EVOLVE/grammarPrepositionsI

Prepositions I

HG Wells wrote a famous book called ‘The Time Machine’ which was about a man who built a machine that helped him to travel through space and time. There were many prepositions in this book because a preposition is a word that describes a place in space or time. They usually come before a noun.

Some examples of prepositions are:

at on in around over under opposite into inside

onto outside off to next to through by above

before across with without

These are usually short words with important uses; think how upset your friend would be if you said:

I walked under a bus.

Instead of

I walked onto a bus

Here, the wrong preposition can give a very wrong idea, you can see how important it is to get your prepositions right.
Basic Prepositions in Space- Prepositions in space refers to the places where we do things or where things are.

Preposition	Meaning	Example
at*	at a certain point	He met me at the doors
on*	resting on something	the pen is on the table
in*	within a place	we are in the classroom
around	circulating	Roses grow around the garden
over	in the air above	the plane flew over us
under	below something	my bag is under the table
opposite	facing	the shop is opposite my house
into	to enter	She walked into the museum
inside	within	I stay inside when it rains
onto	to go from off to on	The cat jumped onto the table
outside	not inside	Let’s go outside
off*	not resting on something	The pen fell off the table
to	to approach	We ran to the bus stop
next to	to the side of	We live next to the bakery
through	to enter and exit the other side	They drove through the tunnel
by	close to	He lives by the river
above	up from	The 6th floor is above the 5th floor
before	nearer to	the turning is before the main road
across	from one side to the other	He has travelled across the sea
with	accompanied by	I always eat chips with my dinner
without	not accompanied by	She came without any money

Basic Prepositions of time- Prepositions of time refer to the places when we do things or when things are.

Preposition	Meaning	Example
at*	at an exact time	I’ll meet you a 6pm
on*	on a particular day	I saw her on Friday
in*	in a longer time	I was born in 1975
around	at an indefinite time	I’ll be there around 12.30
over	spanning a longer time	Over the years I learnt more
under	less that a stated time	He ran a mile in under 4 minutes
into	passing from one set time to another	The game ran into extra time
inside	within a set time	We will finish it inside an hour
onto	passing from one time to the next	It continued onto the next week
outside	longer than a set time	They won’t finish it outside 3 months
to	between times	From Monday to Saturday
through	continuing over a period	I slept through the night
by	before a set time	It will be finished by next June
before	prior to a set time	Come here before 9.30
with	having extra time	I finished the exam with10 minutes to spare
without	having no extra time	They were saved without a moment to spare
until	up to a set time	I am working until 5pm

*These prepositions have other meanings, look them up a dictionary and add them to your vocabulary dictionary in a bubble diagram like this.

Task 1 – Give your own examples for these prepositions of space

Preposition	Example
at
on
in
around
over
under
opposite
into
inside
onto
outside
off*
to
next to
through
by
above
before
across
with
without

Task 2 - Give your own examples for these prepositions of time

Preposition	Example
at
on
in
around
over
under
into
inside
onto
outside
to
through
by
before
with
without
until

Please choose an option below:

Adjectives - Adverbs I - Adverbs II - Articles - Auxilliary Verbs - Conditionals - Furture Forms - Gerunds - Modal Auxiliary Verbs - Narrative Tenses - Nouns - Passive Voice - Past Continuous - Past Perfect - Past Simple - Phrasal Verbs - Prepositions - Prepositions II - Prepositions III - Present Continuous - Present Perfect - Present Simple - Pronouns - Question Tags - Relative Clauses - Reported Speech - Tenses Overview - Transitive and Intransitive Verbs - Verb + Preposition Collocations - Verb + Verb Collocations

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Prepositions I

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