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Prepositions have important general characteristics, knowledge of which can prevent grammar errors
INDIVIDUAL PREPOSITIONS VERSUS PREPOSITIONS IN GENERAL
Prepositions come up regularly in these pages, but the focus is usually on particular ones rather than prepositions in general (clicking on “prepositions” in the CATEGORIES menu on the right of this page will bring up such posts as 31. Prepositions after Action Nouns 1, 73. Prepositions for Saying How, 111. Words with a Typical Preposition and 229. Metaphorical Prepositions).
One does not have to study many individual prepositions, however, to realise that there are a variety of what might be called general preposition characteristics. Here I wish to highlight seven of the more important of these characteristics, in the belief that their appreciation might help some grammar errors to be avoided. The approach is the same as in 120. Six Things to Know about Adverbs, 174. Eight Things to Know about Conjunctions and 283. Lesser-Known Features of Adjectives.
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LIST OF GENERAL PREPOSITION CHARACTERISTICS
1. Need for a Noun-like Partner
Prepositions resemble adjectives in usually partnering a noun or equivalent (the whole combination often being called a “preposition phrase”). One way to distinguish prepositions from adjectives is by their position when the partner noun has the: prepositions go before both words, e.g. ACROSS the Nile, adjectives go in between, e.g. the BLUE Nile (see 283. Lesser-Known Features of Adjectives, #1).
One interesting word in this respect is worth, which at first sight seems to be an adjective but is clearly shown to be a preposition by expressions like worth the effort (see 226. Words with Complicated Grammar 2, #1).
Prepositions can sometimes come after their partner instead of before. This is possible, for example, when the partner is a question word, e.g. Who…to? What…with? (see 285. Complexities of Question Words, #6), or a relative pronoun:
(a) A noun will usually follow the preposition that it depends on.
The more formal equivalent of this is, of course, …on which it depends.
Pronouns like that are one of various types of noun-like word that a preposition can partner. Others include verbs with -ing (see 70. Gerunds), lone adjectives with the, e.g. by the poor, some other lone adjectives, e.g. in full, at best (see 85. Preposition Phrases and Corresponding Adverbs), and small adverbs of time or place, e.g. for now, from here. Even ordinary statements with a subject and verb can follow a preposition if they have the right “joining device”, such as a question word (see 57. Indirect Questions in Formal Writing, example #k) or the fact that (see 153. Conjunction Uses of “that”, #4).
If a word seems to be a preposition but lacks a partner noun, then it might instead be a preposition-like adverb of the kind found in two-word verbs (e.g. drop out) and in a special use after BE (e.g. the time is up). For details, see 139. Phrasal Verbs and 154. Lone Prepositions after BE.
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2. Creation of Adjective or Adverb Phrases
A preposition and its partner word(s) together act like either an adjective or an adverb. Some combinations allow both uses, others only one (see 164. Fixed Preposition Phrases). Some can even be “described” by a preceding adverb, just as adjectives and adverbs can (see 262. Adverbs that Describe a Preposition).
In the adjective-like use, there must be a noun for the phrase to describe. As with ordinary adjectives, this noun will normally be either directly adjacent or separated by a link verb like BE in between. However, adjacent nouns usually come before preposition phrases, rather than after them as they typically do with adjectives. Here is an example, the noun in question being travel:
(b) Travel BY TRAIN is becoming increasingly popular.
For more examples of the adjective-like use, see 53. “As”, “Like” and “Such As”, 72. Causal Prepositions and 215. Naming Exceptions.
Adverb-like preposition phrases, by contrast, have the same variability as adverbs (see 120. Six Things to Know about Adverbs), being linkable especially with verbs (e.g. went by train), preceding adjectives (e.g. happy with the situation) and whole sentences (see 121. Sentence-Spanning Adverbs). In many cases there is a corresponding ordinary adverb of similar meaning and even spelling (see 85. Preposition Phrases & Corresponding Adverbs). Prepositions at the start of a sentence nearly always make adverb-like phrases (usually with a comma after them):
(c) ACCORDING TO PLATO, the soul belongs to an ideal world of perfect forms.
The ability of preposition phrases to be used like either adjectives or adverbs sometimes creates alternative possible interpretations. A common one is when the phrase comes between a noun and the end of the sentence (see 124. Structures with a Double Meaning 1, #2). In the following example, who had the stick?
(d) The robbers hit the old man WITH A STICK.
If with a stick is adjectival, its noun is the old man, meaning that he had the stick. However, if with a stick is adverbial, saying something about the verb hit, the stick must have belonged to the robbers. Readers normally decide whether a use is adjectival or adverbial on the basis of which makes the best sense according to the surrounding sentences or their knowledge of the world. Sometimes this needs careful thought, though: for a use of from that one learner reported as confusing, see 3. Multi-Use Words.
