Preposition

1. PREPOSITIONS © Godot Media

2. Between and Among • Between is used to refer to two persons or things E.g.: Can you spot the differences between the two products? • Among is used to refer to more than two persons or things E.g.: There is no co-operations among the party leaders. © Godot Media

3. ‘At’ as a Preposition of Place • 1st pattern At+the+place within a city or town The women are at the supermarket, bus stop, mall, restaurant, theatre, university. • 2nd pattern At+address She lives at 3575 North 52nd Street, apartment 10 © Godot Media

4. 3rd Pattern At+the+place within another place He was waiting in the room at the door He likes to sit in his apartment at the windows facing the park. …..at the counter, desk, table ‘At’ indicates a place of attendance • 1st Pattern Be+at+place or meal of regular attendance The children are at school © Godot Media

5. We aren't allowed to watch television when we are at dinner. ………at church, class, home, practice, breakfast, lunch, dinner 2nd Pattern Be+at+noun of event They are at the movies ….at a concert, celebration, party, wedding, reunion, game, lecture, function. © Godot Media

6. ‘Between’ and ‘And’ • When indicating time period, in terms of hours, days, years or centuries, we tend to use ‘between and to’. This is incorrect, ‘between and and’ is the correct usage. Incorrect: The meeting will take place between 2 to 5 p.m Correct: The meeting will take place between 2 and 5 p.m Incorrect: The interviews will be held between 15th September to 30th September. Correct: The interviews will be held between 15th September and 30th September. © Godot Media

7. Omission of Prepositions • We tend to leave out prepositions where they are necessary, and as a result, the sentence becomes incorrect and meaningless. In the examples, the words in brackets are often omitted, which they shouldn’t be. E.g.: I disposed (of) my old furniture. We have two hands to work (with). He asked me (for) a favor. I objected (to) his smoking in the room © Godot Media

8. Unnecessary Use of Prepositions • It is also wrong to use a preposition when it is unnecessary. The prepositions highlighted in bold are redundant and should be avoided. Eg: I ordered for ten copies of the book He violated against the law of the state. The committee investigated into the politician’s assassination. The CEO entered into the boardroom Please sign on this bond. Can you explain about how the blog is written? © Godot Media

9. Ending sentences with prepositions • To avoid awkward sentence structure, we should avoid ending sentences with prepositions Acceptable: This is the table I’m planning to put the laptop on Better: This is the table on which I’m planning to put the laptop Acceptable: We received everything we asked for. Better: We received everything we requested. Acceptable: Whom should I give the parcel to? Better: To whom should I give the parcel? © Godot Media

10. But in these instances, the use of prepositions is mandatory for the sentence to make complete sense, and be grammatically correct. (These sentences also do not sound awkward) Eg: The watchman seemed to know what the sign stood for. The customer invariably gets what he pays for. © Godot Media

11. Bibliography • Correct Your Common Errors in English, Jayanthi Dakshina Murthy, Upkar Prakashan • The Most Common Mistakes in English Usage, Thomas Elliott Berry, Mc-Graw Hill • The Ins and Outs of Prepositions, Jean Yates © Godot Media