
Prepositions are used before nouns or pronouns to show relationships with other words, indicating time, place, or conditions. Some common examples of prepositions are: at, by, for, from, in, into, on, to, with, between, since, etc.
Let's explore their general rules.
General rules about the use of the most common prepositions
Prepositions of time: at, on, in, between, for, since
AT: designate specific times
ON: designate days and dates.
- E.g. The Australian financial year ends at midnight on 31 June.
IN or BETWEEN: non-specific times during a day, a month, a season, or a year.
- E.g. Changes to superannuation legislation were made in September 2007.
- E.g. Between May 2006 and July 2007, individuals were allowed to make up to $1 million in after-tax contributions.
FOR: when we measure time e.g. seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, and years.
- E.g. The survey ran for 30 minutes.
SINCE: describe the duration of an action from a specific date or time.
- E.g. The research project has been ongoing since March 2013.
Prepositions of place: at, on, in
IN: the names of land areas, cities, states, countries and continents.
- E.g. The 2014 G-20 Summit will be held in Brisbane, Queensland.
AT: for specific addresses or locations.
- E.g. It will be held at the Convention & Exhibition Centre in Brisbane.
ON: to designate names of streets, avenues, etc.
- E.g. The Convention & Exhibition Centre is on Merivale Street, Brisbane.
Prepositions of movement: to, toward, towards
TO: express movement towards a place.
- E.g. He went to the conference on implementation of sustainability in organisations.
TOWARD/TOWARDS: express movement in the direction of a particular place or outcome. Both words are interchangeable. However, some references explain that ‘toward’ is more common in American English and ‘towards’ is British English.
- E.g. The research team travelled towards the top of the summit.
Prepositions with Nouns, Adjectives and Verbs
Sometimes prepositions are automatically linked with particular nouns, adjectives or verbs.
Some examples are:
Nouns and Prepositions | Adjectives and Prepositions | Verbs and Prepositions |
approval of | aware of | argue for/against/with |
belief in | familiar with | agree with |
confusion about | interested in | belong to |
reason for | similar to | find out |
There are occasions in English when no preposition is used. Some examples of these words are: inside, outside, downstairs and upstairs.
Recommended Reference:
Swan, M. (20050. Practical English usage (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press.