Understanding the Concepts of English Prepositions

By Andrew Bruckfield

ENGLISH PREPOSITIONS are the mostfrequently occurring type of essential words in the English language and should be learned by everyone who wants to speak English fluently—whether you are a beginner or an advanced learner.Prepositions have a strategic function in the English discourse—especially for nonnative speakers. These (often logical) connectors have tremendous power and are of critical importance in the English language learning processes, as well as in grammar studies.

Prepositions are an indispensable part of the English sentence structure and perhaps the most efficient tool for international students in the environment of Second Language Acquisition (SLA), for teachers and students of English as a Second or Foreign Language (ESL/EFL) and English for Academic Purposes (EAP).

Spatial and nonspatial relations are conceptual in nature. We use prepositions to describe these relations and the interaction between words and meanings in a sentence, clause, or phrase. But context makes it almost impossible for us to grasp the meanings of these words without understanding the concepts behind these logical or contextual connectors.
Understanding the Concepts of English Prepositions explores the seven key concepts and their contextual implications encompassing the spatial and nonspatial senses of English prepositions.

Andrew Bruckfield’s English Language Reference Library:

• Prepositions: The Ultimate Book – Mastering English Prepositions, The Key to Fluency in English Conversation
• Prepositions by Example – The Quickest Way to Learn and Practice English Prepositions
• Understanding the Concepts of English Prepositions – The Container Effect, Dimensional Prepositions, The Proximity Effect, The Concept of Magnitude, The Sound-Wave Effect, The Platform Effect, Complex Prepositions: including Spatial, Nonspatial & Temporal Uses
• Essential & Practical English Grammar – A Compendium of Verbs, Phrasal Verbs, Idioms, Prepositions, Vocabulary, Punctuation & more.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jul 20, 2020
• ISBN: 9781716832963

Book preview

Prepositions

A Quick Introduction

ENGLISH PREPOSITIONS . . .

. . . FOR BEGINNERS OR ADVANCED STUDENTS?

While completely focusing on prepositions, this book also attempts to focus on vocabulary, punctuation, and general sentence structure as a means of raising readers’ awareness of the importance of basic grammatical structures.

PREPOSITIONS are very important connectors of words and ideas in the English language, and they make up one of the most important word classes of the English grammar. Prepositions have a strategic function in the English discourse—especially for nonnative speakers. These essential (and often logical) connectors have tremendous power and are of critical importance in the English language learning processes, as well as in grammar studies—they are perhaps the most efficient tool for Second Language Acquisition (SLA), for teachers and students of English as a Second Language or English as a Foreign Language (ESL/EFL) all over the world.

Just to show a few very basic examples:

we can be IN, ON, or AT a place

we can talk TO, WITH, or AT somebody

we can walk TO, TOWARD, NEAR, ALONG, AT, ON, or AROUND a place

we can sit ON, AT, UNDER, or NEAR a table . . .

. . . some things can be IN a table

we can be ABOVE, BELOW, UNDER, UNDERNEATH, or BENEATH something

we can throw a ball TO, AT, or FOR someone.

Prepositions can show directional, spatial, and temporal connections in a sentence. For example:

He walked from his home to the store.

The store is on Elm Street.

The meeting is at 10 a.m.

English prepositions also show logical connections between ideas in a sentence—including figurative ones. Let us take, for example, five completely different uses (and meanings) of the preposition OUT OF:

a) I came here out of love.

b) Stay here, out of the way!

c) He is out of shape! He needs to do some exercises.

d) We are out of milk! We need to buy some milk tomorrow.

e) Why did you decide to eat here out of all other places?

In (a), out of means because (the motive why I came here); in (b), out of means away from; in (c), he is in poor physical condition; in (d), we have no more milk; in (e), out of indicates a selection from a group (often of better choices).

But there are other meanings of OUT OF . . .

. . . plus more than 400 other prepositions!

For instance, have you heard of

COMPLEX PREPOSITIONS?

You can’t speak English fluently . . .

. . . without learning them first!

COMPLEX PREPOSITIONS are an indispensable part of English, because they function as a single preposition in terms of meaning in a sentence. For instance, in the examples below, we could either choose the complex prepositions BY MEANS OF and IN FRONT OF, or the simple prepositions VIA and BEFORE:

There is access by means of public transportation.

(There is access via public transportation)

He was finally in front of the judge.

(He was finally before the judge)

Complex prepositions are also known as phrasal prepositions, as opposed to simple prepositions, and they are always made up of two or more words that function as a single preposition.

Here are a few examples of complex—or phrasal—prepositions:

ACCORDING TO

IN SPITE OF

IN TERMS OF

IN THE HEAT OF

ON THE VERGE OF

ON TOP OF

THANKS TO

And many, many more!

Be sure to learn them well in the chapters ahead!

But wait! There is more. . . .

A Word on Nonspatial Prepositions

Did you know that the words COME, CONSIDERING, EXCEPT, FEATURING, GIVEN, INCLUDING, REGARDING, SUPPOSING, WANTING, and many, many other verbs, conjunctions, nouns, adjectives, and adverbs are also prepositions? For example, the word save in (a) below is a noun; the word save in (b) is a verb—but the word save in (c) is a preposition meaning except.

a) The goalkeeper made a great save at the end of the game.

b) The new CEO was hired to save the company.

c) I spent all week working save Sunday.

