Why are prepositions needed in English? The preposition of in English

Only we publish the most complete and understandable table of prepositions in English language with examples. Any word can be translated by double click. We recommend that you learn this topic by heart.

Pretext	Meaning	Examples
at	1. Location (at, at, at, at a certain point) 2. Time (in hours)	She is at school. She is sitting at my table. Let us meet at 5 p.m.!
in	1. Location (in a separate space) 2. Time (in months, years) 3. Work written in some language	He is in the study. The book is in my table. Summer begins in June. It took place in 2002. This article is written in English.
on	1. Location (on horizontal and vertical surfaces) 2. Dedicated to something, on the topic (about, about) 3. Time (in days)	The book is on my table. The picture is on the wall.This is an article on history. I was born on the 5th of November,
from	1. Direction (from, from) 2. Time (s, from)	The train is coming from Moscow. Take the pencil from the table.I'll be busy from 10 a.m.
to	1. Direction (to, to) 2. Time (up to some point) 3. Corresponds to the dative case	We came to Moscow. They went to the theatre.I'll be busy from 10 p.m. to 3 p.m. Give this book to me.
since	Time (from, from some point)	I'll have a rest since July till August.
till	Time (before, until some point)	Till Friday I'll be very busy.
into	Direction (inward)	Put the book into the bag.
onto	Direction (on, to the surface of something)	Put the pen from the drawer onto the table.
before	Time (before, before)	The accident took place before our era.
after	Time (after)	I went there after the stopped.
about	1. About (relatively) 2. Place (about, around, approximately) 3. Time (about, approximately)	Please tell me about him. Come about 2 p.m. It was about noon, when she came home.
for	1. Time (during a specifically specified (in days, years) period of time) 2. Goal (at) Z.For 4. Direction (in) with the verb to leave	I have lived there for 2 years. I went for a walk. That is a present for you. We left for St. Petersburg at 10 p.m.
during	Time (during the period of time expressed by the noun)	I was in the countryside during my weekend.
of	1. Corresponds to the genitive case (what?, whom?) 2. About (relatively)	All the students of this group passed the exams perfectly. You must never think of him badly.
with	1. Corresponds to the instrumental case (what?) 2. With, together 3. From (surprise, fear)	We write with pens. He went to the station with her. His face was pale with fear.
by	1. Corresponds to the instrumental case (by whom?) 2. Place (near, nearby) 3. Time (at some point)	This poem was written by Pushkin. He was standing by the window. He had already come by 3 p.m.
between	Location (between 2 objects)	The father divided the apples between his 2 sons.
among	Location (between multiple items or objects)	The farther divided the apples among all his children.
except (for)	Except (except for those present)	Everybody likes it except me.
besides	In addition (in addition, there are more people present in number)	There were 5 boys in the room besides me.
over	1. Above, above 2. Through 3. For, in, during (period of time)	A flight over the lake - flying over the lake. Over the last five years - over the last five years.
below	Below, under	Below zero - below zero.
out	Outside, outside, beyond	My crossbow is already out. - I already pulled out my crossbow.
behind	Behind, behind, behind	The sun is behind a cloud. - The sun disappeared behind a cloud.

English is a special language, and although it has absorbed words and rules from different languages(several German dialects, the language of the Franks, Romans and Celts), it turned out to be in many ways different from its sources.

Its most important difference from its ancestors was the almost complete absence of cases (with the exception of the possessive and objective), but this is incomprehensibly compensated by the controlled word order, various forms pronouns and prepositions.

Today we will look at performing various functions, among them genitive function, which we observe when translating some sentences. Examples:

The traditions of local people are completely different- The traditions of local people are completely different

This is a car of my girlfriend- This is my girlfriend's car

The roof of the house is brown- The roof of the house is brown

When translated into Russian, in all these cases the preposition disappears.

It should be noted that often the use of constructions with the preposition of, when we are dealing with the ownership of objects, is simplified by the possessive case:

A car of my girlfriend - my girlfriend’s car(my girlfriend's car).

A day of a bear(bear's den) - a bear's day(Bear Den).

