What is Preposition?

A preposition is a word which expresses relationship of a noun or a pronoun to other words of the sentence.

A preposition is used before a noun or pronoun to show the relationship of the same noun or pronoun to other words of the sentence.e.g. ‘in, of, to, at, by, for, with, under, above, into, onto, upon, about, behind, beside, before, after, towards, inside, outside, below, around’ are commonly used examples of prepositions.

Examples:

Words of the sentence (i.e. subject, verb)	Preposition	Noun or Pronoun
He was sitting	on	a table.
She is going	to	college.
There is a cat	under	the bed.
They are dancing	in	the room.
He was drawing a picture	on	a wall.
His family lives	in	America.
She was knocking	at	the door.
She is throwing stones	into	a river.
The students were discussing	about	the exam.
The meeting was held	on	25th December.
They will come here	in	July.
The party will start	at	8 P.M
He goes to factory	by	bus.
The lock cannot be opened	with	the key.
This book has been written	by	John Keats.
The guests were invited	by	her.

In the above examples, all the prepositions express relationship of a noun or a pronoun ot the other words of the sentence.

Different preposition are used for time, place, direction, agent, device and so on.

Some of the examples are follows:

Preposition for time e.g. in, on, at, etc.
Preposition for place e.g. in, on, at, etc
Preposition for direction e.g. to, towards, into, through etc.
Preposition for agent e.g. by
Preposition for device, instrument or machines. e.g. on, by, with, etc.

⇒ What is a Prepositional Phrase?

A preposition phrase, in a sentence, is a group of words consisting of a preposition and a noun.

It is a group of a preposition, a noun and other linked word within a sentence. The noun in a prepositional phrase is called object of the preposition.

e.g. on a table, on a paper, in a room, at the door, into a river.

In the following examples, the underlined words are prepositional phrases.

He was sitting on a table.
She is writing on a paper.
Kids were dancing in a room.
He is throwing ball into the river.
Someone is knocking at the door.

⇒ What is Dependent Preposition?

Some prepositions are always used after a specific verb in a sentence to complement the sense of the verb. Such a preposition is called a dependent preposition.

Example: She was waiting for her mother.

The preposition ‘for’ is a dependent preposition for the verb ‘wait’.

Read the following examples to understand.