in this posting I want to share you about the definition of preposition, you can find many kinds of preposition by reading the posting below. it will help you in accomplishing your task especially on English Grammatical rules. Have a nice reading.
1. The definition of preposition
In English some verbs are associated with certain prepositions. The preposition and its object may follow the verb directly or may be separated from it by an adverbial modifier or by the object of the verb.[1]
Preposition is a word that is used before noun to explain the place (position) the things.
2. Kinds of preposition
1. Above (below), over (under)
a. Above and below are typically used in paper to refer to the location of sentences, paragraph, figuresand tables; above and below are also used when referring to levels, list, averages and hierarchies.
e.g.: As mentioned above there are three main methods, which are summarized in the table below.
Pisa is 50 m above sea level which is below the national average for Italian cities.
b. Over has a similiar meaning to cover, i.e. there is often physical contact between two elements.
e.g.: A sheet was placed over the patient�s body.
c. Over and under also have a similiar meaning to more than and less than, respectively.
e.g.: Only children over the age of 13 were considered in the sample.
Those under 12 years of age will be the subject of a future investigation
d. Under also means �in comfortable with�
e.g.:Under the new regulation, all such documents have to be field under �funds�.
e. Note the differenc between above all (i.e. the most important thing) and over all (i.e. globally)
e.g.:Many points need to be considered, above all age and sex.
Overall, our results can be considered as an inportant step towards finding a cure for this endemic disease.
2. Across, through
a. Across indicates the joining of two points on a plane
e.g.:They swam across the river.
They walked across the road.
b. Through indicates a transversal motion with some kind of penetration.
e.g.:The train went through the tunnel.
The sample was filtered through a very fine mesh.
c. Across also mean �not restricted to one particular area�
e.g:Our method can be applied across disciplines.
d. Through can also be used to mean by means of
e.g.:We learnt this through lengthy research.
3. Already, still, yet
a. Alredy at some time in the past. Do not confuse already with just. Just mean something that happened very recently (possibly a few seconds ago), e.g. we have just arrived at the airport.
e.g.:This procedure has already been explained elsewhere.
b. Yet is frequently found in the affirmative and negative forms and refers to a period that started in the past and progresses up to (and possibly beyond) the present moment.
e.g.:Your paper has not been reviewed yet, and is scheduled for review on 2 June.
c. Still has the same meaning as yet, but is stronger. It indicates that a situation has not changed and may suggest surprise or concern.
e.g.:we still have not heard from the referees. I am worried that they never received the paper, though I suppose they are still in time to contact us.
d. Already, yet, and still can also be used with the past perfect to put two past events in relation.
e.g.:We had already seen har presentation before so we did not want to go again.
When we got the conference room, the presenter had not arrived yet.
Twenty minutes later, the presenter had still not arrived.
4. Among, between, from, of (differentiation and selection)
a. Between when talking about a well-defined or well-separated number of items. It is found with verbs such as decide, differentiate, discriminate, distinguish, mediate and synchronize, and noun such as agreement, comparison, difference, distinction, interaction and relationship. This is because such verbs and nouns indicate that a known number of items are involved.
e.g.:We found no interaction in the classroom between teacher and students.
b. Among when the group of items is not easily separable or te number is not kown or is not important.
e.g.:The money was divided up among the participants.
c. From with verbs such as choose, pick, select, and adjective such as different.
e.g.:Candidates will be choosen from diverse discipliness and then selected from a shortlist of 10.
d. Of is found at the beginning of a sentence when introducing a particular element that is part of a group.
e.g.:Of the three candidates we interviewed, the last was certainly the best.
e. Of is used when choosing fron a number
e.g.:A comparison of the three figures reveals that.....
5. At, in, to (location, state, change)
a. At before buildings and work place, in before towns, countries etc. In both cases no movement is involved.
e.g.:They arrived at the airport, while we were still at work and Pete was at the restaurant
They arrived in New York, while we were still in China.
b. To after the verb taht indicates a destination.
e.g.:They have gone to Beirut for a conference.
c. At when describing the location of items in diagrams and figures, in before figures, tables etc. When used in association with verbs such as see, show, highlight.
e.g.:This can be seen at the top / bottom / side / edge of the figure.
As can be seen in Figure 1, the trend is...
Also, as highlighted in Table 3...
d. To to indicate movement, change, conformance, limits and consequence: adhere, adjust, attach, attract, bind, bring, come, confine, conform, connect,consign, convey, delivere, direct, email, fax, go, lead, link, move, react reply, respond, restrict, send, stick, supply, switch, take, tend, tie, transmit, write, yield. This rule also applies to the related nouns: delivery, modification, response, tendency etc.
e.g.:This was then moved to the top / bottom of the list.
e. In is used before certain states e.g. equilibrium, parallel, series.
e.g.:The devices are placed in parallel ans operate in a steady-state manner
f. To is also used after certain adjectives that indicate position: adjacent, close, contingent, continguous, external, internal, next, orthogonal, parallel, perpendicular, tangent, transverse.
e.g.:The lines are parallelto each other.
