Types of Prepositions

There are five different types of prepositions in English grammar.

1. Prepositions of time (ago, before, since…)
2. Prepositions of place (under, behind, between…)
3. Prepositions of movement/ Direction (up, down, over…)
4. Prepositions for agent, instruments, devices, machines…(by, with, on…)
5. Prepositional phrases (in time, on time, in love...)

Preposition examples | Image 

How to Use Prepositions

English can be complicated. Languages in general just have so many different parts of speech and ways to put them together. Luckily, all the rules and types of words can be broken down into manageable sizes. This keeps it from feeling so overwhelming. Were here to help you navigate English and make it seem much easier to understand! This section is focused specifically on preposition rules.

Preposition Rules

As with all areas of grammar, there are rules when it comes to the use of the preposition. Lets dive a little deeper here and take a look at the rules in order to enable us to use the preposition correctly.

Rule #1

As a rule of thumb, the preposition should go before the pronoun or noun to which is has a relationship. However, this is not always the case and there are some exceptions to this rule. Many people are of the belief that a preposition does not belong at the end of a sentence, but by taking a look at the following example, we can see that this is not true.

• This is something I do not agree with.

As you can see, the preposition with has ended the sentence, however, this should only be done if the preposition provides relevant information to the sentence. If you were to add the phrase with which into the middle of this sentence, the final preposition would not be necessary, lets take a look at this:

• This is something with which I do not agree (with)

We are now going to look at some further examples of times when a preposition might come at the end of a sentence.

• Where did the man come from?
• How many of these people can he depend on?
• Who are you going on holiday with?

Rule #2

When using the preposition like which means similar, you should follow it with an object of a preposition, this is either a noun phrase, noun, or pronoun and not with a subject and verb. In order to help you to remember this, you should always avoid the use of like when using a verb. Lets take a look at some examples of this.

• She looks like her father
• She looks like her father does.

The first sentence is correct as the preposition like is referring to the noun father. However, the following sentence does not make sense since the preposition like now leads us to believe that she looks (with her eyes) in the same manner that her father looks with his eyes.

When making a comparison using a subject and verb, you should use the word as rather than like because this will make much more sense. For example:

• He looks like hes laughing.
• He looks as though hes laughing.

The second sentence in the above example is correct. It is important to remember to only use like when you are saying that something is similar. If the word like cannot be reasonably replaced with similar, then as should be used in its place. To make this clearer, lets look at an example.

• Do like the teacher asks.
• Do as the teacher asks.

The first sentence could also be worded as do similarly as the teacher asks and this would not make sense, therefore the second sentence is grammatically correct.

The best way of choosing between like and as is to remember that like should be used when there is no verb, and as should be used when there is a verb.

Rule #3

When using the verb to have you should never replace it with the preposition of. This is not grammatically correct. Look at the following examples:

• He should not have done that.
• He should not of done that.

The first sentence is correct, although many English speakers may incorrectly use the preposition of, this is not how it should be done.

Rule #4

If you are going to use the word different then it is usual to follow it with the preposition from. In some cases, you will notice that the term different than may be used, and whilst this is not entirely grammatically incorrect, it polarises the statement rather than making it unchallengeable.

• He is different than she is.
• He is different from her.

Rule #5

If you wish to refer to a motion towards something then you should use the preposition into instead of in. Lets take a look at some examples of this.

• She walked into the room.
• She walked in the room.

The above example shows that into makes more sense and is grammatically correct rather than the use of the word in. Lets see another example of this.

• They dived into the sea.
• They dived in the sea.

If you are talking about something already being in something and not going towards it, then you would use the word in and not into. Take a look at the following two sentences and see which one sounds correct.

• She swam in the ocean.
• She swam into the ocean.