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| For all you visual learners: sometimes a picture is the best way to show a preposition in action. |
Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our church and community.Uh-oh. The writer of this little gem probably rued the day she inadvertently swapped the preposition "of" for the preposition "in." The sentence should have read:
Remember in prayer the many who are sick in our church and community.That's the power of the preposition. Change two little letters, and the meaning of the entire sentence changes.
| A preposition is a word that shows the relationship between a noun (or pronoun) and some other word in the sentence. |
So what does that mean? Generally, it means that the preposition modifies the noun or pronoun and makes it more specific.
Where would we be without prepositions? Try reading these famous quotes. What are the prepositions that belong in the blanks?
An Object Lesson
| Common Prepositions |
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| Can you find all of the prepositions in the passage Ernest Hemingway is writing? |
"On the shelf" acts as an adjective modifying "book." The sentence no longer refers to any book but rather to a specific book — the one on the shelf.
Don't get bent out of shape. It sounds more complicated than it is.
The preposition (in this case, "on") has an object ("shelf"). All prepositions must have objects — words or phrases they introduce. Understanding the term "object of a preposition" can help you make certain grammatical decisions.
There are about 60 English prepositions. Some words that function as prepositions can also be adverbs. If the word in question is an adverb, however, it will not have an object. "Down" is a preposition in the following sentence:
Bill climbed down the hill.In this next sentence, however, "down" is an adverb because it shows the direction in which Bill climbed:
Bill climbed down.
Here is the opening section of Robert Frost's "The Death of the Hired Man." Notice how Frost establishes specific locations: at the table, in the doorway, on the porch, on the wooden steps. Can you identify the prepositional phrases in this passage?
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| Robert Frost was one of the 20th century's greatest poets. In "Death of the Hired Man," he uses prepositions to pinpoint the setting and motion of the poem. |
Mary sat musing on the lamp-flame at the table
Waiting for Warren. When she heard his step,
She ran on tip-toe down the darkened passage
To meet him in the doorway with the newsAnd put him on his guard. "Silas is back."
She pushed him outward with her through the door
And shut it after her. "Be kind," she said.
She took the market things from Warren's armsAnd set them on the porch, then drew him down
To sit beside her on the wooden steps.
Take It from Winston Churchill
An English teacher may have told you at one time or another that you should never end a sentence with a preposition. This practice (which is based on rules in Latin) was popularized by John Dryden, the 17th-century English poet and dramatist.
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| "This is the sort of English up with which I cannot put." Churchill's wit took on more than just grammar. The great British orator is often quoted on subjects ranging from war to recreational drinking. |
Most great writers end sentences with prepositions. Sometimes you need to place a preposition at the end for practical purposes or to avoid sounding comical. Look at the following example:
We have a lot to be happy about.To avoid ending with the preposition, you'd have a very stilted rewrite:
We have a lot about which to be happy.There is no practical way to avoid ending with "for" in a construction such as "He knew what he came for."
Perhaps the best declaration on this matter came from Winston Churchill, the prime minister of Great Britain during World War II, who sneered, "This is the sort of English up with which I cannot put."
Write a poem that communicates a definite location and an important moment.
- Think about (or invent) an important moment in your life. Picture the specific location at that moment, or consult a photograph if you have one. To establish that location in detail, write down many prepositional phrases, one to a line, in the middle of each line.
- Turn the prepositional phrases into clauses or sentences. Order them so that the location and situation are clearly established in the first four lines. End with a comment that summarizes your feelings now or then about that important moment.
- If, when read aloud, the poem has a repetitive quality you don't like, eliminate any unessential phrases. Look for ways to rework some phrases. So, for example, "I waited under the oak tree," might become, "The oak tree swayed above me as I waited." "I was standing beside the fence, singing 'Smooth' to no one in particular," might become "Standing beside the fence, I sang 'Smooth' to no one in particular."
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