6. At, in and on (time)
a. At with a time of a day, and with specific periods (the weekend, Easter, Christmas).
e.g.:The meeting is scheduled to start at 15.30.
We usually take our holidays at Easter or at Christmas, and of course at the weekend.
b. In with a period of time (week, month, year, decade, century etc), including historical periods (in the Middle Age, in the Renaissance etc), and with meantime / meanwhile
e.g.:The conference will be held in June
The last conference on this topic was held in 2012 and the previous one in the 1990s. The first was held in the 18th century.
c. On with a day. Note some native speakers say on the weekend others at the weekend.
e.g.:I wiil contact you on Monday morning.
We do not work on Christmas Day, on Easter day and on July 4 (Independence Day.)
7. At, to (measurement, quality)
a. At with the following nouns that indicate quantity and measurement, e.g. degree, interval, level, node, point, pressure, ration, speed, stage, temperature, velocity.
e.g.:Water boils at a temperature of 100 C
The vehicle moves at a velocity of 300 cm / h
b. To wiyh the other types of calculations and measurements, e.g. with the following verbs: approximate, calculate, correct, heat, measure, raise.
e.g.:Heat the water to a temperature of 50 C
The potassium content was approximated to 90 mEq / kg
c. With certain adjectives to indicates a quality, conformance or similarity: inferior, superior, equal, identical, proportional, similar, immune, impermeable, open, resistent, sensitive, according, alternative, analogous, attention, common, comparable, conformance, compliance, correspondence, entitlement, identical, inferior, likened, open, oppesed, proportional, relative, relevant, responsive, similar, suited, superior, transparent.
e.g.:Gender is common to all Latinate languages, but has no adherence to logical rules.
8. Before, after, beforehand, afterwards, first (time sequences)
a. Before and after must precede either a noun / pronoun, a gerund, or an entire subordinate phrase.
e.g.:Where are you going after the congress?
Before checking the levels, the presence of any metals should be detected.
Preparetions should be made before the mixture becomes solid.
b. Before and after cannot be used as conjunctions or adverbs. Instead use beforehand, and afterwards.
e.g.:We are going for a drink and afterwards back to the hotel.
The solution consists in detecting the presence of metals beforehand and then / subsequently checking the levels.
Preparation should be made beforehand.
c. First mean �before anything else�, it is often followed by second(ly) or then. It is thus used to list a sequence of actions.
e.g.:First we are going for drink, then afterwards back to the hotel.
First(ly) we detect the metals, secondly we check the metals, and finally we...
First the preparation should be made, then the mixture should be allowed to become soild.
9. Beside, next to, near (to), close to (location)
a. Beside and next to have the same meaning and indicate elements that are touching.
e.g.:I sat beside / next to her at the conference.
b. Near (to) and close (to) have the same meaning and indicate elements that are at some distance to each other.
e.g.:Our hotel were quite near to / close to each other, but on opposite sides of the river.
c. Nearby / close by replace near and close at the end of the phrase.
e.g.:There was a train station nearby / close by.
10. By and from (cause, means, and origin)
a. By when the agent of an action is mentioned.
e.g.:Our paper has now been revised by a netive English speaker.
Taxes were raised by the government.
b. From when the origin is mentioned. Verbs typically followed by from are: arise, bemefit, borrow, deduce, defend, deviate, differ, ensue, exclude, originate, profit, protect, release, remove, select, separate, shield, subtract, suffer,. Likewise, some of the nouns that derive from these verbs are also found with from: deviation, exclusion, protection.
e.g.:The economic crisis arose from banking malpractices and indiscriminate consumer-borrowing from banks.
The quickly learned English from their native-speaking colleagues.
c. By when the method or means is given.
e.g.:They learned English by watching videos on YouTube
we went by train instead of going by car or by plane.
d. From is often found with to, to indicate the move from one place to another.
e.g.:While on the train from Malmo to Stockholm, they kept switching from one language to another.
11. By, in of (variations)
When talking about increases, decreases, modifications, changes, variations, etc., use:
a. By after a verb.
e.g.:the stock market has risen by 213 points
b. In with a noun.
e.g.:There has been an increase in inflation
c. Of with a number.
e.g.: There has been an increase in inflation of 5%
12. By and within (time)
a. By with an end date.
e.g.:we must received your manuscript by January 21 or at the latest by the end of the month.
b. Within for a period.
e.g.:Manuscripts will be reviewed within six weeks of receipt.
