“The call is coming from inside the house!”
“Look out behind you!”
“Quick! Turn around!”
Characters would have no chance of surviving a scary movie without prepositions, those basic words that connect pieces of information, nouns, or verbs within a sentence. Prepositions, the glue of a sentence, do more than tell you when a monster is behind you or a scary spider is over there.
Prepositions provide wide-ranging grammatical functions:
- Prepositions connect other words, subjects, actions, and ideas within a sentence.
- Prepositions can give information about location, timing, and purpose.
- Many prepositions have multiple and alternating functions, depending on how they’re used in a sentence.
What Are Prepositions?
Prepositions are those words that fill in the gaps between the ideas within our sentences. They show us how things, both nouns and verbs, relate to each other: Are the keys above or below the shelf? Is Mom cooking dinner after or before my basketball practice? Did you laugh with me, or at me? (Throughout this guide, look out for bolded prepositions!)
Not only do prepositions show us where things are located and when they occurred, but prepositions can explain the purpose behind someone’s actions, and how those actions fit in with their context: when, how, why, to whom, for whom. Prepositions aim to explain how actions or nouns relate to the context around them.
To develop skill in using prepositions, it helps to see a variety of examples. Reading is always a critical tool to developing writing skills, so check out the examples below to get an idea for how prepositions work.
Functions of Prepositions
1. To give spatial locations: below, above, to the right/left of, under, above, near, around, etc.
- My keys are on top of the table.
- The shipwreck lies below the ocean’s surface.
- Underneath that pile of clothes, you can find my laptop.
- Nothing feels better than lying beside you.
- Quick, move to the right!
- We are heading over to the other field.
2. To give subjective locations: at, in, with, to, from, away, etc.
- He is standing at the fountain.
- Soon, we will head to the park.
- Mom drove us home from the movies.
- The team’s game is in the neighborhood.
- He’s running with the varsity team.
3. To provide information about time: before, after, during, when, while, at the same time, ago, etc.
- We will watch a movie before you go to bed.
- He talked during the movie.
- My friend’s game and mine got scheduled at the same time.
- You must listen when your mother speaks.
- They dance while others moan.
4. To explain purpose or intention: against, for, on account of, on behalf of, because of, in case of, etc.
- I go to work everyday for my family.
- My enemies plot against me.
- Did they really make this cake just because of my birthday?
- We made this shelter in case of a natural disaster.
- Our team gave a “thank you” speech on account of our fans supporting us all these years.
Ending a Sentence with a Preposition: Grammatically Correct, Just Make Sure it’s Not Redundant
Ending a sentence with a preposition does not break any grammatical rules, but some people say that you should never end a sentence with a preposition because it sounds informal. While sometimes ending a sentence with a preposition sounds informal and awkward, in a similar vein, sometimes sentences sound awkward when you try to force a preposition away from the end of a sentence.
- Correct (and formal): My grandma lives five miles away.
- Correct, but very awkward: Five miles away does my grandma live.
- Correct (and formal): Where did you come from?
- Correct, but awkward: From where did you come?
For the above examples, even in formal usage, the preposition works well at the end of the sentence. Still, sometimes prepositions at the end of a sentence become redundant and cause the sentence to drag on.
- Correct: Where are you headed?
- Correct, but redundant: Where are you headed to?
- Correct: We made this cake for my father.
- Correct, but awkward-sounding: My father is who we made this cake for.
As a general rule, place the preposition where it seems most natural and least awkward. As you write, you can try playing around with preposition placement, to see which sentence sounds best, most clear, and most natural.
Prepositions play a fundamental role in writing, but as you see above, they don’t have too many clear-cut rules. As you spend more time reading and writing, you will develop a natural feel for how to use prepositions best. So get out there, get writing, and enjoy the process.
