Prepositional phrases

Spotting single-word prepositions

We're going to conclude this lesson by practising spotting prepositions. This sounds easy, and it almost is—the only trick is getting confused about words that could also be adverbs or conjunctions. 👹

So to do this activity properly, actually take the time to guess which words are prepositions, and highlight them, then compare to our highlighting.

How many prepositions are in this snippet?

I remember that the bus turned right off the main road at the army checkpoint as always and rounded the corner past the deserted cricket ground.

I Am Malala(2013)

There are 3 prepositions in that sentence.

Read the snippet over again. This time think about what each of the prepositions are doing. What meanings do they create?

You might notice they are all placing action in space (off the main road, at the army checkpoint, past the deserted cricket ground).

The trickiest thing with spotting prepositions is that it's easy to get them mixed up with adverbs and conjunctions—because certain words can do all 3 jobs.

The word as is a good example of this. This slippery little word can function as a preposition, adverb, and conjunction.

In this particular snippet, as is functioning as an adverb in an adverb group (as always) which is then describing the process of the bus turning right: 'right as always'.

(As it happens, the word right is also an adverb in this context. And as usual, what we see here is an adverb group being slippery by splitting in two and one half shuffling further down the sentence.)

Incidentally, of the 3 prepositions we highlighted in the snippet above, only the word at is always a preposition. The other 2, off and past, can function as adverbs and adjectives depending on the context.

Here's an even longer snippet. How many prepositions can you find in here? If you check our highlighting, are there any prepositions that you missed? Or any words that you thought were prepositions but aren't?

Below them, a whole troupe of the little creatures were bouncing and running and leaping, heading for the path below them, and before he could say another word, he was snatched up by a pair of bony hands and was flying through the air in a series of jumps and lurches, as the creatures headed down to meet the others of their kind.

The Graveyard Book(2010)

10 prepositions altogether.

You might notice that this time they don't just place action in space. They often help introduce how something happens: snatched up by a pair of bony hands, flying through the air in a series of jumps and lurches.

  • 'Before' is a word that can function as a preposition—but it can also function as a conjunction, connecting two actions. In this snippet, before is connecting say another word to snatched up.
  • Same with as. It can function:
    • as a preposition (👈 which is exactly what it did on the left there)
    • as an adverb (the bus turned right as always)
    • as a conjunction, connecting actions, which is what it does in the snippet, where it connects (in time) being a character flying through the air with creatures heading down to meet others of their kind.

You probably won't, and that's not a problem.

What you need to remember is the observation that many of the words that function as prepositions also function as adverbs and conjunctions, and you want to be ready to check a dictionary if you're ever confused.

Now let's test ourselves on multi-word prepositions.

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