The "Little Picasso" Art Contest Is Back!
pop Up
Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Identifying Prepositions

A preposition links a noun or pronoun to another word in a sentence. Prepositions tell more about time, place, and motion in a sentence. They also describe the relationship of a noun to a verb, adverb or adjective. Without them, sentences would be choppy and would not make sense.

Commonly Used Prepositions
There are about 150 prepositions in the English language!

But, we are only going to focus on 10 of the most commonly used prepositions, that include:

about across at by for
from of over to with

Prepositional Phrases
A preposition is part of a prepositional phrase. A prepositional phrase includes the preposition and its object. It starts with a preposition and is followed by a noun, pronoun or gerund that helps to connect the phrase to the rest of the sentence.

Given below are some examples of prepositional phrases. Here, the prepositions are underlined.

  • at the clock
  • from England
  • with us
  • by the store
  • about five rows
  • across the street
  • for my birthday
  • to the lake
  • over there
  • of cereal

Read some example sentences below. Notice how the prepositions are used to connect words in a sentence.

1. She read the book by herself.

2. Annette looked at the clock.

3. Go over the bridge and then turn left.

4. Mr. Sam was standing across the hallway.

5. Bring a grocery bag with you when we collect garbage.

6. Thomas told us about his trip downtown.

7. The batch of cookies we baked is delicious!

8. Tom made chicken for dinner.

9. We went to the movies.

10. Tina took the mail from the post office.

List of Common Prepositions
Here is a list of some common prepositions:

abroad alongside before during into opposite since under
about amid behind except like outside than underneath
above amidst below excepting mid over through until
absent among beneath following near past till up
across around beside for next plus times upon
after as between from of regarding to with
against at by in off round toward within
along atop despite inside on save towards without © 2014. All Rights Reserved.