NONSPATIAL PREPOSITIONS specify events and situations that are not related to space or time. We discuss nonspatial complex prepositions in Chapter 7.

So, English prepositions are an indispensable tool of the English language and should be learned by everyone who wants to speak English fluently—whether you are a beginner or an advanced learner.

If you really want to learn English prepositions, make sure you understand—and practice with—the essential concepts discussed in the following chapters:

Prepositions IN, ON, and AT: The Container Effect

Dimensional Prepositions: IN, ON, and AT

Preposition AT: The Proximity Effect

Prepositions IN, ON, and AT: The Concept of Magnitude

Prepositions TO and AT: The Sound-Wave Effect

Prepositions IN and ON: The Platform Effect

Complex Prepositions: Spatial, Nonspatial & Temporal Uses

Chapter 1:

Prepositions IN, ON, and AT: The Container Effect

The Containers of the Preposition IN

When we use IN to describe spatial relations, ON and AT always orbit around it, showing their specific spatial relation to IN. For example,

The cargo is in the container.

The man is standing on the container.

The man is standing at the container.

The sense of container

To be IN a container does not necessarily mean to be INSIDE a shipping container. The spatial preposition IN functions with a sense of container—which means that the notion of container of the preposition IN is broader than the literal meaning of the word container. As an example, compare the use of IN and ON in the following illustrations:

We sit in this chair. We sit on this chair.

He is reading on the sofa.

There is liquid in the bottle. There is a spider on the bottle.

They are on a stool.

The pen is on the notepad. I wrote on my notepad.

The man is in the water and the boat is on the water.

Verbs matter!

Verbs often (but not always!) suggest the correct choice of prepositions. For example, in the following figure, the duck on the left is swimming in the water (we could also say that it is floating on the water).

The duck on the right is diving in the water (we could also say that it is swimming under the water).

IN or ON a Photo?

Compare the examples below and see how interesting the perception of container and surface can be with the help of the prepositions IN and ON. Most importantly, you do not need to see the images described by the two sentences below in order to fully understand their logic and the difference between them:

There is a flower in the photo.

(It’s a photograph of a flower)

There is a flower on the photo.

(The flower is lying on the photo)

IN or ON a Mirror?

Now think of a mirror. Should we use IN or ON the mirror? The answer will depend on the function of the mirror in the sentence—that is, the context. The two sentences below reflect what I know about mirrors and prepositions:

I see myself in the mirror every morning.

There is a scratch on the mirror.

Unless you are a vampire, chances are that you will always see yourself when you look IN a mirror. The other day, as I was shaving, I saw my breath ON the mirror.

The phrase in the mirror is quite metaphorical, since a mirror is definitely not a container-like object. Nevertheless, the sense of containment is present in our sensorial perception, and it is exactly this perception of depth that helps us define what is IN or ON a referent.

One basic difference between the use of the prepositions IN, ON, and AT is that the choice of IN or ON implies thinking spatially, while the choice of the preposition AT implies thinking referentially. For instance, AT, in the sense of location, can function as a byproduct of IN and ON to indicate nearness.

In the example below, the use of IN or ON would be grammatically possible, but the consequences would be unpredictable—that is why we normally use AT:

They were at the crater of the Kilauea Volcano.

But AT does not only express proximity—it also expresses relative position or relative exactness. For example, if you visit Washington, D.C., you’ll probably try to catch a glimpse of the White House. And if you know the president is there, you could say something like

The president is at the White House.

because you are not sure where exactly the president is. But if you know where exactly the president is, you could say something like:

The president is in the Oval Office.

In the next chapter, we will take a close look at IN, ON, and AT and their function as dimensional prepositions, and we will examine how they help us interact with space.

Chapter 2:

Dimensional Prepositions: IN, ON, and AT

When used in the sense of space, IN, ON, and AT are considered dimensional prepositions. We have just seen this concept loosely applied in Chapter 1, in "Prepositions IN, ON, and AT: The Container Effect." In this chapter, we explore in detail their differences in terms of dimensionality.

In geometry, when we talk about space, we consider three dimensions and a zero-dimensional point. We use one dimension for length—for example, a straight or a curved line; two dimensions for length and width—for example, a surface; three dimensions for length, width, and depth—for example, a box; and a zero-dimensional point—for example, a point in space (often treated as an exact location).

In "Prepositions IN, ON, and AT: The Container Effect," we can see that the preposition AT is used to describe proximity, relative position, or relative exactness. For example:

The president is at the White House.

(but I don’t know where exactly the president is)

She’s at home.

(I don’t know exactly in what room—but I know she is home)

Note that, in both cases, AT is describing a position relative to a 3-D location (the containers White House and her home). But AT can express a near-exact location when used as a true zero-dimensional preposition (i.e., a point, which has no dimensions—only a position in space). For example:

She is at the bus stop.

She is not ON TOP OF the bus stop; she is not INSIDE the bus stop; but she is there, at a point clearly perceived as the bus stop.

ON the Corner, AT the Corner, or IN the Corner?

The man in the figure below is AT the corner. There is a parking lot with three cars ON the corner across the street from the man. What is the difference between AT the corner and ON the corner?