In some cases, such pairs are translated the same way, and sometimes there are some nuances.

It is interesting to use the preposition of with possessive pronouns in absolute form. Examples:

My friend - a friend of mine(translated the same way - “my friend”)

Her dress - a dress of hers(her dress)

Our dog - a dog of ours(our dog)

Also, the preposition of in English is used to distinguish one or more people, objects or phenomena from a group, cluster, or only-begotten mass.

A jar of water(jug of water). Three of horses(three of the horses). One of my friends(one of my friends).

It is interesting to use the preposition of when it denotes what material an object is made of. In this case, a specific substance is meant, and in some cases you need to be very careful and use the preposition from:

The sculptures on the beach were made of sand. The sculptures on the beach were made of sand (a substance).

The house is made of brick. The house is made of brick (substance). The house was constructed from 50,0000 bricks. The house was built from 50,000 bricks (bricks as individual objects).

The stable was made of wood. The stable was built of wood. (substance). The stable was constructed from logs(the stable was built from individual wooden logs).

Sentences with the preposition of in English are sometimes translated without a preposition at all, often replaced by the preposition from.

Sometimes the preposition of is used in such a way that in one sentence it is used more formally, while in the second its absence may sound neutral.

Let me invite you on a tour of the city of London. Let us invite you to see around the city of London.

Let's go to London. Let's go to London.

Now let's move on to filling out the table to consolidate the material. You need to add your own sentences to it, and at the same time take a dictionary and translate the examples given.

Why I love English prepositions is the ability to completely change the meaning of the main word with the help of one small word. It was "watch" ( look at), and it became:

. "search" ( look for)
. "to have an opinion" ( look upon)
. "take care" ( look after)
. "forgive" ( look over)
. "track" ( look to).

Juggling English prepositions is aerobatics. If you learn this art, you will enrich your lexicon and with your speech you will cause a roar of approval.

Many students of English treat prepositions with some arrogance, believing that it is like a student repeating the English alphabet at night. Underestimated. But in vain. Yes, prepositions are considered auxiliary, they don’t answer any questions, but they allow you to get different meanings from the same verb, form cases (yes, the same ones that exist in Russian) and do other interesting things. There is only one problem: there are a LOT of prepositions in the English language. But this does not mean that you need to learn them all right here and now. It is enough just to know the basic ones, as well as understand the division into groups.

Let’s not waste time on the fact that prepositions can be simple, monosyllabic, polysyllabic, consisting of several words, blah blah blah. Let's get straight to the point and provide not only tables of prepositions in English, but also illustrative examples in pictures. We will also look at the use of prepositions using examples.

1. Prepositions of place and direction (spatial)

2. Prepositions are temporary

Let's look at the most basic ones: about, after, at, during, for, in, on, till, within.

about	about (approximately, approximately)	It's about 6 p.m. (It's about 6 pm now)
after	after	Summer comes after spring. (Summer comes after spring)
at	V	Let's meet at 10 a.m. (Meet me at 10 am)
during	during	She was sleeping during the whole lesson. (She slept throughout the lesson)
for	during	He laughed for 5 minutes. (He laughed for 5 minutes)
in	through	I'll be home in 10 minutes. (I'll be home in 10 minutes)
on	By	I usually go shopping on Fridays. (I usually go shopping on Fridays)
till	before	I won't go shopping till Sunday. (I won't go shopping until Sunday)
within	during, for	You must do it within a month. (You must do this in a month)

3. Causal prepositions

because of- because;
on account of- as a result, because of;
thanks to- thanks to;
in accordance with- according to, in accordance with.

As you can see, the same preposition can be in different groups (for example, in or on can be both temporal and spatial). Moreover, if you open any dictionary (well, at least Yandex) and select any preposition, you will be surprised by the number of meanings. Let's say the most frequently used English preposition to can have 13 values ​​(don't be lazy, take a look).

Let's talk a little about the nuances before inviting you to go into battle in the "tests" section, where the first linguistic tests of knowledge of prepositions await you.

Sing the prepositions!

