Prepositions

Prepositions
A preposition connects a noun or a pronoun to the rest of a sentence. It indicates a relationship such as time, place, or position.

Types of Prepositions
Here are some common prepositions, listed by the type of relationship they indicate:

1. Prepositions of time

Month/year	In	Aidan arrived in Yorktown in June. He arrived in 1999.
Day/date	On	He began classes on Monday. He began class on June 5.
Specific time	At	The classes started at 9:00 A.M.
General time	In Before After	The classes ended in the evening/afternoon/morning She left before lunch. I am leaving after the exam.
Approximate time	About Around Between	I’ll be home about 2:00 P.M. Let’s meet around 5:00 P.M. He said he’ll call between nice and ten o’clock.
Duration	For Through During	My family lived in Guam for six years. I have thought of you often through the years. We ate a lot of popcorn during the movie.

2. Prepositions of place

City/country	In	Fred lived in Toronto for three years. He lived in Canada for five years.
Street	On	He worked on Battery Street.
Address	At	He lives at 16 Queen Lane.
Motion	To	He goes to the park for lunch. (walk to, run to , drive to, ride to , race to, fly to)
Motion in a direction	Toward	They walked toward me.

3. Prepositions of position

The book is on the desk.

The lecture notes are in my notebook.

Let’s meet at the library.

The dog is sitting beside its owner.

My house is between the library and the bridge.

Some other prepositions that commonly show position are: above, across, against, along, among, behind, beneath, by, down, inside, into, near, outside, over, past, under, up.

4. Prepositions of manner

She is good at speaking foreign languages.

They finished the test with ease.

He can understand their accent by listening carefully.

5. Prepositions of comparison

We are so close that he is like my brother.

The storm made the sky as dark as night.

6. Prepositions of possession

Dino is a good friend of mine.