List of prepositions

 

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Here is the most commonly used preposition list in English, grouped in a table with many examples. It’s up to you to memorize them!

Time prepositions

Preposition	Use	Example
on	days of the week	on Tuesday
in	month / seasons time of the day year after a certain period of time (when?)	in June / in summer in the evening in 2007 in an hour
at	for the night for the week end at a certain point in time (when?)	at night at the weekend at half past ten
since	from a certain point in time (from the past to the present)	since 1990
for	for a certain period of time (past to present)	for 4 years
ago	at some point in the past	3 years ago
before	before a certain date	before 2011
to	tell the time	ten to five (4:50)
past	tell the time	ten past seven (7:10)
to / till / until	mark the beginning and end of a time period	from Monday to/till Friday
till / until	up to a certain point in time (duration)	He is on holiday until thursday.
by	at the latest up to a certain point	I will be back by 4 o’clock. By 10 o’clock, I had read six pages.

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Location prepositions (position and direction)

Preposition	Use	Example
in	room, building, street, city, city, country book, paper etc…. car, taxi in a photo, in the world	in the kitchen, in Paris in the book in the car, in a taxi in the picture, in the world
at	next to an object at the table to an event a place to do something specific (cinema, study, work)	at the door, at the station at the table at a concert, at the party at the cinema, at school, at work
on	attached a place with a river placed on a surface for a certain side (right or left) one floor in public transport on TV, radio….	the picture on the wall London lies on the Thames. on the table on the left on the first floor on the bus, on a plane on TV, on the radio
by, next to, beside	to the left or right of someone or something	Tom is standing by/ next to /beside the car.
under	on the ground, lower (or covered) by something else	the bag is under the table
below	underwater	the dolphins are below the surface
over	covered by something more than…. go to the other side (= across) overcome an obstacle	put a jacket over your shirt over 18 years of age walk over the bridge climb over the wall
above	higher than anything else but not directly on it	a path above the lake
across	go to the other side (= over) go to the opposite side	walk across the bridge swim across the lake
through	something limited, surrounded on all sides	drive through the tunnel
to	movements to a specific place travel to a city, country go to bed	go to the cinema go to London / Thailand go to bed
into	enter a room/building	go into the kitchen / the house
towards	movement towards something (but not directly towards it)	go 6 steps towards the house
onto	movement at the top of something	jump onto the table
from	that comes from somewhere	a flower from the garden

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Other important prepositions

Preposition	Use	Example
from	who gave it to him/her	a present from Tina
of	who/what it belongs to what it shows	a page of the book the picture of a castle
by	who did it	a book by Shakespeare
on	walking or riding a horse enter public transport	on foot, on horseback get on the bus
in	getting into a car/taxi	get in the car
off	getting off a plane/bus/train etc.	get off the train
out of	getting out of a car/taxi	get out of the taxi
by	decrease or increase travel (other than on foot/horse)	prices have risen by 15 percent by car, by bus, by plane
at	at what age	she learned Japanese at 45
about	for subjects	we were talking about you

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Tags: Grammar