Preposition

In grammar, a preposition is a type of adposition, a grammatical particle that establishes a relationship between an object (usually a noun phrase) and some other part of the sentence, often expressing a location in place or time.

Prepositional phrases

The preposition and its object make up a prepositional phrase, which can be used to modify noun phrases and verb phrases in the manner of adjectives and adverbs. For example, in the sentence "He has a can of lemonade", the prepositional phrase of lemonade is used to modify the noun can. In the sentence "The girl sat in the chair", the prepositional phrase in the chair modifies the verb sat.

Related Topics:
Prepositional phrase - Verb phrase - Adjective - Adverb - Noun - Verb

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Although the canonical object of a preposition is a noun phrase, there are cases in which another kind of phrase forms a preposition's object. For instance, in the sentence "Come out from under the bed", the object of the preposition from is another prepositional phrase, under the bed. Furthermore, according to some analyses, in the sentence "I opened the door before he walked in", before is not a conjunction but rather a preposition whose object is a full sentence (he walked in).

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In common speech, the object of a preposition may be implied. For instance, "Get in the car" may be shortened to "Get in." One school of thought believes that is acceptable to treat prepositions as adjectives, nouns, or adverbs, in which case, the "in" in "Get in" acts as an adverb.

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