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Types Of Preposition

Prepositions appear in several of our sentences, and they are among the most widely used English words. Prepositions are an important aspect of grammar because they allow us to compose interesting, complex sentences.

A preposition, for instance, might transform a mundane sentence like “We ran” into “We rushed to the enchanting palace in the fairy jungle.”

Before we get into the types of the preposition, let us first try and understand what preposition is.

What exactly is a preposition?

“A preposition refers to the words that illustrate the linkage between the nouns and other words in the sentence. They describe the sequences, spaces, and logic linkages between the statement’s object and the remainder of the sentence. They assist us in understanding order, time links, and positions.”

Example:

1. I am heading to Ontario.
2. Alex tossed a pebble into the lake.
3. The gift is inside the package.
4. Participants have gone out of the village.

There are a few grammatical facts about prepositions that are worth noting.

• Firstly, they are a closed class of terms, which implies that no new prepositions are introduced into the language. We stick to a set of prepositions.
• Secondly, there is no alternative form of a preposition. They are not allowed to be plural, possessive, conjugated, or anything else.
• Thirdly, the majority of the prepositions have a wide range of contextual and natural usage. So therefore, it is common to become puzzled by it.
• Fourthly, a preposition can function as a noun, adjective, or adverb.
• Prepositions can indeed be one, two, three, or more words in length. Phrasal prepositions are prepositions that contain two or more words.
• The below mentioned words are some of the examples of phrasal prepositions:

because of, in case of, instead of, by way of, on behalf of, on account of, in care of, in spite of, on the side, etc.

Types of Preposition

1. Simple Preposition

It is the most common type of preposition.

“Simple Prepositions are the prepositions utilized to express the connection that a sentence’s Nouns and Pronouns have with the remaining of the terms in it.”

In regard to Complex Sentence and Compound Sentence, they are frequently employed to connect two clauses.

Some of the common/simple prepositions are;

on	in	under	off	over	at
to	by	above	near	with	for
but	behind	from	beside	during	down

Some of the examples of simple prepositions are;

1. I am going to college
2. The kitty is sitting on the chair.
3. The kid is hiding under the desk.
4. She met him at the school function.
5. The squirrels are sitting by the wood.
6. It is convenient to live near the office.
7. She made a portrait with charcoal.
8. I was fascinated by his talent.
9. The dinner has been placed on the dining table.
10. I have been her friend since 2005.

2. Double Preposition

Next in the list of types of preposition is the double preposition.

“In this, two simple prepositions merge to form one that links the Noun(s) or Pronoun(s) to the remaining words in a phrase.”

Some of the double preposition are;

in between	from within	out of	inside of
up to	onto	upon	into
from behind	outside of	within	without

Some of the examples of double preposition are;

1. The snake has gone out of control.
2. I was permitted the inside of the monastery.
3. Helen squished in between three of her relatives.
4. The criminal was shot from behind by the police
5. Our team is incomplete without him.
6. The intelligent girl solved 10 equations out of 12.
7. The monkey climbed onto the poles.
8. The chimpanzee is inside the zoo.
9. She came over to the party.
10. He stepped out of the cab.

3. Compound Preposition

Next in the list of types of preposition is the compound preposition.

Prepositions along with other words or terms are combined to form compound prepositions.

Note: Compound Prepositions are most often confused with Double Prepositions because they both need other prepositions or terms to serve as a preposition.

Some of the compound preposition are;

on behalf of	according to	in addition to	aside from
with a view to	in the middle of	from beneath	in front of
across from	in place of	in regard to	in spite of

Some of the examples of compound prepositions are;

1. Hi, the scooter is parked in front of my house.
2. She bought a new handbag in addition to the new dress.
3. According to the news, the weather is going to be pleasant this week.
4. He found the coins from beneath the sofa.
5. Aside from dancing, she also draws very well.
6. The cops are running behind the robbers.
7. He was unwell, so Sheena performed in place of him.
8. Marla chose henry because of his positive attitude.
9. Vinny dressed according to the dress code.
10. She has a shop across the street.

4. Participle Preposition

Participle Prepositions can be of two types- Present Participles (-ing) and Past Participles (-ed and -en), which are employed as Prepositions rather than Verbs. These are both participles and prepositions. Participle prepositions usually end with a suffix such as -ed/en and -ing.

