prepositions may introduce additional information about the 'Thing' in the noun group:

Ricky rode the bike every day.
Ricky rode the bike   with   the wobbly wheels every day.
                             preposition

In Ricky rode the bike with the wobbly wheels every day the preposition with introduces additional information about the particular bike that Ricky rode, telling us that it was the bike with the wobbly wheels and not another bike of his. When prepositions introduce additional information about a Thing in a noun group, they always form a 'prepositional phrase' of preposition + noun group, eg with the wobbly wheels. A prepositional phrase providing additional information about a Thing is called a Qualifier.

For more information on prepositional phrases as Qualifiers, see 

Grammar: Groups & phrases: Prepositional phrases: Telling more about things  

For PrimeTeach teaching activities which provide KS2 students with practice in using prepositions when describing people and things, see:

Bun festival
Earth and space homes

Simple and complex prepositions

Prepositions are either simple or complex: simple prepositions consist of just one word (at, for, from, in) and complex prepositions of two words (because of, except for, next to, out of), three words (by means of, in exchange for), and even four words (as a result of, for the sake of). For more information on simple and complex prepositions, click on the menu on the left: 

Word classes: Prepositions: Preposition formation

If you would like some practice identifying the prepositions in a text, click here: