The Philippine Call Center

Institute (PCCI)

Training for
Global
Competency
 The uses of preposition
Learning Objectives:
After reading this information sheet, you
must be able to:

1.Identify the correct use of preposition.

2.Obtain and convey information in

accordance with accepted convent
 What is a Preposition?

A preposition links nouns, 
pronouns and phrases to other
words in a sentence.

The word or phrase that the

preposition introduces is called
the object of the preposition.
A preposition usually indicates the temporal,
spatial or logical relationship of its object to
the rest of the sentence as in the following
examples:
The book is on the table.
The book is beneath the table.
The book is leaning against the table.
The book is beside the table.
She held the book over the table.
She read the book during class.

In each of the preceding sentences, a preposition

locates the noun "book" in space or in time.
A prepositional phrase is made up of the
preposition, its object and any associated 
adjectives or adverbs.
A prepositional phrase can function as a noun, an
adjective, or an adverb. The most common
prepositions are "about," "above," "across," "after,"
"against," "along," "among," "around," "at,"
"before," "behind," "below," "beneath," "beside,"
"between," "beyond," "but," "by," "despite," "down,"
"during," "except," "for," "from," "in," "inside,"
"into," "like," "near," "of," "off," "on," "onto," "out,"
"outside," "over," "past," "since," "through,"
"throughout," "till," "to," "toward," "under,"
"underneath," "until," "up," "upon," "with,"
"within," and "without."
Each of the highlighted words in the following
sentences is a preposition:
The children climbed the mountain without fear.

In this sentence, the preposition "without" introduces the

noun "fear." The prepositional phrase "without fear"
functions as an adverb describing how the children
climbed.

There was rejoicing throughout the land when the

government was defeated.

Here, the preposition "throughout" introduces the 

noun phrase "the land." The prepositional phrase acts as
an adverb describing the location of the rejoicing.
The spider crawled slowly along the banister.

The preposition "along" introduces the noun phrase "the banister" and
the prepositional phrase "along the banister" acts as an adverb,
describing where the spider crawled.

The dog is hiding under the porch because it knows it will

be punished for chewing up a new pair of shoes.

Here the preposition "under" introduces the prepositional phrase

"under the porch," which acts as an adverb modifying the 
compound verb "is hiding.“

The screenwriter searched for the manuscript he was

certain was somewhere in his office.

Similarly in this sentence, the preposition "in" introduces a

prepositional phrase "in his office," this acts as an adverb describing
the location of the missing papers.
Some rules to follow in the use of preposition:
1. Make sure that you do not omit a preposition that is grammatically
necessary or idiomatically used in the sentence.
He has full intention of and complete interest in studying.

2. When the objects are not too far apart, the repetition of the
preposition is not necessary.
The new car is exposed to the wind, the rain and the sun.

3. Do not use the preposition of after remember, recall and recollect.

I don’t remember reading that report.
I don’t remember having seen that report.

4. The use of at and to with where is not necessary.

Where is the meeting going to be (at)?
I wonder where the agent has gone (to).

5. Be careful when using the preposition “about” in sentences.

(correct) The meeting started at about three o’clock.
(correct) The meeting started at three o’clock.
(faulty) The meeting started about three o’clock.
Prepositions of Location or Place
Prepositions of Location or Place: at, on, and in

We use at for specific addresses.

Grammar English lives at 55 Boretz Road in
Durham.

We use on to designate names of streets,

avenues, etc.
Her house is on Boretz Road.

And we use in for the names of land-areas

(towns, counties, states, countries, and
continents).
She lives in Durham.
Durham is in Windham County.
Windham County is in Connecticut.
WE USE AT
When you’re thinking of a place as a point in space
She waited at the bus stop for over twenty minutes.
I was at Jessica’s house last night.

With words such as ‘back’, ‘bottom’, ‘end’, ‘front’, and

‘top’ to talk about the different parts of a place
Ms. Hathaway was waiting at the bottom of the stairs.
I saw a cab at the end of the street.

With public places and institutions (also with ‘home’,

and ‘work’)
I have to be at the station by ten o’ clock.
They landed at a small airport.