Yes, yes, just sing or even read. When you are familiar with the basic prepositions, try yourself in the role of Eminem, Timati or any rapper you like. Still lacking an idea for a text? Mix prepositions! Knowing small and remote prepositions is very cool. Make sure of this by watching the video and feeling like a rising rap star.

ENGLISH PREPOSITIONS AND RUSSIAN CASES. Let's remember the second grade.

Genitive case (of whom? what?) - preposition of
Show me the plan of the house.

Dative case (to whom? what?) - preposition to
Give it to me.

Accusative case (who? what?) - without preposition
Give me a pen.

Instrumental case (by whom? with what?) - preposition with
She was cutting the letter with scissors.

Prepositional case (about whom? about what?) - preposition about
Don't speak about me.

PLACE OF PREPOSITION IN A SENTENCE

Every excuse, know its place!

In general, a preposition is supposed to be placed BEFORE a noun or pronoun (if the noun has an article or attribute, then it cannot be broken)

Put the book onthetable.
Give it to me.
The shop is behind green house.
You must do it with in two months.

In interrogative sentences (which begin with what, where, etc.) the preposition is placed at the end:

What city do you live in?
Who are you waiting for?

The remaining cases are associated with the use of prepositions in subordinate clauses, passive designs. All this will be more relevant to study in the “Syntax” section.

It is very useful to learn tablets where the preposition has already merged with a specific noun. Useful in everyday communication.

by	By mistake By accident By chance By the way By bus/train/car Day by day Step by step	by mistake accidentally accidentally By the way by bus/train/car day after day step by step
for	For a walk/dance/drink/swim For breakfast/dinner	go for a walk/dance/drink/swim for breakfast/lunch
in	In fact In case In the future In love In time In the morning/evening/afternoon	In fact when in future in love during morning/evening/afternoon
on	On television On holiday/a trip On foot	on TV on vacation/trip on foot
at	At home/work At night At present	at home/at work at night Now

By the way, about the last three prepositions. They won a special place in the sun and formed their own caste - prepositions of place. Why it is necessary to collect a dossier on them no less than on a counterintelligence agent will be told and proven by someone specially dedicated to them.

Just valuable advice : since it is impossible (and not necessary) to learn ALL prepositions at first, when you write out another new verb from the dictionary, mark yourself with at least 2 options with different prepositions.

For example:

Put- put
Put on- bet on (someone, something)
Put across- deceive

Once this becomes a habit, you will one day be pleased to discover that your use of the verb comes out masterfully: in different meanings depends on a situation. This will decorate your speech and get rid of all sorts of pauses and “mmm”, “uh”, “ahh”. In the meantime, the problem exists, you need to solve it, starting with passing a thematic test on prepositions.

Have you sorted the predogs into shelves in your head? Even the Sun has spots, so we suggest once again (which is not superfluous) to go through the prepositions by watching a video lesson on the topic. After viewing and several years of practice, you can safely assign yourself the honorary title of “guru”.

Greetings, my dear readers.

Today we will have a topic that cannot be covered with one lesson. English prepositions are a topic that can take years to learn, believe me. But so be it, today we will close a small part of it. I will give you the most popular prepositions that you need to learn first. They will be in tables, and in pictures, and even with translation - everything as you like, my dears.

Well, shall we begin?

What are prepositions?

Prepositions- these are small words that connect different parts of speech. Let's look at an example:

He was looking at me.- He looked at me.

IN in this case our excuse " at" finds its Russian equivalent" on ", linking this verb and . Imagine if it didn’t exist, what would be the point?

These little “pranksters” are very different and functions they perform differently too. Very often prepositions are used to point the listener to a specific place.

I was sitting on a couch.- I was sitting on the sofa (place).

She was waiting for him at the party. - I was waiting for him at the party.

Very often prepositions are used to show us.

I left school in 2011. - I graduated from school in 2011.

I go jogging in the morning.- In the morning I go for a run.

Most often, as you may have already noticed, they used with and followed by verbs (look at- look at). But sometimes they can be used with nouns and come directly before them (in the kitchen- in the kitchen).

