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Prepositions and Prepositional Phrases

NOUN PHRASE                                                         VERB PHRASE
Subject                         Verb                             Prepositional Phrase
Tassanee Sastravaha   was born                      on April 3, 1947 in a small town in Thailand.
Peter Anderson                        was born                      in September of the same year.
They                             met                               in their junior year of college at a concert.

Prepositions and Prepositional Phrase
Prepositional have been called the biggest little words in English. They are usually quite short and insignificant looking, but they have very important functions. Take a look at these sentences and notice how completely different the meaning of each sentences is.
            A letter was sent to Peter.        A letter was sent for Peter.
            A letter was sent by Peter.        A letter was sent from Peter.
Only the prepositions change, but that is enough to change the meaning entirely.

Used of the Prepositional Phrase in the Sentence.
Many prepositional phrase seem adverbial in meaning, in that they often indicated time, place, manner, or degree, as adverbs do. However, the same prepositional phrase may be used as an adjective, an adverb, or a noun.
The delegates went for a swim before breakfast. (adverb)
A swim before breakfast is better than one after dinner. (adjective)
Before breakfast is a good time to swim.(noun)
Meaning Categories
The following list illustrates the used of prepositional phrase to convey specific kinds of information.
  1. Place, position
Among             The letter might be among those papers.
Between           His shop is between the bank and the post office.
In front of         The ball stopped in front of the bus.
  1. Direction
By way of         Can’t we drive to New York by way of Philadelphia?
Out of               He too some money out of his pocket.
Toward             This road leads toward the sea.
  1. Time
After                Would you please call after eight.
Before              Take this medicine before mealtime.
During              During the winter, I think I’ll go to Florida.
  1. Purpose, reason
For                   Take this medicine for your headache.
  1. Possession
Of                    The leader of the scouts has not arrived yet.
  1. Manner, instrument
By                    I enjoy going there by train.
In                     You can’t go to that restaurant in jeans.
  1. Identification
At                    The shop at the corner sells stamps.
On                    The apartment on the second floor is smaller than ours.
  1. distance
For                   We walked for miles.
  1. Agent
By                    This film was directed by a Czech director.
  1. Material
With                 I must fill my pen with ink.
  1. Quantity
By                    Meat is sold by the pound or by the kilo.

Prepositions with Multiple Meaning
            Some prepositions are used to express a variety of meanings. These may present difficulties. Some of the common prepositions with their various meanings and their most common uses are summarized as follows for reference purpose.
1.         Around
            The police believe that man died around  six o’clock
2.         At
            With a street address if the house number at sunset.
            She lives at 18  Magnolia  Street
            With points in time
            He arrived at 8:00
            With prices
            They are on sale at two dollars a dozen
3.      By
“Alone” (with a reflexive pronoun )
      He lives by himself
  1. For
-   To indicate duration of time
     She played the piano for two hours
            -   “In exchange for”
    He rented the house for very little money
            -   With the beneficiary
               Shall I open the window for you?
            -   “Instead of, “in place of”
                When he was away, his neighbor  did the work for him
            -   With the subject of an infinitive
                It is important for them to arrive early
  1. In
-   With cities, states, countries, continents
    He lives in California
-   With periods of time
    I saw him in January
            -   With lengths of time
                He will come in an hour
            -   With languages
                That opera was originally written in Italian
  1. On
-   To indicate to contact with a surface
    The book is on the table
-   With days of the week and dates
     Summer begins on June 21
-   With the name of a street
    I live on McKinley Street
7.         With
            To indicate association
            She is with a consulting firm
8.         Without
            To indicate the absence of something
            Nothing can live without water

Prepositions That Are Often Confused
In, on, and at, discussed previously, are probably the most often confused English prepositions. Following are some others
1.         Above, over
Above refers to a place higher than a certain point. Over refers to a place directly above a certain point.
The temperature is well above freezing
Over also means “more than “  and  “in the course of’, a period of time.
He is over eighty years old.
2.         Below, under
Below refers to a place lower than a certain point. Under refers to a place directly below  certain point.
That valley is below sea level
Under also means “les than” and “under the supervisor  of “
The children in  this class are under six years ago of age.
3.         Beneath, underneath
Beneath and underneath mean almost the same thing in may users. Generally, both indicate a position lower than a given point. When the meanings diverge, underneath, conveys more specifically the meanings of one object being covered up by another, and beneath may be used in a figurative sense. It may be useful to associate underneath  with under and  beneath with below.
Two hundred feet beneath (below) the surface of the earth, solid rock was found 
The shoes were found underneath a pile of clothes in the closet.
4.         To toward
To is used with verbs of motion and definite destinations. Toward means “in the general direction of”.
We walked to the station
5.         Beside, besides
            Beside means “next to. “ Besides means “in addition to.”
He is sitting beside his brother
Two others won prizes besides us
6.         In, into
            In is used with locations or conditions. Into is used with verbs that show motion
( real or metaphorical ) from on place or state to another
            The child is in the pool. The child jumped into the pool.
7.         Past, beyond
Past is used with verbs of motion to indicate approaching, then passing by a certain point. Beyond refers to a location further away than some specified concrete or abstract point.
The car went past the monument at 10:00  
8.         Between, among
Between refers to position in relation to two persons or things. Among refers to position in relation to three or more persons or things.
I want to put the table between  those two windows
I found your letter among my school papers
9.         Through, throughout
Through refers to motion first into then out of something. Throughout is used with something that is distributed in every part of something.
            Let’s walk through the par
            The news spread throughout the country

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