What is a preposition?

Prepositions are words that usually go before a noun or a pronoun. They express things like:

Time

  • I start classes at 8am.

Place 

  • The food is in the fridge. 

Movement/direction

  • The lions are walking towards the safari car. 

Why are they so difficult?

Often they aren’t easy to translate, but even when there’s a translation, it doesn’t always apply, because English prepositions have lots of meanings and uses. 

For example, ‘over‘:

Expresses direction/place

  • The plane flew over the mountains 

Expresses a duration of time

  • I worked on a project over the weekend 

Means ‘more than’

  • The athlete is over six feet tall. 

TOP TIPS!

  • Learn prepositions in categories like time, place and movement/direction
  • Learn phrases in chunks like depend on, consist of, agree with, believe in

To do