Unit 2: Prepositions

PREPOSITIONS

Prepositions are words that connect nouns and pronouns to other words and show the relationship between the words. While there are hundreds of prepositions, some of the more common prepositions are:

about  along  behind  beyond  during  inside  off  over  to  up

above  among  below  but  except  into  on  since  toward  upon

across  around  beneath  by  for  like  onto  through  under  with

after  at  beside  despite  from  near  out  throughout  underneath  within

against  before  between  down  in  of  outside  till  until  without

Even though knowing individual prepositions is important, you will use prepositional phrases far more frequently. A prepositional phrase begins with a preposition and ends with a noun or pronoun and includes any words that come in between the two. Study the examples below.

• in the village
• despite the extensive remodeling project
• underneath the grey blanket
• near him
• between you and me
• with her

Note how each phrase above begins with a preposition and ends with a noun or pronoun. You will learn more about prepositional phrases as well as other phrases in Week 4.