Prepositions

In English, there are around 150 prepositions. Prepositions are typically used before a noun, pronoun or noun phrase to indicate a relationship in space or time. They are also used to signal a relationship between people or objects. For more information on prepositions of direction, time and place see:

https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/grammar/prepositions

Prepositions can also combine with a noun, verb or adjective to form a prepositional phrase. Prepositional phrases in English fall into two categories:

1. Adverbial phrases

Adverbial phrases are prepositional phrases that modify the meaning of a verb. For example: ‘On behalf of Massey University, I would like to thank you for visiting this page’.

2. Adjectival phrases.

Adjectival phrases are prepositional phrases that modify the meaning of a noun. For example: ‘In answer to your question, the aspect of English grammar that learners often find most difficult is preposition usage’.

It is generally not necessary to know whether a prepositional phrase is functioning in an adverbial or an adjectival way. To gain familiarity with how prepositional phrases are used within sentences, it is important to read and listen to a wide variety of materials in English. Prepositional phrases are often highly idiomatic. For this reason, there are few clear rules and it is best to learn these phrases as ‘word packages’ (i.e. the key word together with its accompanying preposition/s).

A sentence may sound ‘wordy’ if it contains too many prepositional phrases. For example: ‘In my opinion, in addition to communicating an idea clearly, a sentence should, in theory, aim at using as few words as possible, because wordiness can result in the reader experiencing confusion about the writer’s argument, as a result of which the plausibility of that argument may be reduced.’

This could be rewritten as follows: ‘A sentence should communicate an idea in as few words as possible, because wordiness may confuse the reader and reduce the plausibility of the writer’s argument’.

 

The four tables below include some of the more common prepositional phrases used in academic writing. These phrases have been categorized according to whether their key word is a noun, verb or adjective.

NOUNS + PREPOSITIONS
access to	insight into
in accordance with	for instance
on account of	intention of
addiction to	interaction between
in addition to	of interest to
advantage/disadvantage of	justification for
in agreement with	knowledge of
alternative to	lack of
in answer to	lecture on
argument about (a topic) for/against (a viewpoint)	at length
aspect of	limitation of
attack on	method of
attitude to	in my opinion
on behalf of	opinion of (a person)/about (something)
belief in	in order to
cause of	participation in
comparison between	partnership between
in comparison with	perspective on
in conclusion	in practice
in connection with	preference for
connection between	prelude to
on condition (that)	proof of
confusion about	purpose of (something)/in (doing something)
in contrast to	reaction to
criteria for	reason for
decrease in	recovery from
delay in	reduction in
demand for	as regards
dependence on	in regard to
deviation from	with regard to
difference between (two objects) of (opinion)	report on
distinction between	with respect to
in doubt	responsibility for
effect of (climate change)	rise in
effect on (the environment)	scope for
example of	solution to
for example	strategy for
experience of (doing something)/in (the area of…)	success in
implication of	in theory
importance of	theory of
increase/decrease in	thesis on/about
information about	understanding of

 

VERBS + PREPOSITIONS (including common phrasal verbs used in academic writing)*
to add to	to differ from
to adhere to	to impact on
to agree with (an idea) to (do something)	to interfere with (something)/in (a matter)
to aim at (finishing a project)/for (a target)	to object to
to allow for	to prepare for (an exam) to (do something)
to apply for (a job)/to (all first-year students)	to present (somebody) with (something)
to approve of	to prevent (somebody) from (doing something)
to argue with (someone)/about (a topic) for (an idea) against (an idea)	to protest about
to choose between	to provide (somebody) with (something)
to comment on	to react to
to compare with	to refer to
to concentrate on	to relate to
to conform to	to result in
to consent to	to stand for
to consist of	to succeed in
to decide on (a plan) to (do something)	to think of/about
to depend on

*For the differences between prepositional verbs and phrasal verbs, see: https://dictionaryblog.cambridge.org/2020/01/29/let-down-and-look-after-the-difference-between-phrasal-verbs-and-prepositional-verbs/

 

VERBS + NO PREPOSITION
to affect	to hinder
to approach	to influence
to assess	to inhabit
to avoid	to investigate
to comprise	to lack
to consider	to oppose
to discuss	to request
to effect	to resemble
to emphasize	to seek
to equal	to source

 

ADJECTIVES + PREPOSITIONS
absent from	essential to
according to	excluded by (an object /person) /from (a group)
accustomed/unaccustomed to	familiar with
advantageous/disadvantageous for	harmful to
associated with	interested in
aware/unaware of	involved in
based on	opposed to
beneficial to	popular with/among (a group of people)
in brief	prior to
capable/incapable of	responsible for
characteristic/uncharacteristic of	satisfied/dissatisfied with
composed of	sensitive to/towards
concerned with (a matter)/concerned about (a person)	serious about
consistent with	similar to
detrimental for	suitable for
devoid of	sympathetic towards
different from	typical of

 

References and further reading

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Last updated on 13 December, 2023