Prepositions cannot be distinguished by any formal features. A list of prepositions will illustrate this point:
across, after, at, before, by, during, from, in, into, of, on, to, under, with, without
We can, say, however, that prepositions typically come before a noun:
| across town after class at home before Tuesday by Shakespeare |
for lunch in London on fire to school with pleasure |
The noun does not necessarily come immediately after the preposition, however, since determiners and adjectives can intervene:
after the storm
on white horses
under the old regime
Whether or not there are any intervening determiners or adjectives, prepositions are almost always followed by a noun. In fact, this is so typical of prepositions that if they are not followed by a noun, we call them “stranded” prepositions:
| Preposition | Stranded Preposition |
| John talked about the new film | This is the film John talked about |
Prepositions are invariable in their form, that is, they do not take any inflections.
Complex Prepositions
The prepositions which we have looked at so far have all consisted of a single word, such as in, of, at, and to. We refer to these as SIMPLE PREPOSITIONS.
COMPLEX PREPOSITIONS consist of two- or three-word combinations acting as a single unit. Here are some examples:
| according to along with apart from because of contrary to |
due to except for instead of prior to regardless of |
Like simple prepositions, these two-word combinations come before a noun:
according to Shakespeare
contrary to my advice
due to illness
Three-word combinations often have the following pattern:
Simple Preposition + Noun + Simple Preposition
We can see this pattern in the following examples:
| in aid of on behalf of in front of in accordance with in line with |
in line with in relation to with reference to with respect to by means of |
Again, these combinations come before a noun:
in aid of charity
in front of the window
in line with inflation
Marginal Prepositions
A number of prepositions have affinities with other word classes. In particular, some prepositions are verbal in form:
Following his resignation, the minister moved to the country
I am writing to you regarding your overdraft
The whole team was there, including John
We refer to these as MARGINAL PREPOSITIONS. Other marginal prepositions include:
concerning, considering, excluding, given, granted, pending
Non-verbal marginal prepositions include worth (it’s worth ten pounds) and minus (ten minus two is eight).
