Preposition

A preposition is a word governing, and usually coming in front of, a noun or pronoun and expressing a relation to another word or element,as in:

1. She left before breakfast.
2. What did you come for?
   (For what did you come?)

Preposition List:-

There are about 150 prepositions in English. Yet this is a very small number when you think of the thousands of other words (nouns, verbs etc). Prepositions are important words. We use individual prepositions more frequently than other individual words. In fact, the prepositions of, to and in are among the ten most frequent words in English. Here is a short list of 70 of the more common one-word prepositions. Many of these prepositions have more than one meaning. Please refer to a dictionary for precise meaning and usage.

1. aboard	2. about	3. above	4. across
5. after	6. against	7. along	8. amid
9. among	10. anti	11. around	12. as
13. at	14. before	15. behind	16. below
17. beneath	18. beside	19. besides	20. between
21. beyond	22. but	23. by	24. concerning
25. considering	26. despite	27. down	28. during
29. except	30. excepting	31. excluding	32. following
33. for	34. from	35. in	36. inside
37. into	38. like	39. minus	40. near
41. of	42. off	43. on	44. onto
45. opposite	46. outside	47. over	48. past
49. per	50. plus	51. regarding	52. round
53. save	54. since	55. than	56. through
57. to	58. toward	59. towards	60. under
61. underneath	62. unlike	63. until	64. up
65. upon	66. versus	67. via	68. with
69. within	70. without	...	...

Preposition Rule:-

There is one very simple rule about prepositions. And, unlike most rules, this rule has no exceptions.

Rule 
A preposition is followed by a "noun". It is never followed by a verb. 
By "noun" we include:

1. noun (dog, money, love)
2. proper noun (name) (Bangkok, Mary)
3. pronoun (you, him, us)
4. noun group (my first job)
5. gerund (swimming)

A preposition cannot be followed by a verb. If we want to follow a preposition by a verb, we must use the "-ing" form which is really a gerund or verb in noun form. In the following sentences, why is "to" followed by a verb? That should be impossible, according to the above rule:
I would like to go now.
She used to smoke. Here are some examples:

Subject + verb	preposition	"noun"
The food is	on	the table.
She lives	in	Japan.
Tara is looking	for	you.
The letter is	under	your blue book.
Pascal is used	to	English people.
She isn't used	to	working.
I ate	before	coming.

Answer to Quick Quiz: In these sentences, "to" is not a preposition. It is part of theinfinitive
("to go", "to smoke").
Prepositions of Place:
at, in, on 
In general, we use:

1. at for a POINT
2. in for an ENCLOSED SPACE
3. on for a SURFACE

at	in	on
POINT	ENCLOSED SPACE	SURFACE
at the corner	in the garden	on the wall
at the bus stop	in London	on the ceiling
at the door	in France	on the door
at the top of the page	in a box	on the cover
at the end of the road	in my pocket	on the floor
at the entrance	in my wallet	on the carpet
at the crossroads	in a building	on the menu
at the entrance	in a car	on a page

Look at these examples:

Jane is waiting for you at the bus stop.

The shop is at the end of the street.

My plane stopped at Dubai and Hanoi and arrived in Bangkok two hours late.

When will you arrive at the office?

Do you work in an office?

I have a meeting in New York.

Do you live in Japan?

Jupiter is in the Solar System.

The author's name is on the cover of the book.

There are no prices on this menu.

You are standing on my foot.

There was a "no smoking" sign on the wall.

I live on the 7th floor at 21 Oxford Street in London.

Notice the use of the prepositions of place at, in and on in these standard expressions:

at	in	on
at home	in a car	on a bus
at work	in a taxi	on a train
at school	in a helicopter	on a plane
at university	in a boat	on a ship
at college	in a lift (elevator)	on a bicycle, on a motorbike
at the top	in the newspaper	on a horse, on an elephant
at the bottom	in the sky	on the radio, on television
at the side	in a row	on the left, on the right
at reception	in Oxford Street	on the way

Prepositions of Time: at, in, on 
We use:

at for a PRECISE TIME

in for MONTHS, YEARS, CENTURIES and LONG PERIODS

on for DAYS and DATES

at	in	on
PRECISE TIME	MONTHS, YEARS, CENTURIES and LONG PERIODS	DAYS and DATES
at 3 o'clock	in May	on Sunday
at 10.30am	in summer	on Tuesdays
at noon	in the summer	on 6 March
at dinnertime	in 1990	on 25 Dec. 2010
at bedtime	in the 1990s	on Christmas Day
at sunrise	in the next century	on Independence Day
at sunset	in the Ice Age	on my birthday
at the moment	in the past/future	on New Year's Eve

Look at these examples:

I have a meeting at 9am.

The shop closes at midnight.

Jane went home at lunchtime.

In England, it often snows in December.

Do you think we will go to Jupiter in the future?

There should be a lot of progress in the next century.

Do you work on Mondays?

Her birthday is on 20 November.

Where will you be on New Year's Day?

Notice the use of the preposition of time at in the following standard expressions:

Expression	Example
at night	The stars shine at night.
at the weekend	I don't usually work at the weekend.
at Christmas/Easter	I stay with my family at Christmas.
at the same time	We finished the test at the same time.
at present	He's not home at present. Try later.

Notice the use of the prepositions of time in and on in these common expressions:

in	on
in the morning	on Tuesday morning
in the mornings	on Saturday mornings
in the afternoon(s)	on Sunday afternoons
in the evening(s)	on Monday evening

When we say last, next, every, this we do not also use at, in, on.

I went to London last June. (not in last June)

He's coming back next Tuesday. (not on next Tuesday)

I go home every Easter. (not at every Easter)

We'll call you this evening. (not in this evening)