Definition:
A word (one of the parts of speech) that shows the relationship between a noun or pronoun and other words in a sentence. Prepositions are members of a closed word class. See also:
- Complex Preposition
- Language Facts & Figures: Prepositions
- Adding Prepositional Phrases
- Arranging Prepositional Phrases
- Identifying Prepositional Phrases
- Object of a Preposition
- Ending Sentences With Prepositions
- Sentence Building
Common Prepositions:
aboard
about
above
across
after
against
along
amid
among
around
as
at
atop
before
behind
below
beneath
beside
between
beyond
by
despite
down
during
for
from
in
inside
into
like
near
of
off
on
onto
out
outside
over
past
regarding
round
since
than
through
throughout
till
to
toward
under
unlike
until
up
upon
with
within
without
Etymology:
From the Greek, "put in front"Examples and Observations:
- Dr. Wilson: Beauty often seduces us on the road to truth.
Dr. House: And triteness kicks us in the nads.
(House M.D.) - "The Preposition at the end of a sentence; a common fault with [Ben Jonson], and which I have but lately observ'd in my own writings."
(John Dryden) - "Those who lay down the universal principle that final prepositions are 'inelegant' are unconsciously trying to deprive the English language of a valuable idiomatic resource, which has been used freely by all our greatest writers."
(Henry Fowler, Modern English Usage) - Texan: Where are you from?
Yale student: I come from a place where we don't end our sentences with prepositions.
Texan: Okay. Where are you from, jackass? - "Yes, I lied to you. No, I don't love you. Of course it makes you look fat. I've never been to Brussels. It is pronounced 'egregious.' By the way, no, I've never met Pizzaro but I love his pies. And all of this pales to utter insignificance in light of the fact that my ship is once again gone."
(Jack Sparrow, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End)
Pronunciation: PREP-i-ZISH-in
Also Known As: simple preposition
