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How to Use English Prepositions

Prepositions might seem unimportant. They're not as concrete as nouns, as active as verbs, as vivid as adjectives or as lively as adverbs. However, without prepositions, you'd have trouble getting your nouns to do what you want them to do. For example, a mouse might be scurrying across a frozen lake, through a crowded auditorium, toward the edge of a cliff or under a carpet, but not without the prepositions "across," "through," "toward" or "under."

Instructions

    • 1

      Use the prepositions "on," "by," "at" and "in" followed by a noun or a day or time to express where and when an event takes place. For example, "I saw her in New York on the subway at 7 a.m. on a Tuesday."

    • 2

      Use the prepositions "near," "among," "above," "below," "between," "opposite" and "in" followed by a noun to express place relationships. For example, "Near the North Pole and among polar bears, I sat opposite a penguin in an igloo between two icebergs."

    • 3

      Use the preposition "at" after verbs such as "smile," "laugh" and "look" to identify the object of the verb. For example, "Every time I watch this movie, I smile at the jokes, laugh at the pratfalls and look at my watch."

    • 4

      Use the preposition "of" after verbs such as "approve," "dream," "taste" and "smell" to express the object or a quality of the verb. For example, "Psychiatrists do not approve of patients who dream of flowers that taste of peppermint and closets that smell of bananas."

    • 5

      Use the preposition "for" after verbs such as "ask," wait," "call," "look" and "wish" to identify the object of that verb. For example, "I won't wait for you or look for your shoes if you just sit there calling for help, asking for assistance and wishing for luck."

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