Kinds of Prepositions



Kinds of Prepositions :



Prepositions of Time : at, on and in

We use AT to designate specific times.

For example :

1. The train is due at 12:15 p.m.

We use ON to designate days and dates.

For example :

1. My brother is coming on Monday.
2. We’re having a party on the 4th of July.

We use IN for non-specific times during a day, a month, a season or a year.

For example :

1. She likes to jog in the morning.
2. It’s too cold in winter to run outside.
3. He started the job in 1971.
4. He’s going to quit in August.

Prepositions of Place : at, on and in

We use AT for specific addresses.

For example :

1. Yukti lives at 133A, Vikas Puri, New Delhi.

We use ON to designate names of streets, avenues, and so on.

For example :

1. Her house is on Akbar Road.

We use IN for the names of land areas - towns, counties, states, countries or continents.

For example :

1. She lives in Colombo.
2. Colombo is in Sri Lanka.

Prepositions of Location : in, at and on and no preposition

1. At class
2. At home
3. At school
4. At the library
5. At the office
6. At work
7. In school
8. In the bed
9. In the bedroom
10. In the car
11. In the class
12. In the library
13. On the bed
14. On the ceiling
15. On the floor
16. On the horse
17. On the plane
18. On the train

No preposition is required for the following expressions.

1. Downstairs
2. Downtown
3. Inside
4. Outside
5. Upstairs
6. Uptown

You may sometimes use different prepositions for some of the above locations.

Prepositions of Movement : to, toward, towards and no preposition

We use TO in order to express movement towards a place.

For example :

1. They were driving to work together.
2. She’s going to the dentist’s office this morning.

TOWARD and TOWARDS are also helpful prepositions to express movement. These are simply variant spellings of the same word. Use whichever sounds better to you.

For example :

1. We’re moving toward the light.
2. This is a big step towards the project’s completion.

With the words home, downtown, uptown, inside, outside, downstairs and upstairs, we use no preposition.

For example :

1. Grandma went upstairs.
2. Hari went home.
3. They both went outside.

Prepositions of Time : for and since

We use FOR when we measure time (seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years).

For example :

1. He held his breath for five minutes.
2. She’s lived there for three years.
3. The British and Irish have been quarrelling for seven centuries.

We use SINCE with a specific date or time.

For example :

1. She’s worked here since 1983.
2. He’s been sitting in the waiting room since 3 o’clock.
3. Fill in the blanks with appropriate prepositions.

Example Sentences :

1. George Washington was born in Virginia on 1732.

2. After the American Revolutionary War (1775 and 1783), he was the Commander-in-Chief of the American forces.

3. Washington played an important role in the founding of the United States.

4. He became the first President of the United States.

5. He was the President from 1789 to 1797.

6. George Washington died at the age of 67 on the 14th December 1799.

7. The capital of the United States and one federal state are named after George Washington.



Kinds of Prepositions



Kinds of Prepositions To HOME PAGE

The Sentences Index



Kinds of Prepositions
Share this page:
Enjoy this page? Please pay it forward. Here's how...

Would you prefer to share this page with others by linking to it?

  1. Click on the HTML link code below.
  2. Copy and paste it, adding a note of your own, into your blog, a Web page, forums, a blog comment, your Facebook account, or anywhere that someone would find this page valuable.