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3. Ability to be Multi-Word
Sentence (c) has the two-word preposition according to. Prepositions of two, three or even four words are quite common in English. In all cases, however, the last word will be a familiar shorter preposition like to. Other examples include in terms of, on the basis of, depending on, in relation to, because of, on (the) top of, in addition to, apart from, instead of, prior to, subsequent to, by means of and in front of. For more, see 221. Multi-Word Prepositions.
A few multi-word prepositions comprise two ordinary ones joined together by and, e.g. above and beyond, in and around and over and above (see 209. Fixed Phrases with “and”, #5). Similar to multi-word prepositions are a few “compound” ones (formed by joining separate words into one – see 26. One Word or Two?), for example, throughout, without, upon, alongside and into.
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4. Similarity to Conjunctions
Prepositions are easily confused with conjunctions because they can often express the same kind of meaning – they differ more in their grammar than their meaning. Compare:
(e) (PREPOSITION) Car use grew during the 20th century.
(f) (CONJUNCTION) Car use grew as the 20th century progressed.
These sentences clearly have very similar meanings. The grammatical difference is that after the preposition during there is just a noun, whereas the conjunction as needs a verb as well (progressed), additional to the main one in the sentence (grew). For a fuller description of conjunctions, see 174. Eight Things to Know about Conjunctions.
The similarity between prepositions and conjunctions is reflected in the fact that some prepositions and related conjunctions have the same spelling. The main ones are after, as, before, since and until:
(g) (PREPOSITION) Uganda was ruled by Britain until its independence in the 1960s.
(h) (CONJUNCTION) Uganda was ruled by Britain until it achieved independence in the 1960s.
One major benefit of the similarity between prepositions and conjunctions is that it can help paraphrasing (see 205. Paraphrasable Prepositions).
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5. Inability to Precede the Subject or Object of a Sentence
A noun directly after a preposition cannot usually be the subject or object of a sentence (see 8. Object-Dropping Errors and 12. Singular and Plural Verb Choices). This means that the following sentences are all ungrammatical:
(i) *By working hard brings success.
(j) *In London is cool in summer.
(k) *Near the station means commuting is easy.
The first two here are easily corrected by removing the preposition (for more on by + -ing, see 73. Prepositions for Saying How). An alternative correction in (j) is to add a new noun or pronoun that can serve as the subject, such as the weather or it. Addition is also the way to correct (k) – e.g. living – though here it can only be before the preposition phrase.
Object nouns are usually bound by the same preposition rule, but an important exception occurs when the preposition is part of a two-word “prepositional” verb like DEPEND ON (see next section). Slightly different are “indirect” objects, which can be used either with or without a preposition (see 126. Verbs with an Indirect Object).
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6. Ability to Form Prepositional Verbs
Prepositional verbs comprise a verb and a preposition, with or without a noun in between. The preposition is considered to be part of the verb rather than the beginning of a subsequent preposition phrase. Compare:
(l) (PREPOSITIONAL VERB) Plants depend on sunlight.
(m) (VERB + PREPOSITION) Plants thrive in well-watered soil.
Sentence (l) has a prepositional verb + object, while (m) has an ordinary verb + adverbial formed of a preposition phrase.
Prepositional verbs also have to be distinguished from “phrasal” verbs such as SWITCH ON, which contain a preposition-like adverb. Phrasal verbs are recognisable through being able to have an object noun before their adverb as well as after it: we can say either switch the light on, for example, or switch on the light (see 139. Phrasal Verbs). For more examples of prepositional verbs, see 42. Unnecessary Prepositions, 44. Troublesome Prepositional Verbs, 108. Formal and Informal Words and 123. Prepositional Verbs Containing a Noun.
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7. Importance in Both Grammar & Vocabulary
Prepositions tend to be thought of as a part of grammar, in the way that conjunctions and pronouns are, whereas in reality many are best classified as vocabulary instead. Some of their important grammar uses are by and of respectively with the subjects and objects of “action” nouns (see 31. Prepositions after Action Nouns 1 and 49. Prepositions after Action Nouns 2), by after passive verbs, for before some purpose nouns (see 60. Purpose Sentences with “For”), with before an “instrument” (see 73. Prepositions for Saying How), and because of to introduce a reason (see 72. Causal Prepositions).
When a preposition use is vocabulary-like, it is often necessitated by the presence of a particular other word, whose dictionary entry it appears in. The other word might be a verb (see the previous section), a preceding adjective (e.g. expert at something – see 203. Expanding an Adjective with Words after it), a preceding noun (e.g. a need for something – see 252. Descriptive Wording after Nouns 1), or a following noun (e.g. on a map – see 111. Words with a Typical Preposition).
Another vocabulary-like use is in places that allow various alternative preposition meanings. This often happens, for example, when a preposition expresses a basic meaning of place, direction or time – as in to the south (see 151. Ways of Using Compass Words), where in, into, near, from etc. are also possible, and on Friday, which also allows by, before, after etc. Among these are found prepositions of a more metaphorical kind, such as behind meaning “causing” and under meaning “ruled by” (see 229. Metaphorical Prepositions).
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