ENGLISH GRAMMAR for Spanish Speakers

2. Nouns
3. The Articles
4. Quantifying Adjectives
5. Determiners
6. Pronouns
7. Quantifiers and Indefinite pronouns

8. Auxiliary verbs
9. The verb: mood and tense
10. The passive voice
11. Anomalous or special verbs (Modal Auxiliaries)
12. The subjunctive
13. Nonfinites
14. Multi-word verbs (Verbs+particle)

15. Adverbs and adverbials
16. Prepositions
17. Conjunctions
18. The simple sentence
19. The complex sentence
20. Indirect Speech
21. Word-formation

16. PREPOSITIONS

1. Functions of the Prepositions

1. Link between two words or elements in a clause à They aren't in the house

* They can also act as the complement of a noun/adjective phrase à The people on the bus

* They can even constitute an independent clause or a conjunct à On the other hand, he wasn't ready for it yet

2. Accompanying a verb and acting as a link with its object

* The preposition does not change the meaning of the verb à To listen to

* The preposition alters the basic meaning of the verb by creating a new word à to look after

2. Position of the preposition

* As a rule, the preposition is placed in front of the word it governs à Here's a present for you.

* Exceptions, where the prepositions occur in the end or deferred position:

1. In interrogative sentences beginning with a particle governed by a preposition à Who's the present for? (for who)

2. In relative clause where the relative is governed by a preposition à The girl you are talking about is my sister

3. In exclamations beginning with what governed by a preposition à What a state he is in!

4. In certain clauses in which an infinitive qualifies a noun, pronoun or an adjective àIt was a very nice house to live in

5. With prepositional verbs an phrasal-prepositional verbs in the passive à to be laughed at

3. The most common simple prepositions

Prepositions	Meanings
Prepositions	Place	Time	Circumstance
about	por todo; alrededor de	aproximadamente, alrededor	sobre, acerca de; aproximadamente
above	encima de, sobre	---	por encima de; más de (over)
across	a través de, al otro lado de	---	---
after	detrás de (order)	después de; tras	tras de, en pos de; al estilo de
against	contra	---	contra
along	a lo largo de	---	---
amid(st)	en medio de	---	en medio de
among(st)	entre (several)	---	entre (several)
around	alrededor de, por todo (about)	aproximadamente, alrededor de	aproximadamente, alrededor, sobre
as	---	---	como
at	en (position); a (direction)	a, en (clock-time, point in time)	en (occupation, state, manner) a
before	delante de, ante	antes de	antes que
behind	detrás de	con retraso	detrás de (backward; support), tras
below	por debajo de	---	por debajo de (inferiority)
beneath	debajo de (literary)	---	inferior, indigno de
beside	junto a	---	comparado con, fuera de sí (reflex.)
besides	---	---	además de
between	entre (two)	entre (two)	entre (two)
beyond	más allá de	más tarde de (later than is better)	superior a; fuera de; por encima
but	---	---	excepto
by	junto a, al lado de; por delante de	durante; para; a	por (manner, agent, instrument...)
despite	---	---	a pesar de (=in spite of)
down	debajo de, bajo	a través de	---
during	---	durante	---
for	para, en dirección a	durante, para, por; desde hace	para (destination); por (purpose)
from	de, desde, procedente de	desde	de, desde, de, por de, a juzgar por
in	en	en, dentro de	en
inside	dentro de	---	---
into	en (movement)	---	en (change, transformation)
like	---	---	como
minus	---	---	menos
near	cerca de	cerca de	cerca de
notwithstanding	---	---	a pesar de (=in spite of)
of	---	---	de (various values)
off	de, fuera de, saliendo de, frente a	---	fuera de, de (in idioms)
on	sobre, encima de, en	el (dates)	sobre, acerca de
outside	fuera de	---	---
over	sobre, por encima de,en,por tanto	durante	más de; sobre (superiority, issue)
past	por delante de, pasado, más allá	pasado	pasado el límite
per	---	---	por (percentage, proportion)
plus	---	---	más
round	alrededor de, a la vuelta de	alrededor de, aproximadamente	alrededor de, aproximadamente
since	desde	---	---
through/thru	a través de, por	a través de; hasta (tiempo deter.)	a través de, a causa de
throughout	por todo	durante todo el tiempo de	---
till	---	hasta	---
to	a, hacia	hasta	a, comparado con, hacia, hasta
toward(s)	hacia	hacia	hacia, para con
under	debajo de	menos de	menos de, bajo
underneath	debajo de (=under)	---	---
unlike	---	---	distinto a/de, diferente a/de
up	en lo alto de, arriba de	---	---
upon	(= on)	---	---
via	---	---	vía
with	---	---	con (company, instrument); de
within	dentre de,dentro de los limites de	dentro de,en un plazo de,en meno	dentro de
wothout	fuera de (archaic)	---	sin

