6.53 Giving information about place: prepositions

This section explains how to indicate the place where an action occurs, the place where someone or something is, the place they are going to or coming from, or the direction they are moving in.

This usually involves using a prepositional phrase as an adjunct. For general information on adjuncts, see paragraphs 6.1 to 6.15.

A prepositional phrase consists of a preposition and its object, which is nearly always a noun group.

The most basic use of most prepositions is to indicate position and direction.

• He fumbled in his pocket.
• On your left is the river.
• Why did he not drive to Valence?
• The voice was coming from my apartment.
• I ran inside and bounded up the stairs.

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A preposition is a word which opens up the possibilities of saying more about a thing or an action, because you can choose any appropriate noun group after it as its object. Most prepositions are single words, although there are some that consist of more than one word such as 'out of' and 'in between'.

Here is a list of common one-word prepositions which are used to talk about place or destination:

• about, above, across, along, alongside, among, around, at, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, between, beyond, by, down, from, in, inside, into, near, off, on, opposite, outside, over, past, round, through, throughout, to, towards, under, underneath, up, within

Here is a list of prepositions which consist of more than one word and which are used to talk about place or destination:

• ahead of, all over, away from, close by, close to, in between, in front of, near to, next to, on top of, out of

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Many prepositions can also be adverbs, that is, they can be used without an object. See paragraph 6.83 for a list of these.