CBSE Class 8/9/10 - English Grammar - Forms of Preposition

Prepositions

Prepositions are words which show the relationship between two words in a sentence.

The relationship can include
- direction,
- place (or a particular point or location),
- time,
- manner,
- cause and
- amount (or degree).

☛Note: The preposition is almost always before the noun or pronoun and hence it is called a preposition.

FIVE FORMS OF PREPOSITION

There are five forms of prepositions i.e.

① Simple Prepositions
② Compound Prepositions
③ Double Prepositions
④ Participle Prepositions
⑤ Phrase Prepositions



① Simple Prepositions
Simple prepositions are used in simple sentences.
Examples are: in, on, at, with, by...
e.g
Mohan lives in Delhi.
Radha is at her desk.

② Compound Prepositions
Compound prepositions are formed by prefixing the preposition to a noun, an adjective or an adverb. Examples of compound prepositions are:
about, across, among, around, between, beside, before...
e.g.
The girls are running around the table.
        [Here preposition around is formed by joining 'a + round' ].

Please get off of the couch. [off and of form compound preposition]

③ Double Prepositions
A double preposition is two (prepositional) words used in a sentence to connect nouns, pronouns and phrases with other words in a sentence.
Examples of prepositions are: because of, outside of, out of, from behind ...

e.g. Suddenly he walked out of the meeting.
He could not reach the theater because of the heavy rain.


④ Participle Prepositions
When participles used as prepositions they form participle prepositions. A participle is a verb ending with ‘ed’ or ‘ing’. Examples are:
Concerning, pending, considering assuming, barring, during, given, notwithstanding, provided, regarding...
e.g.
Considering the circumstances, the school principal didn't announce punishment.
There was less probability of achievement, notwithstanding they decided to go ahead.

⑤ Phrase Prepositions
A prepositional phrase is a group of words containing a preposition, a noun or pronoun (object of the
preposition), and any modifiers of the object. Examples are:
According to, in spite of, on account of, in front of, in order to, for the sake of, by means of, with reference to, in addition to, due to...
e.g.
Meena is standing in the queue on behalf of her friends.
As long as you do not change the meaning, you can rephrase the sentence.


In the next lesson we'll discuss the types of prepositions.

Exercise

Q(CBSE SA2 2013): Read the paragraph given below and fill in the blanks by choosing the correct options from those that follow:

The Wild Life Protection Society of India shows in its report that leopards are killed (a) ___________ great numbers for their skin every year. The main cause (b) ___________ deaths is poaching.  Our country is losing a leopard a day which is alarming. The government should take serious action (c) ________ tackle the illegal trade of skin of the leopards.

(a)    i.  on        ii. in         iii. at          iv. with
(b)    i.  for       ii. from       iii. of          iv. to
(c)    i.  through   ii. at         iii. in          iv  to


Answers:
(a) in
(b) of
(c) to