* But is very seldom a preposition. When it is used as a preposition, but means the same as except—Everyone ate frog legs but Jamie. But usually functions as a coordinating conjunction.

Understand how to form a prepositional phrase.

Prepositions generally introduce prepositional phrases. Prepositional phrases look like this:

preposition + optional modifiers + noun, pronoun, or gerund

Here are some examples:

At school

At = preposition; school = noun.

According to us

According to = preposition; us = pronoun.

By chewing

By = preposition; chewing = gerund.

Under the stove

Under = preposition; the = modifier; stove = noun.

In the crumb-filled, rumpled sheets

In = preposition; the, crumb-filled, rumpled = modifiers; sheets = noun.

Realize that some prepositions also function as subordinate conjunctions.

Some prepositions also function as subordinate conjunctions. These prepositions are after, as, before, since, and until. A subordinate conjunction will have both a subject and a verb following it, forming a subordinate clause.

Look at these examples:

After Sam and Esmerelda kissed goodnight

After = subordinate conjunction; Sam, Esmerelda = subjects; kissed = verb.

As Jerome buckled on the parachute

As = subordinate conjunction; Jerome = subject; buckled = verb.

Before I eat these frog legs

Before = subordinate conjunction; I = subject; eat = verb.

Since we have enjoyed the squid eyeball stew

Since = subordinate conjunction; we = subject; have enjoyed = verb.

Until your hiccups stop

Until = subordinate conjunction; hiccups = subject; stop = verb.

If you find a noun [with or without modifiers] following one of these five prepositions, then all you have is a prepositional phrase. Look at these examples:

After the killer calculus test

After = preposition; the, killer, calculus = modifiers; test = noun.

As a good parent

As = preposition; a, good = modifiers; parent = noun.

Before dinner

Before = preposition; dinner = noun.

Since the breakup

Since = preposition; the = modifier; breakup = noun.

Until midnight

Until = preposition; midnight = noun.

 The words above can be used as prepositions. In order for one of these words to be considered a preposition, it must be part of a prepositional phrase. Here are some examples of a prepositional phrase:

over the hill

behind the door

at Mary's house

without your coat

during lunch

atop Mount Everest

Notice that the prepositional phrase contains no verbs. Generally, they contain an adjective, a noun or pronoun and they can also contain a gerund. The noun or pronoun is the object of the preposition. Prepositional phrases can also contain conjunctions to join two nouns or pronouns as in this example:

underneath sand and rock

The advantage of being able to recognize prepositional phrases in sentences is that neither the subject nor the verb will ever be a part of the prepositional phrase. Consider this sentence: "The coat on the chair is mine." If we eliminate the prepositional phrase, "on the chair" then we can easily see that coat is the subject and is is the verb.

"The coat on the chair is mine."

An activity to learn prepositions is playing preposition bingo. This game was devised by the author of the Easy Grammar series. There are additional printable bingo cards on this web-site on the Preposition Bingo page. Another activity that my children and I would do is to make up prepositional phrases. Using the list of prepositions or our memory, we would make up phrases for the words such as:

after the fall

behind my chair

beyond the sunset

amid the crowd

The children's book, Bears in the Night (Berenstein Bears), is full of prepositional phrases. Your public library might have a copy of this book.

Let's take the prepositions from above and give them objects to form prepositional phrases. To be more like real speech and writing some of the prepositional phrases will have adjectives inside of them.

PREPOSITION...............ADJECTIVES..........OBJECT

to.................................................................................him

up.............................................the................................stairs

down.........................................the red..........................ladder

in..............................................my.................................car

out.............................................the.................................door

around........................................the mulberry .................bush

by...............................................the.................................way

beside................................................................................you

with.............................................a big...............................sigh

without.........................................a.....................................care

sans.....................................................................................clothing

through.........................................the looking.......................glass

past...............................................two..................................streets

over...............................................the...................................rainbow

under..............................................Sarah's.............................chair

underneath.......................................the....................................table

until.........................................................................................tomorrow

That prepositions must always have an object in the most formal English is why a sentence can not end with a preposition. The preposition must have an object.

For instance, the sentence "Who are you talking to?" is wrong in formal English for TWO reasons. The first reason should be readily apparent. The preposition "to" does not have an object.

When we move the "to" so that it will have its object, we find the second mistake: "To who are you talking?" Clearly, "who" should be "whom." The question should be put "To whom are you talking?" (There is information on who and whom if you need help with that.)

You may have noticed that the explanations given here about prepositional phrases contain sentences where prepositions do not have objects. That is because this page is not written in the most formal English. Beginners of English grammar often have difficulty understanding the most formal English, and since this page is to help beginners the most formal English is not used here. Why, you may be asking, does semi-formal and relaxed English often ignore the rule about prepositions having objects? The reason is that English is a Germanic tongue with Latin rules of grammar. A few centuries ago, scholars who appreciated the beauty of English wanted to formalize its rules. At that time, to be educated was to consider Latin the model of logical language structure, and so the scholars made English conform to Latin rules! As funny as that may sound, formal English with its Latin rules is a beautiful, flexible, and precise language. Using formal English willl give you more freedom of expression than will using relaxed English.

Now, let's return to our discussion of prepositonal phrases.

Prepositional phrases are either adjectives or adverbs. When they are adjectives, they modify nouns and pronouns just like regular adjectives do. Prepositional phrases that are adjectives answer the questions

WHOSE?

WHICH ONE?

NUMBER?

WHAT KIND?

For instance, in the sentence, "The ice salesman with red hair took a business trip," the prepositional phrase tells which salesman--the one with red hair.

When prepositional phrases are adverbs, they modify verbs, adverbs, and adjectives, just like regular adverbs do. Prepositional phrases that are adverbs answer the questions

HOW?

WHEN?

WHERE?

WHY?

For instance, in the sentence, "The red-haired ice salesman took a business trip to the head of a comet," the prepositional phrase to the head tells where the trip was taken and so modifies the verb, and the prepostional phrase of a comet is an adverb because if modifies the prepositional phrase to the head.

Since prepostional phrases are either adjectives or adverbs, the object of the prepostion can NEVER be the subject of a sentence. This is important when forming subject-verb agreement because the object of the prepostion must not be confused with the subject, or the subject and verb will not agree.

Another thing to remember about prepositional phrases is that they can have two or even three objects. For instance, in the sentence "She flew to Mars and Saturn," the prepositional phrase "to Mars and Saturn" has two objects: "Mars" and "Saturn."

English Prepositions List

 There are about 150 prepositions in English. Yet this is a very small number when you think of the thousands of other words (nouns, verbs etc). Prepositions are important words. We use individual prepositions more frequently than other individual words. In fact, the prepositions of, to and in are among the ten most frequent words in English. Here is a short list of 70 of the more common one-word prepositions. Many of these prepositions have more than one meaning. Please refer to a dictionary for precise meaning and usage.