Key considerations

Learners often see prepositions as a major problem. This is because:

• • there are so many prepositions in English (many more than in a lot of other languages), and learners often have to make choices and distinctions that are not necessary in their own language.

• • many choices have little or nothing to do with meaning, and are therefore particularly difficult to remember.

Mistakes in using prepositions rarely cause problems in communication. Some learners may choose to put up with making mistakes in prepositions in order to concentrate their energy and attention on other aspects of English.

If learners really want to use prepositions correctly, good dictionary-using habits may be as useful for them as classroom study. Nonetheless, we should try to teach prepositions in longer phrases rather than as single words. We should also teach dependent prepositions as far as possible linked to verbs, adjectives and nouns, in groups which have related meanings.

What are prepositions?

What do they look like?

Many of the most common words in English are prepositions, and many of them are very short words (e.g. at, for, in, to). However, longer words and short phrases (e.g. despite, except, according to, out of, in terms of, in the event of) can function as prepositions too. A number of participles (e.g. assuming, concerning, give, grante, regarding) can be used as prepositions.

We can’t recognise prepositions just from the form of the words.

Where do they come in sentences?

General use

Prepositions:

• • usually occur immediately before a noun or -ing form (e.g. to work, of cooking) or at the beginning of a phrase including a noun (e.g. at the cinema). These phrases can occur in various sentence positions.

• • often occur immediately after a verb (e.g. arrive at), adjective (e.g. fond of) or noun (e.g. interest in).

When prepositions precede a verb, this is always an -ing form (e.g. I’m afraid of crying).

In other positions

In the following cases we can use prepositions at the end of clauses.