Prepositions

It has been said that all things relate to each other. In English, prepositions describe relationships, even if not of the metaphysical sort.

Preposition (prep.)

Prepositions express a relationship of a noun or pronoun to another word or phrase in the sentence. The relationship can involve physical location, time, or an emotional connection. A prepositional phrase can act as an adjective or adverb by indicating when or how an action occurred.

A simple test for prepositions is to consider a house or box.

He went ______ the house.

He went… under, inside, outside, into, around, behind… the house.

For prepositions of manner or action, consider the noun “opinion.”

He disagreed with the opinion.

She wrote about her opinion.

Understanding relationships is easier with physical objects than with conceptual nouns. For some, it is easier to memorize the common prepositions and analyze sentences after identifying those prepositions.

Common Prepositions

about	behind	during	off	till
above	below	except	on	to
across	beneath	for	onto	toward
after	beside	from	opposite	under
against	besides	in	out	underneath
along	between	inside	outside	until
amid	beyond	into	over	up
among	but	like	past	upon
around	by	minus (elevation)	plus (elevation)	with
at	despite	near	since	within
before	down	of	through	without

Prepositional Phrases

A prepositional phrase includes the preposition, its object, and any modifiers. The noun or pronoun at the end of the phrase is the “object” of the preposition, though the noun is being related to another noun or pronoun in the sentence. Sometimes the preposition relates to the action of a noun or pronoun. In these cases, the preposition indirectly modifies the verb.

We went to the new store on Friday.

In the example, “to” and “on” introduce consecutive prepositional phrases. It is common to have multiple prepositional phrases in a sentence, often relating to the same word. Both objects relate to “we went” in this sentence. Some grammarians would explain the prepositional phrases relate to the pronoun “we” while others stress the modification of “went.” Much like adverbs, the phrases indicate where and when.

Compound Prepositions

Compound prepositions are common, but we suggest avoiding them. Compound prepositions conflict with our philosophy of writing concisely.

according to	by way of	instead of
ahead of	in front/back of	on account of
apart from	in regard to	out of
because of	in reference to	up to
by means of	in spite of	with respect to

Imaginary Prepositions

The use of compound prepositions has led writers to use compound prepositions that do not exist. These imaginary prepositions might sound correct, but avoid them. They are called imaginary because we “imagine” they sound correct.

We think “all of” is the most common imaginary preposition. The correct use is “all” by itself; there is no prepositional phrase.

Problematic Prepositions

Selecting the correct preposition can be challenging. The following are examples of the challenges facing writers and editors.

agree to/with/on:

He agrees to your suggestions regarding the schedule.
I agree with him.
We agree on a meeting schedule.

angry at/about/with:

He was angry at the new puppy for the mess.
He was angry about the dumped trash.
She was angry with her husband for not taking out the trash.

differ from/with:

The new orchid differs from other small varieties.
I differ with your notion of beauty among flowers.

Sources

Scholastic Writer’s Desk Reference. New York: Scholastic, 2000. (ISBN: 0439216508)

Christ, Henry I. Modern English in Action, Ten. Boston: D. C. Heath and Co, 1965.

Ellsworth, Blanche and John A. Higgens. English Simplified. 10th ed. New York: Pearson Education, 2004. (ISBN: 0321104293)

Hacker, Diana. The Bedford Handbook. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford, 1998. (ISBN: 0312247567)

________. Pocket Style Manual. 4th ed. Boston: Bedford, 2004. (ISBN: 0312406843)

Mulvey, Dan. Grammar the Easy Way. Hauppauge, N.Y: Barron's, 2002. (ISBN: 0764119893)

Rozakis, Laurie E. Grammar and Style. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to. New York: Simon & Schuster, Alpha Books, 1997. (ISBN: 0028619560)

Shertzer, Margaret. The Elements of Grammar. New York: MacMillian Publishing, 1986. (ISBN: 0020154402)

Strunk, William and E. B. White. The Elements of Style. 3rd ed. New York: MacMillan Publishing, 1959. Reprint 1979. (ISBN: 0024182001)

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