Prepositions and dependent prepositions

English (Précis and Composition) · Grammar · Prepositions, conjunctions, adjectives, adverbs. The idea in plain words, the rules to remember, the mistake to avoid and a worked example, written and checked by Mega Lecture.

Test this topic free All English (Précis and Composition) topics

The idea

Preposition questions are of two kinds. In the first kind the preposition carries a meaning of time, place or direction, and you can reason it out: a point, a surface, an enclosed space, a movement from one side to the other.

In the second kind the preposition is fixed by the word before it. We say depend on, fond of, familiar with, prevent from. There is no logic to work out here; these pairs must be learnt as single units, the way you learn spellings.

Watch also for verbs that take no preposition in English although they take one in Urdu, such as discuss, reach and resemble.

Rules to remember

Time: at + clock time, night, noon; on + day or date; in + month, year, season, the morning. by = not later than.
Place: at + a point (at the gate); in + an enclosed area, city or country; on + a surface. Arrive in a city, arrive at a station.
between for two people or things; among for more than two taken as a group.
Movement: into (entering), through (from one side to the other), across (over a surface), towards (in the direction of).
Fixed pairs: depend on, insist on, rely on; fond of, proud of, jealous of, accused of; charged with, familiar with; prevent from, differ from.
senior, junior, superior, inferior, prior and prefer take 'to', not 'than'.
No preposition after discuss, reach, resemble, marry, order, or enter (a room).

Common mistake

Adding a preposition that English does not need, as in 'He reached at the station' or 'She married with her cousin'. Write 'reached the station' and 'married her cousin'.

Worked example

Fill both gaps: She has been absent college Monday.

The adjective 'absent' has a fixed preposition: absent from.
'Monday' is a starting point, and the verb is in the present perfect, so the time word is 'since'.
'for' would need a length of time, such as 'for three days'.

Answer: from; since

Ask about this

Type what you are stuck on. The helper finds the explanation, worked examples and the notes to read, free and instant.

Read the full notes

Keep going

← Nouns: number, countability and forms Conjunctions and connectors →Take a English (Précis and Composition) test