Many prepositions indicate place, location or position. Prepositions are important for English sentence structure - they add meaning to a sentence.
How many prepositions can you list? There are a great number of prepositions in the English language, and, of these, some exist as pairs of opposites. So we have, for example, above/below; over/under; in/out. Other prepositions have no clear opposite: through, against, beside, around, etc.
How can you spot a preposition? Unless you know all of the prepositions by heart, you'll first need to find the nouns and then see whether any of them are part of a phrase which gives some type of positional information. Which are the prepositions in this sentence? "He opened the door, found the light switch on the wall to the right, switched it on and looked at the bat dangling from the rafters."
The nouns are: "He" (pronoun), "door", "light switch", "wall", "right" (you can tell because of the determiner, "the"), "it" (pronoun), "bat" and "rafters". Phew!
"He" is the subject pronoun; "door" is the direct object; "light switch" is another direct object. "On the wall to the right" gives extra information about the light switch and consists of two prepositional phrases "on the wall", "to the right", with the prepositions being "on" and "to". "At the bat" and "from the rafters" are also prepositional phrases telling us where he looked and where the bat was located, so "at" and "from" are also prepositions. As you can see, it is possible to have multiple prepositions in the same sentence!
Have a go at our second quiz on the subject.
1.
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Select the prepositions from the following sentence. The bookshop is opposite the station next to the field. |
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bookshop, station |
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is, next to |
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opposite, next to |
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station, field |
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2.
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Select the prepositions from the following sentence. The book is on the table underneath the cup of tea. |
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book, cup |
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book, table |
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is, tea |
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on, underneath |
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3.
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Select the prepositions from the following sentence. The clock hangs on the wall just below the picture. |
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clock, picture |
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clock, wall |
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hang, picture |
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on, below |
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4.
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Select the prepositions from the following sentence. Walk beside the river until you reach the bend. |
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beside, until |
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river, bend |
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Walk, bend |
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Walk, reach |
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5.
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Select the prepositions from the following sentence. The waterfall is behind the bridge next to the forest. |
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behind, next to |
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bridge, forest |
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waterfall, forest |
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waterfall, bridge |
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6.
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Select the prepositions from the following sentence. The bird's nest is between the rocks underneath the cliff. |
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between, underneath |
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is, undergrowth |
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next, rocks |
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rocks, cliff |
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7.
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Select the prepositions from the following sentence. The aeroplane flies above the clouds and across the sea. |
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above, across |
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aeroplane, clouds |
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clouds, sea |
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flies, across |
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8.
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Select the prepositions from the following sentence. The ladder is leaning against the wall inside the garage. |
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against, inside |
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ladder, wall |
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leaning, inside |
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wall, garage |
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9.
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Select the prepositions from the following sentence. The island is far across the sea beyond the horizon. |
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across, beyond |
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is, far |
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island, horizon |
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sea, horizon |
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10.
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Select the prepositions from the following sentence. Your coffee is on the table under the tree in the garden. |
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coffee, table, garden |
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coffee, table, tree |
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on, under, in |
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Your, is, the |
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1.
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Select the prepositions from the following sentence. The bookshop is opposite the station next to the field. |
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[ ] |
bookshop, station |
[ ] |
is, next to |
[x] |
opposite, next to |
[ ] |
station, field |
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2.
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Select the prepositions from the following sentence. The book is on the table underneath the cup of tea. |
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book, cup |
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book, table |
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is, tea |
[x] |
on, underneath |
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3.
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Select the prepositions from the following sentence. The clock hangs on the wall just below the picture. |
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[ ] |
clock, picture |
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clock, wall |
[ ] |
hang, picture |
[x] |
on, below |
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4.
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Select the prepositions from the following sentence. Walk beside the river until you reach the bend. |
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[x] |
beside, until |
[ ] |
river, bend |
[ ] |
Walk, bend |
[ ] |
Walk, reach |
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5.
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Select the prepositions from the following sentence. The waterfall is behind the bridge next to the forest. |
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[x] |
behind, next to |
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bridge, forest |
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waterfall, forest |
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waterfall, bridge |
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6.
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Select the prepositions from the following sentence. The bird's nest is between the rocks underneath the cliff. |
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[x] |
between, underneath |
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is, undergrowth |
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next, rocks |
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rocks, cliff |
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7.
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Select the prepositions from the following sentence. The aeroplane flies above the clouds and across the sea. |
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[x] |
above, across |
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aeroplane, clouds |
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clouds, sea |
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flies, across |
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8.
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Select the prepositions from the following sentence. The ladder is leaning against the wall inside the garage. |
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[x] |
against, inside |
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ladder, wall |
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leaning, inside |
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wall, garage |
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9.
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Select the prepositions from the following sentence. The island is far across the sea beyond the horizon. |
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[x] |
across, beyond |
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is, far |
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island, horizon |
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sea, horizon |
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10.
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Select the prepositions from the following sentence. Your coffee is on the table under the tree in the garden. |
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[ ] |
coffee, table, garden |
[ ] |
coffee, table, tree |
[x] |
on, under, in |
[ ] |
Your, is, the |
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