Page 121 - Just Enough English Grammar Illustrated Book
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6.1 What Is a Preposition?
This chapter deals with another group of little words you need
to understand: prepositions. Previous chapters showed how
adverbs and adjectives add details to verbs and nouns.
Prepositions are words that are placed before nouns or
pronouns; they show a relationship in a sentence.
A preposition is a word or group of words
that is placed before a noun or a pronoun to show
a relationship in a sentence.
the
food cart
inside
Open
Today at 9:00 a.m.
on
top of
the
road
In the illustration above, the phrases inside the food cart,
on top of the road, and at 9:00 a.m. can be added to a basic
sentence containing a subject and a verb, thus extending the
sentence.
Example: Fred is inside the food cart.
The word inside is a preposition. It shows the relationship
between Fred and the cart.
Example: The food cart sits on top of the road.
The words on top of function as a preposition and show the
relationship between the food cart and the road.
Example: Fred’s Foods opens today at 9:00 a.m.
The word at is a preposition and shows the relationship between
Fred’s Foods and 9:00 a.m.
As we explore the next section, you will see that each preposition
shows a slightly different type of relationship.
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