13. By now, for now, for the moment, until now, so far
a. By now means �given everything that has happened before�. For now and for the moment both mean �from this point in time until some time in the future when a change is expected�. For now and for the moment are generally followed either by the present simple or will.
e.g.:The literature on this topic should, by now, be extremely familiar to ...
we shall expand more fully in this in Sect. 3. For now, we just focus on...
b. Until now and so far both mean �from a certain point in the past up to the present moment and possibly in the near future too�. Both are usually used with the present perfect.
e.g.:So far / until now, research into this area has been limited to X. In this paper, we investigate Y.
This is the only acid that has so far / until now been found to be effective in such scenarios.
c. Until now is not normally used directly before a past participle. Note till, which means the same as until, is considered too research manuscript.
e.g.: The research so far undertaken has only focused on...
14. During, over, and throghout (time)
a. During means at some point in the course of a period of time. This period can either be in tha past or future.
e.g.:I work with him during my Erasmus Project.
b. Over often refers to a period of time that began in the past and is still true in the present, over is thus normally used with the present perfect. However, over can also be used for a future period.
e.g.:Over the last few years, there has been increasing interest in...
c. Throughout means for the entire course of period of time. This period can refer to the past, present or future.
e.g.:Plagues were common throghout the Middle Age.
15. From, since, from (time)
The adverb of time you use will normally help you to understand the correct tense to use.
a. For indicates the duration from the past until the present. It is typically used with plural words indicating time, e.g. days, months, years, decades. For answer the question �how long has this situation been on going?� In this sense, for is used with the present perfect. Similar expression denoting a duration from past to present are: over (e.g. over the last two decades), so far, until now.
e.g.:We have been doing this resarch for nine years.
b. If for is used to indicate a period of time that is now finished, then it is used with the simple past.
e.g.:I studied in Boston for three years and then I moved to Beijing.
c. Since indicate the starting point of a current situation. It is typically used with precise points in time, e.g. 2001, last month, yesterday, since answer the question �when did this situation begin?�
e.g.:Since 2001 there has been a dramatic increase in suicides.
d. From indicates a range of time, i.e. with a start and finish. Because there is a finish time, from is not used with the present perfect. But from can be used with most other tenses.
e.g.:I studied in Boston from 2008 to 2011.
16. In, now, currently, at the moment
a. In is generally followed by a date (e.g. in June, in 2016) and is therefore not used with the present perfect. In can be used with the present, future and the past (e.g. the new term starts in October, I will see you in March, I last saw her in 2011 ).
e.g.:I join this research group in July
b. Now, currently, at the moment indicate a time period that is ongoing, so they are used with the present simple. On the other hand, ago, yesterday, last week (month, year) indicate a time that is completely past so they must be used with the simple past.
e.g.:This is currently the world�s biggest problem
c. Adverbs that indicate a connection between the past and present are generally found with the present perfect (historically, traditionally, typically) but traditionally and typically can also be used with the simple present and simple past, depending on the context.
e.g.:Historically, French has always been taught in English schools as the second language.
17. In, inside, within (location)
a. In and inside often have a similar meaning in relation to a confined space.
e.g.:The money is kept in the safe.
The hostage was kept inside the same room for more than three years
b. Inside is the opposite of outside, within is never used in this sense.
e.g.: The children were only allowed to play inside the school, never outside.
c. Within means internal to something that can be a real physical space (e.g. border), or abstract (e.g. confines, framework, comprehension).
e.g.: Insufficient attention has been given to the importance of relationships among children within the school
d. In is not usually found at the end of the sentence after a verb.
e. Inside has a metaphorical meaning of �revelations� regarding something, and is often found in paper titles .
e.g.:Inside the mind of a monkey.
Inside bureaucracy.
Inside the family.
18. Of and with (material, method, agreement)
a. Of indicates a material out of which something is made.
e.g.:The royal family were wearing jewels made of gold and silver.
Nitonol is an alloy of nickel and titanium.
b. With explains how something is created or what something is equipped with.
e.g.:These cars are manufactured with armor plating and come equipped with bullet-proof windows.
c. With indicates the presence or absence of a relationship, agreement or support. With is used with the following verbs, nouns, and adjectives: accordance, acquaint, agree, ally, appointment, associate, coincide, collaborate, comparable, compliance, comply, concur, connect, connection, consistent, contact, contaminate, cooporate, cooperation, coordinate, coordination, coupled, cover, deal, dispense, endow, entrust, equip, experiment, help, incompatible, incongruous, infect, interact, interfere, liaise, mix, paint, problem, provide, reinforce, synchronize, synchronous, tally (indicates that these words can also be followed by to)
e.g.:The terrain was covered with snow.
d. With also mean �as a function of�, of cannot be used in such cases.
e.g.:The severity of the illness varies with age.[2]
[1] George E. Wishon and Julia M. Burks, Let�s Write English, page. 285
[2]A. Nallwork, English for Research: Usage, Style, and Grammar, (New York: Springer Science+Business Media, 2013), page. 115-130
