Prepositions

Preposition  A word that shows the relationship between a noun or a pronoun or another word in the sentence  Ex. The dog jumped through the hoop.  Through shows the relationship between dog and hoop

Commonly used prepositions aboutbelowexceptingofftoward abovebeneathforonunder acrossbeside(s)fromontounderneath afterbetweeninoutuntil againstbeyondin front ofoutsideup alongbutinsideoverupon amongbyin spite ofpastup to aroundconcerninginstead ofregardingwith atdespiteintosincewithin because ofdownlikethroughwithout beforeduringnearthroughoutwith regard to behindexceptoftowith respect to

Examples  1. A copper-colored snake slithered along the rotting log.  2. During a crisis David sometimes loses his self control.  3. The newscaster slipped on the ice.

Compound Prepositions  According toin back ofon top of  Ahead ofin front ofout of  Apart fromin place of  Aside fromin spite of  As ofinstead of  Because ofin view of  By means of next to  In addition toon account of

 Ex.  1. In spite of its limited popularity in the United States, soccer is one of the most popular sports in the world.  2. The girls played in back of the gym.

Prepositional Phrases  A preposition must always be followed by a noun or a pronoun.  The group of words that start with a preposition and end with a noun is called a prepositional phrase. The noun at the end of the phrase is called the object of the preposition

Example  The pigs found their food under the shallow water.  Under is the preposition  Water is the object of the preposition  Under the shallow water is the prepositional phrase

Example  The creature had hideous green tentacles above his eyes.  above - the preposition  eyes- object of the preposition  above his eyes- prepositional phrase