If you want to thoroughly and once and for all deal with them, I recommend this manual to you. It will tell you in detail about all the most common prepositions in the English language, show their use in examples and remind you of special cases.

By the way, in English there are prepositions that can can not found his “brother” in Russian. You won't be able to translate them, but you'll have to memorize common expressions by heart. In this case, I have a table for you where you can see examples of such expressions. I highly recommend that you learn them! How? Just make sentences with them and feel the difference.

Today I suggest you try to remember as much as possible. Therefore, I give you three tablets, after which you will be able to distinguish prepositions of place and time, which you will probably encounter in the near future.

Prepositions of place and direction

Prepositions of place - these are special prepositions. They should be remembered once and for all so that you never make a mistake in using them.

In(in, on)	In the picture, in a photograph, in the mirror
	In a garden, in a country, in a city
	In the sky, in the world
	In a room, in a building, in a box
	In a row, in a queue
	In bed, in hospital, in prison
	In a book, in a newspaper, in a letter
At(in, on)	At the bus stop, at the door, at the window, at the station, at the airport, at smb’s home
	At the top, at the bottom, at the end (of the street)
	At the table, at the party, at the meeting
	At home, at work, at school, at sea
On(on, by)	On the ceiling, on the wall, on the door, on the ground floor
	On a page, on an island, on the outskirts, on the phone
	On the left, on the right, on the way
	On a map, on the menu, on a list
	On the way. On TV, on the radio
To(To)	Go to the lake, go to the cinema
	Go to bed
From(from, from)	Go from the shop

Prepositions of time.

It is not always easy for children to remember prepositions of time. After all, remember what is with the months and what is with the days of the week...

On(V)	On Sunday, on the 25th of April
At(in, on)	At night, At 9.15 p.m.
	At the weekend
	At midday, at sunrise, at night, at noon, at lunch, at dinner
	At Easter, at Christmas
	At present
In(in, through)	In March, in summer
	In 2025
	In the morning, in the evening
	In an hour, in a few minutes
During(during, during)	During the day, during the night
For	For a day, for a week
Since, Before(From to)	Since 2005 Before 1994
Till\Until(before)	From Monday till Friday
By(To)	By 10 a.m., by Monday

Other options

Alas, there is a lot in English that defies ordinary logic, and you have to memorize so much! Prepositions are no exception. Therefore, catch a selection of prepositions that do not lend themselves to the rules of place or time, but you still must know them. I didn’t write the translation here, since it will depend on the phrase.

On	Go on holiday, go on a business trip, go on tour, on arrival, on average
	On strike, on a diet, on foot, on the news
	(Be) on fire, on behalf of, on duty
	On the whole, on purpose, on approval
In	In the rain, in the sunshine, in the shade
	In ink, in pencil, in writing, in words, in figures
	In addition to, in a mess, in use, in danger
	(Pay) in cash, (be) in love, in (my) opinion
	In general, in a hurry, in the name of, in order to, in one’s free time
	In common, in comparison with, in fact, in cash
At	At the age, at the speed, at a temperature
	At first sight, at a glance, at last, at once
	At times, at short notice, at the same time
By	By car, by train, by plane, by boat
	By mistake, by accident, by surprise
	By the way, by chance, by birth, by yourself
	By check, by day, by far, by means of
For	For ages, for sale, for one’s sake, for a while
	For breakfast, for lunch, for dinner
	For certain, for a change, for fun
	For granted, for instance, for the rest of
Under	Under arrest, under control, under pressure
	Under impression, under discussion

You remember that without practice, any learning loses all its meaning? That's why I have prepared for you all the prepositions that we learned today. But in addition, you can practice some of what you've learned right here in these wonderful pictures.

How to do it? First, look at the first picture and try to remember all the prepositions of place and. It is better to do this by making sentences or questions: "The ball is under the box", “The ball is going down the stairs...”, “Are the red balls around the black one?” When you are ready, you can move your eyes lower and look at the second picture, trying to remember the necessary preposition or whole phrase. If you have any questions, you can ask them in the comments - I’ll try to help!