4. Differences between some prepositions

è above / over = encima

above	higher level	the house stood on a hill above the sea
over	direct vertical relationship or contiguity	They spread a blanket over the body

è across / through

across	a través de la superficie	Across the road
through	a través del volumen	Through the tunnel

è among(st) / between

among(st)	position, affinity, contrast or relationshi of an object to a set of nondiscrete objects	Among(st) the trees
between	position, affinity, contrast or relationship of an object to a definite or exclusive set of discrete objects, even when there are more than two.	Between France an Spain / Between these four walls

è as / like

as	como, en calidad de	She's excellent as a wife
like	como, semejante	To eat like a horse

è at / in / on

Place: en; position at a particular spot

Time: clock-time or point in time

At the bus stop

at five o'clock / at noon / at that moment

Place: en; inside something

Time: month, year, season

within a certain period of time

in the drawer

in May, in 1992, in Spring

in five minute

Place: en, sobre, (on top of something)

Time: day of the week and dates

on the table

on Monday, on Jyly 15^th

è below / under = debajo de

below	lower level	The valley below the hill
under	direct vertical relationship or contiguity	Under the table

è during / for = durante

during	the time within which or when something takes place	during the winter / the day
for	the length of time	for five years / months

è in / into

in	en (inside a place, generally where no movement is involved)	He was in the room
into	en (when movement from one place to another is involved)	He went into the room

è past / by = pasar delante

past	more emphasis on the idea of ‘continuing on ne’s way’	He went past her without greeting her
by		He went by the Post-Office

è since / for

since	from a certain point in time	Since April
for	through a certain period of time	For two months

5. Complex prepositions

The most common		Others
according to	según, de acuerdo con		ahead of	(por) delante de
all along	a todo lo largo de		along with	junto con
all around	todo alrededor de		as well as	además de
all over	por todo		at the back of	en la parte de atrás de
all through	durante todo		at the expense of	a costa / expensas de
apart from	aparte de		at/by the side of	al lado de
as far as	hasta		but for	a no ser por
as for	por lo que respecta a		by dint of	a fuerza de
as regards	por lo que respecta a		by means of	por medio de, mediante
as to	por lo que respecta a		by way of	a modo de
away from	de, lejos de		close to	junto a
because of	a causa de		except for	excepto
due to	debido a		for the sake of	por
from among	de entre		for / from want of	por falta de
from under	de debajo de		in favour of	a favor de
in addition to	además de		in lieu of	en vez de, en lugar de
in between	por entre		in default of	a falta de, en ausencia de
in case of	en caso de		in place of	en vez de, en lugar de
in front of	delante de		in quest of	en busca de
in line with	de acuerdo con		in regard of	en cuanto a, con respecto a
in spite of	a pesar de		in respect of	respecto a/de
next to	junto a		in return for	a cambio de, en pago de
on account of	a causa de		in the face of	frente a
on behalf of	a favor de, en nombre de		in the middle/midst of	en medio de / en mitad de
on to	a, hacia (movement)		in view of	en vista de, a la vista de
on top of	encima de, en lo alto de		in the event of	en caso de
out of	fuera de		on the other side of	al otro lado de
owing to	debido a		on the strength of	fundándose en
up to	a, hasta		previous / prior to	previo a
with the exception of	con excepción de		thanks to	gracias, debido a, a causa de
			together with	junto a
			with an eye to	con miras a
			with a view to	con vistas a, con objeto de
			with regard to	con respecto a
			with respect to	con respecto a, en cuanto a

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