What Is a Preposition, Anyway?
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know
What is a preposition?
Sometimes it helps to start with examples and pictures.
Think of a preposition as any word that describes the relationship between a caterpillar and an apple. In the picture below, all of the prepositions are underlined.
What is a preposition?
It is any word that describes the relationship between a caterpillar and an apple.
Prepositions are words that show the relationship between a noun or apronoun and some other word or element in the rest of the sentence.
Now you know exactly what a preposition is, right? Okay, maybe that is a little much to wrap your head around. Let's break that down with a fewexample sentences.
She swam across the lake.
Across connects the noun lake with the verb swam. It tells us where sheswam. Do you see how the preposition tells us the relationship between lakeand swam?
Here's another example.
The cupcake with sprinkles is mine.
In this example, the preposition with is showing the relationship between the noun sprinkles and the noun cupcake. It tells us which cupcake she is referring to.
(It's okay to end a sentence with a preposition. )
Is this still confusing? Are you still asking yourself, "So... what is a preposition?"
Prepositional Phrases
One more ultra-important thing about prepositions is that they are alwaysfound in prepositional phrases.
A phrase is a group of words that lacks either a subject or a verb and functions as a single part of speech.
A prepositional phrase consists of a preposition plus a noun or pronoun, which is called the object of the preposition. The object of the preposition is the first noun or pronoun following the preposition.
In our lovely apple example above, apple is the object of all of the prepositions. It is the first noun listed after each preposition.
Just like cheese and a tortilla are the minimum ingredients for a quesadilla, a preposition and an object of the preposition are the minimum ingredientsfor a prepositional phrase.
And, just like we can jazz up a quesadilla with chicken, salsa, or sour cream, we can jazz up prepositional phrases with adjectives and adverbs.
The following examples of prepositional phrases include only the necessary ingredients- a preposition and an object of the preposition:
near water
with food
for her
These examples of prepositional phrases include not only the basics (apreposition and an object of the preposition), but also one or moreadjectives or adverbs.
up the very steep mountain
Note: When words from the preposition list are not used in prepositional phrases, they are NOT prepositions.
I bet you can tell me why, right? Because prepositions are ALWAYS in prepositional phrases.
Look at the word down in the following examples. Can you tell why one is a preposition and one is not?
A. The cat ran down the tree.
B. Put the gun down!
Will the real preposition please stand up?
I hope you guessed the preposition is in sentence A.
In sentence A, the preposition down is in the prepositional phrase down the tree.
In sentence B, down is not in a prepositional phrase, therefore, it is not a preposition. (In case you're wondering, it is an adverb, but don't worry about that yet.)
Prepositional Phrases Act As
Adjectives or Adverbs
Adjectives or Adverbs
Remember the answer to the question, "What is a preposition?" It is a word that shows the relationship between a noun or a pronoun and some other word or element in the rest of the sentence.
That means that each prepositional phrase is describing another word or group of words in the sentence. If the preposition is describing a noun orpronoun in the sentence, it is acting like an adjective.
For example: The table with the broken leg is downstairs.
For example: She swam across the lake.
A Few Examples
Seeing examples of prepositions can help you understand them. For a list of prepositions as well as a catchy little tune to help you remember some of them, click here to go to the list of prepositions page.
Start Basic Sentence Diagramming!
Do you know your stuff? Diagramming is the easy way to remember the answer to the question, "What is a preposition?"
| Your site gives English learners and teachers a great idea for learning English. Grammar is important to language learning, and your diagramming method makes language learning simpler and easier. -Ji, Middle School Teacher, China |