Practice, use them in your speech and improve your English. And I will be glad to help you with this. Become a regular reader of my blog, subscribe to my newsletter and regularly update your knowledge with new information.

Until next time.

They act not only as a service part of speech, connecting parts of a sentence with each other, but also as a performer of the role of cases. The preposition of in English is - genitive case indicator. A noun preceded by the preposition of answers the questions of whom? what? The preposition itself is not translated into Russian.

This is the guitar of our grandfather— This is our grandfather's guitar.
We have finished The Big Book of Australian History— We have finished the Big Book of Australian History.
This is the nest of the yellow bird- This is the yellow bird's nest.

Functions of the preposition of

The preposition of is one of the most important prepositions in the English language; it serves many functions. We have compiled for you a list of the main functions of the English preposition of; it can be used when:

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The preposition of will be used when it is necessary to indicate ownership of something or belonging to someone:

Christopher is the owner of the museum fund— Christopher is the owner of the museum fund.
The garden of my neighbor is bigger than mine— My neighbors’ garden is bigger than mine.

The use of of is necessary when talking about one object from a group:

He is one of us- He's one of us.
One of her children has broken Bob’s green hedge— One of her children broke green hedge Boba.
One of my classmates are owner of the water park now— Now one of my classmates is the owner of a water park.

Of will be used when talking about the material from which something is made:

This beautiful antique amphorae are made of ceramics— These beautiful antique amphorae are made of ceramics.
Such yurts are made of felt— Such yurts are made of felt.
My new coat is made of pure wool— My new raincoat is made of pure wool.

Will be placed when you need to indicate authorship:

The Jungle Book of Rudyard Kipling— The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling.
The Lord of the Rings of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien— The Lord of the Rings by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien.

The possessive and genitive cases are used together in a sentence:

She is a wife of Damon's- She's Damon's wife.
This is a film of Shyamalan's— This is a Shyamalan film.
Is she a worker of your uncle’s?“Is she your uncle’s employee?”

Of will be used when talking about an integral part of something:

The roof of our house is red— The roof of our house is red.
I just saw a big body of water— I just saw a large body of water.
The leg of the bench is broken— The bench leg is broken.

It's about age:

A breathtaking woman of forty— A stunning woman of forty.
A tall gray-haired man of seventy— A tall, gray-haired man of about seventy.
A turtle of ten years— A ten-year-old turtle.

We are talking about structure or content:

I have a big bunch of keys— I have a big bunch of keys.
The structure of our society is complicated— The structure of our society is complex.
You need to have your own collection of coins— You should have your own collection of coins.

We are talking about smell or taste:

I smell of chocolate pie— I smell chocolate cake.
There is a smell of corruption here“It smells like corruption here.”
My favorite smell is a smell of fried mushrooms— My favorite smell is the smell of fried mushrooms.

The use of of is necessary when you need to indicate a title or rank:

Doctor of Paleontology Ross Geller— Doctor of paleontology Ross Geller.
Finally I am Master of Arts- Finally, I am a Master of Arts.
Sigmund Freud was a Doctor of Medicine— Sigmund Freud was a doctor of medicine.

You need to indicate the distance, direction or distance from any point:

We live in the north of London— We live north of London.
You can find your family a mile east of the bay“You can find your family a mile east of the bay.”
She lives to the west of Reykjavik— She lives west of Reykjavik.

You need to indicate the name of the month after the date:

the first of May- may Day
the fourth of November- fourth of November
the seventeenth of March- March seventeenth
the thirty first of December- thirty first of December
the twelfth of September- September 12
the twenty-ninth of July- twenty ninth of July
the thirteenth of August- thirteenth of August

It's about filling something with something:

She is full of anger right now!- She's full of anger right now!
My cup is full of water— My glass is full of water.

We are talking about family, friendly, business and other connections that are expressed by the construction “noun in the general case + of + possessive pronoun in an independent form":

This baby elephant is a friend of this little hippopotamus— This baby elephant is the friend of this little hippopotamus.
Maggy is a friend of our family— Maggie is a friend of our family.
It's no business of yours- It's none of your business.

Video about the preposition of in English:

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