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8.23: Text: Prepositions

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    Icon of open box with two arrows going inside itPrepositions are relation words; they can indicate location, time, or other more abstract relationships. Prepositions are noted in bold in these examples:

    • The woods behind my house are super creepy at night.
    • She sang until three in the morning.
    • They were happy for him.
    • He counted to three.

    A preposition combines with another word (usually a noun or pronoun) called the complement. Prepositions are still in bold, and their complements are in italics:

    • The woods behind my house are super creepy atnight.
    • She sang untilthree in the morning.
    • They were happy forhim.
    • He counted tothree.

    Prepositions generally come before their complements (e.g., in England, under the table, of Elena). However, there are a small handful of exceptions, including notwithstanding and ago:

    • Financial limitationsnotwithstanding, Phil paid back his debts.
    • He was released three daysago.

    Prepositions of location are pretty easily defined (near, far, over, under, etc.), and prepositions about time are as well (before, after, at, during, etc.). Prepositions of “more abstract relationships,” however, are a little more nebulous in their definition. The video below gives a good overview of this category of prepositions:

    Thumbnail for the embedded element "Prepositions of neither space nor time | The parts of speech | Grammar | Khan Academy"

    A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: http://pb.libretexts.org/itcc/?p=496

    Note: The video said that prepositions are a closed group, but it never actually explained what a closed group is. Perhaps the easiest way to define a closed group is to define its opposite: an open group. An open group is a part of speech allows new words to be added. For example, nouns are an open group; new nouns, like selfie and blog, enter the language all the time (verbs, adjectives, and adverbs are open groups as well).

    Thus a closed group simply refers to a part of speech that doesn’t allow in new words. Prepositions, pronouns, articles, and conjunctions are all examples of closed groups.

    Practice

    Identify the prepositions in the following sentences:

    1. The cow jumped over the moon.
    2. My favorite painting is The Girl with the Pearl Earring.
    3. Beatriz wanted to know if she would see Alexandre before lunch.
    4. All he does is talk about his band.

    [reveal-answer q=”478512″]Show Answer[/reveal-answer]
    [hidden-answer a=”478512″]

    The prepositions have been bolded in the sentences below:

    1. The cow jumped over the moon.
    2. My favorite painting is The Girl with the Pearl Earring
    3. Beatriz wanted to know if she would see Alexandre before lunch.
    4. All he does is talk about his band.

    [/hidden-answer]

    So far, all of the prepositions we’ve looked at have been one word (and most of them have been one syllable). The most common prepositions are one-syllable words. According to one ranking, the most common English prepositions are on, in, to, by, for, with, at, of, from, as.

    There are also some prepositions that have more than one word:

    • in spite of (She made it to work in spite of the terrible traffic.)
    • by means of (He traveled by means of boat.)
    • except for (Joan invited everyone to her party except for Ben.)
    • next to (Go ahead and sit down next to Jean-Claude.)

    Prepositions in Sentences

    You’ll often hear about prepositional phrases. A prepositional phrase includes a preposition and its complement (e.g., “behindthe house,” “a long timeago,” and “as the saying goes“). These phrases can appear at the beginning or end of sentences. When they appear at the beginning of a sentence, they typically need a comma afterwards:

    • You can drop that off behind the house.
    • A long time ago, dinosaurs roamed the earth.
    • As the saying goes, hard work always pays off.

    Ending a Sentence with a Preposition

    Thumbnail for the embedded element "Terminal prepositions | The parts of speech | Grammar | Khan Academy"

    A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: http://pb.libretexts.org/itcc/?p=496

    As we just learned, it is totally okay to end a sentence with a preposition. And, as we saw, it can often make your writing smoother and more concise to do so.

    However, it’s still best to avoid doing it unnecessarily. If your sentence ends with a preposition and would still mean the same thing without the preposition, take it out. For example:

    Where are you at?

    That’s not what it’s used for.

    If you remove at, the sentence becomes “Where are you?” This means the same thing, so removing at is a good idea. However, if you remove for, the sentence becomes “That’s not what it’s used,” which doesn’t make sense.

    Practice

    Read each sentence and determine if the prepositions are being used correctly. If they are not, re-write the sentence.

    1. Do you have any idea why Olivia keeps calling for?
    2. You have no idea how much trouble you’re in.
    3. Luiz handed his credit card over to the cashier.
    4. He was going the beach after class.

    [practice-area rows=”4″][/practice-area]
    [reveal-answer q=”196326″]Show Answer[/reveal-answer]
    [hidden-answer a=”196326″]

    1. Incorrect. The preposition for does not work with the preposition why. There are two potential revisions for this sentence:
      • Do you have any idea why Olivia keeps calling?
      • Do you have any idea what Olivia keeps calling for?
    2. Correct. The preposition in at the end of the sentence is necessary. “You have no idea how much trouble you are” means something different than the sentence’s original intent.
    3. Correct. The preposition is over.
    4. Incorrect. There’s a missing preposition in the sentence. It should read: “He was going to the beach after class.” The preposition after is used correctly.

    [/hidden-answer]

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