I have been hearing and reading a lot about prepositions lately, so I thought I would do a post about those pesky words—one of the most challenging parts of the 
English language to learn if you are not a native speaker.
When I sometimes ask a question in a grammar class whose answer is “preposition,” I often get these answers instead:
- pronoun
- proposition
- proverb
A pronoun is a part of speech, like a preposition, but different. Pronouns stand in for nouns, e.g., his, I, me, we, they.
Proverbs are wise sayings, generally from the distant past.
Propositions—well, you know what those are!
A preposition is a part of speech that, I have read lately, really has no meaning. True. Often prepositions don’t have much meaning on their own because they don’t ever appear on their own. They generally appear in what we call a prepositional phrase, which has a specific format: 1) preposition, 2) usually an article, 3) noun or pronoun. For example, in the house, out the door, up the stairs, down the street, by the river, along the beach, under the table, over the moon.
If they are not in a prepositional phrase, pronouns can be found after a verb, in many cases becoming an actual part of the verb, for example, strike out, go inside, mess up, etc. In such cases, the preposition is actually functioning as an adverb, but let’s not worry about that.
So what is so weird and perplexing about prepositions?
Is there any difference between burning up and burning down?
We sit in a chair, but we sit on a sofa. Why? If a chair has no comfy armrests, do we then sit on the chair?
We sit in a car, but we sit on a bus. Do we sit in a plane or on a plane?
We are at the mall, but we are not at the school; we are at school. One could be at the school, but there is a slight shade of difference in meaning: If you are a student there, you are probably at school. If you parents are called in to see the principal, they are probably at the school.
We can turn the car in to the garage, but you probably wouldn’t want to turn the car into the garage. (unless you have a magic wand).
You turn in at night when you are tired. And you turn in your math exam. But you turn out at a protest march.
You can take up knitting, but you take down an opponent.
You can bring up a topic, but you bring down a foe.
You can tune in to a radio station, and then you can tune out what your friend is saying.
You can let out your emotions, and let go of your anger.
You can have a walk-in closet and a walk-out basement. Doesn’t anyone want to walk out of the closet or walk into the basement?
You can make up a story, but when you put the two words together, you put it on your face.
Sometimes people put a verb and preposition (adverb) together when they should be separate:
You take off your makeup. But when you put the words together, you have a noun: Are you ready for takeoff?
Similarly, you can set up for the party. Then, everyone else can enjoy the setup of the tables.
You can sign up to volunteer. You can sign in to your computer. I can sign out of this blog post. This is a signoff. 🙂
For another blog post about prepositions, click here .
Click to see new cover for To Comma or Not to Comma
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It’s all in there: Commas, periods, question marks, exclamation points, quotation marks, italics, apostrophes, hyphens, dashes, ellipses, parentheses, brackets, semicolons, colons, unusual punctuation marks, quick comma guide, quizzes, final test, glossary.
You think those are bad? How about “get on a plane” but “get in the car”? It’s not like you are literally getting on top of the plane, you are still INSIDE the plane.
Or, being “in a movie” or “on a TV show”. What difference does it make the length or the presentation of the video??
Why is it “married to” if “married with” makes more sense?
I was born “on January 1st”, but I was born “in January”?
The list goes on and on and on. I swear that English preposition usage were invented by drunken sailors!
Thanks for the comment. Yup, it must be so difficult to learn English with these random prepositions!
Quite interesting and funny. English is a second language for me and prepositions, along pronunciation, are a real headache for me.
I came across your thread looking for something I was sent few years back. It was extremely well written, concise, very funny and so to the point. But I can’t find it anymore 🙁
I know criticism are never pleasant to read, but with my understanding I’m entitled to my opinion I tend to agree with the person who also gave you some negative feed back. I felt some of your choice of examples weren’t quite as sharp as those I came across before, as mentioned. Yet I did enjoy reading it. And I do appreciate your willingness to helps others.
An interesting, humorous article – what a pity it is so old-fashioned and misleading. It is not that the writer is not faithfully reporting on “traditional awareness”; she has done that very well – and in an interesting way.
The unfortunate thing is – it is around 50 years behind the times. The linguistics world has moved on since then.
Prepositions are real words with real meanings; they are also equal in semantic value to nouns and verbs, particularly verbs. They can be intransitive, transitive, reflexive – and they can only appear in contexts where their meaning can fit.
You are entitled to your opinion. I agree that prepositions are meaningful; however, nothing in the post is not true, and those trying to learn English still find the often “arbitrary” use of prepositions challenging.I am not a linguist, and I do not pretend to be, so I do not write with the viewpoint of a linguist.
Good points, Arlene!
Now, will you tackle the “would, no I meant wouldn’t” statements. Ha! Will we ever know what he meant?
I don’t think I could do that. Wait, I mean I don’t think I couldn’t do that. Wait. That is a double negative. I meant I think I couldn’t do that? 🙂
Another well-done post, Arlene. Great to mix humor into this dry subject. Never dry with you!
Thanks so much, Thonie. You gotta laugh!
Delightful as always. And wow, how confusing for those trying to learn English.
Thanks, Audrey! I know….looking at the difficulty I had with French, I am glad I never had to learn English as a second language!
That was a funny blog. I especially like how you use certain examples which pertain to current events!
Thank you, Pamela!!! 🙂
Generally when the words are combined it’s a noun: backup, tryout, pickup and when they’re separate it’s a verb phrase: to back up (your computer), to try out (a new style), to pick (a cup). But that’s in English-English. (I love it when Americans say ‘British English’ because we’ve probably got more forms of English in these small British Isles than you have across the whole of USA.)
I’m having problems with my Duolingo Spanish as (being US based) it won’t accept my interpretation of a Spanish phrase as “at the weekend”. It insist on “on the weekend” which we don’t say in UK.
I’ve heard that sentence with the most consecutive prepositions involves a man looking for his book on the Australian desert. When he finds it on a shelf in his son’s bedroom he asks, “What’s that there on Outback Down Under, up here on there for?” … sorry!
Thank you for the comment and the information. Yes, the nouns are generally written as one word and the verbs as two, but many people write the words together when they intend it to be a verb phrase. Argh!!!
So do we call it British-English or English-English???? 🙂