Before house numbers when you’re talking about

addresses
They used to live at 79 Runyon Ave.
WE USE IN
When you’re talking about a place as an area
Country or geographical region
When I was in France, it was terribly cold.

A thousand homes in the east of Louisiana suffered damages.

City, town, or village

I grew up in Akron Ohio.

They currently reside in Miami, Florida.

A building when you’re talking about the people/objects in it

We had dinner in the restaurant.

She spent the night in a fancy hotel.

With containers and you’re talking about things inside them

He kept the letters in a box.

Her money is always kept neatly in her wallet.

COMPARE THE USE OF AT & IN
I had a hard day at the office.
(‘at’ emphasizes the office as a general/public
place)

I left my coat in the office.

(‘in’ emphasizes that your coat is inside the office)

There’s a good film at the cinemas.

(‘at’ emphasizes the cinema as a public place)

It was very cold in the cinema.

(‘in’ emphasizes cinema as a building)
WE USE ON
When you’re thinking of a place as a surface

I sat down on the couch.

The keys are on the table.

With words such as TV or radio to indicate

broadcast

I heard their new song on the radio. Did you see

the news on TV?

With street names without the house number

Marshall lived on 8 Mile.

She always hangs out on Phoenix Drive.
Prepositions of Time
Prepositions of Time: at, on, and in

We use at to designate specific times.

The train is due at 12:15 p.m.

We use on to designate days and dates.

My brother is coming on Monday.
We're having a party on the Fourth of July.

We use in for nonspecific times during a day, a

month, a season, or a year.
She likes to jog in the morning.
It's too cold in winter to run outside.
He started the job in 1971.
He's going to quit in August.
Imagine a pyramid divided horizontally into 3
groups.
1. At the top of the pyramid you have “AT” and this
is used for the smallest in time: hours
(Example: I’ll meet you AT 7 p.m.)

2. In the middle of the pyramid you have “ON” and

this is used for bigger time: days
(Example: See you ON Saturday.)

3. At the bottom you have “IN” and this is used for

everything else that is bigger than hours or days

(Examples: I was born IN 1964. He takes holidays

IN January. They played great music IN the 80's.)
Example: Thomas was born at 4:00 in the afternoon
on Sunday in February in 1975. He died a week
later, on February 18.
Prepositions of Time: for and since
We use for when we measure time
(seconds, minutes, hours, days, months,
years).
He held his breath for seven minutes.
She's lived there for seven years.
The British and Irish have been quarreling
for seven centuries.

We use since with a specific date or time.

He's worked here since 1970.
She's been sitting in the waiting room since
two-thirty.
Prepositions of Movement or Direction
We use to in order to express movement toward a place.

They were driving to work together.

She's going to the dentist's office this morning.

Toward and towards are also helpful prepositions to

express movement. These are simply variant spellings of
the same word; use whichever sounds better to you.

We're moving toward the light.

This is a big step towards the project's completion.

Note: With the words home, downtown, uptown, inside,

outside, downstairs, upstairs, we use no preposition.
Grandma went upstairs
Grandpa went home.
They both went outside.
Transport Prepositions
WE USE ‘IN’, ‘INTO’, AND ‘OUT OF’
When you’re talking about private vehicles, cabs, or
ambulances
She drove us in her car.
They got into a cab.
WE USE ‘ON’, ‘ONTO’, AND ‘OFF’
When you’re talking about those with exact routes
(most public transports i.e. plane, train, bus)
We get on a bus on our way to work.
She stepped off the train in a hurry.

WE CAN USE ‘IN’, ‘INTO’, AND ‘OUT OF’

With transportation with exact routes if you’re focusing on
the physical position/movement rather than the form of
transport
The passengers panicked in the plane.
We jumped out of the bus and ran after the thief.
Other commonly-used Prepositions
INTO- to enter the interior of an object or space
> into the building
BY- to go past a place
> by our house
- to be situated near
> by your side, by the beach
- authorship and cause
> by Longfellow, by a stray bullet
TO - definite destination > to the office, to the US

TOWARD- no definite destination > towards the east

OF- relationship between part and whole

> half of the group
-origin > of ethnic descent
- material > made of wood
- content > cup of coffee