Some of the participle preposition are;

Present Participle	Past Participle
considering	respected
touching	given
following	gone
failing	taken
accepting	provided
saving	pleased

Some examples of particle preposition are;

1. Seeing his behavior, he was barred from the functions.
2. He was sad, given the fact he secured fewer marks.
3. I wish to get this book translated into French.
4. We will deliver excellent service provided we get paid well.
5. Considering the time spent, the portrait turned out to be beautiful.
6. The puppy kept following me through the market.
7. The dispute case of the house is still pending in the court,
8. No one is supposed to use the phone during the flight.
9. Assumingthe debate will start in 2 hours, we all go for a tea.
10. I work the night shift, and now I am super tired.

Particles vs. Prepositions

Although prepositions and particles appear to be the same, they perform different tasks in a statement.

A particle is a term that depends on another term for its definition/ value and does not exist by itself, such as the term to when it follows a verb (to move, drink, or fly) or the term up when it creates a phrasal verb, such as lighten up. (Though certainly, up has its own significance, but in a word like lighten up, it does not relate to a specific area!)

You can see how identifying whether a term in a statement is acting as a particle or a preposition can be difficult.

The phrase “despite his wounds, the goalkeeper played on” here the term on is functioning as the particle. It is closely connected to the verb play.

Whereas, if we say, “Kids played on the grass and their hands are dirty” then in this sentence on grass is a prepositional phrase, as it is describing where their kids played. So, on is a preposition here.

5. Disguised Prepositions

These prepositions are frequently disguised as other components of the English language. In statements, these prepositions are frequently disguised as “a” and “o.”

A hidden preposition that is not actually used or utilized in a phrase but is addressed indirectly is known to as an indirect preposition.

Some of the examples of disguised prepositions are;

1. He usually wakes up at 6 o’clock. (of the clock)
2. Rimi went a shore (onshore)
3. Reema visits the fields once a day. ( in a day)
4. He spent one dollar a day.
5. He got a decent work package from the MNC company.
6. We all went to a function.
7. We are flying back to India in a week.
8. The entire group went on a trip.

6. Detached Preposition

Detached Preposition refers to a preposition which has been detached and moved to the ending of a statement.

Such preposition is usually separated from the interrogative or relative pronouns and adverbs for the sake of sentence structure.

Have a look at few of the examples of disguised prepositions are;

1. Whom are you waiting for?
2. Are you staring at me?
3. What are you thinking about?
4. Which office are you working in?
5. Here are the vegetables that Sheena asked for.
6. Who are you working with?
7. Where are you coming back from?

7. Time Prepositions

Prepositions of time indicate the connection of time between noun and the remaining words of the sentence.

The most common time prepositions are;

on	at	in	from
to	ago	before	till
for	since	until	by

Examples of time prepositions are;

1. She began exercising at 10 a.m.
2. The firm called to get together on 26 March.
3. There is a celebration in October.
4. Jyoti has been unwell since Friday.
5. I have to reach home before it gets dark.
6. I will college will reopen by next week.

8. Place and Direction Prepositions

Prepositions of place depict the correlation of place amongst nouns and the rest of the sentence.

The most common place/direction prepositions are

On	up	Down	under
At	Towards	Across	Above
In	To	between	In front of
by	From	among	Through
below	above	over	into

Some examples of place and direction prepositions are;

1. John is at home.
2. John came from Europe.
3. The officers came into the house.
4. I reside across the stream.

9. Agent or thing prepositions

Agent or thing prepositions establish a causal relation amongst nouns and other components of the statement.

The most common and widely used prepositions of agents or objects are of, for, by, with, about, and so on.

1. This blog post is about smart devices.
2. Most of the visitors have left the premises.
3. Your brother will always be there for her.
4. He is dancing with his friends.

10. Prepositions in Phrasal Phrases

A phrasal preposition is not the prepositional phrase but rather a grouping of two or more terms that serve as the prepositions.

The most prevalent phrasal prepositions are mentioned in the table below;

Along with	On top of	Instead of	For a while
Apart from	Out of	In front of	For the moment
Because of	In regard of	Opposed to	For the sake of
By means of	In spite of	On account of	In case of
According to	With regard to	In reference to	In addition to

Some of the examples of phrasal preposition are;

1. They, along with their kids, went to Atlanta.
2. According to the new regulations, you are not correct.
3. In spite of being an excellent artist, he was not chosen.
4. I’m heading out of town.

Using Prepositions

Prepositions are terms that indicate a relationship. Without the usage of a preposition, a statement would be meaningless. There are various types of prepositions utilized in the English language, which not only add detail but also finish a sentence. Prepositions are utilized to convey information such as place, time, direction, causation, and possession.

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