UNIT – II

1. PREPOSITIONS

Preposition is a word or a group of words which brings out the correct relationship between a
noun/pronoun or between a verb and a noun/pronoun or an adjective and a noun/pronoun.

Prepositions are important structural words. They have been called, ‘hooking words’, since
they are used to hook nouns, pronouns and word-groups on to preceding words and word-
groups including sentences. The purpose of the hooking is to mark the relation of the noun,
pronoun or word-group with another word or word-group. The most frequently used
prepositions are: at, by, for, from, in, of, on, to and with.

The different important relations marked by prepositions are:

Time - I’ll see you at six in the evening.
Position - Please put the book on the table.
Direction - Do you walk to college?
Association - She lives with her parents.
Agency - The window must have been broken by a football.

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Instrumentality - Ramu finds it hard to write with a pen.
Manner - Do you like to travel by bus?
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The same prepositions may express different relations in different contexts:
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1. She sat by the door. (Position)

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2. Can you finish this work by Sunday? (Time)

3. You can go to England by air or by sea. (Manner)
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4. Meet me at the station. (Place)

5. Don’t throw the ball at me. (Direction)
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6. He goes to college at 10’o clock. (Time)

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Here are a few examples of important uses of frequently used prepositions:

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1. Above: higher than, over

The birds were flying above the trees.
2. Across: From one side to the other.
A new bridge is being built across the river.
3. After: later than, next, following in time or order
Meet me after six o’clock.
4. Along: from one end to the other end, in a line next to the length of
They were walking along the road.
Colourful trees grew along the road.
5. Among: surrounded by, from one person, one of
She builds a house among the mountains.
6. At: used to show a point of time, used with something seen as a point in space,
towards
He asked me to meet him at 2’o clock.
7. Behind: at the back of, supporting, inferior to
She stood behind her husband.

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8. Below: lower than, lower than in amount, rank etc.,
The picture hung just below thewindow.
Children below the age of 5 are not admitted here.
9. Between: used generally for two reference points to show position or connection or
division
She sat between her husband and her father.
You can meet him between five and six o’clock.
She divided the cake between her two children.
10. By: near, beside, by way of, by means of, used to show the agent of the action
When I saw her she was standing by the window.
Due to urgent work she had to leave by the first train.
Meghdoot was written by Kalidas.
11. For: used to show a receiver of something, on behalf of, in exchange of, in search of,
towards, used for, in support of, during
She cooked the rice for her son.
She gave me Rs. 10,000 for my house.
12. From: used to show a starting point in time or in place or in order or position, sent,
given, supplied, produced or provided by, based on, compared with, showing
separation or distance
They worked from morning to night.

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Many birds come from morning to night.
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She is different from her brother in character.
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S.
He lives 45 miles from the village.
13. In: during a period of time, after a period of time, used before the names of towns,
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cities, countries etc, used to show a state or position.

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She answered all the questions in 30 minutes.

The train will leave in three hours.
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14. Into: to the inside of [shows motion or direction or change of condition]

She asked me to come into the classroom.
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He wants to translate Gitanjali into Tamil.

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The rain changed into snow.

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15. Of: belonging to, from, about, having

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The wood of this table is quite old.

Nepal is to the north of India.
16. On: on top of [touching the surface] used to show a general position: used to show a
position in time, about.
Can you see the cat on the roof?
We are informed that the monkey was on the roof.
He gave a talk on Social work.
17. Over: above, [without touching], vertically above, about
A picture hung over the door.
Grass is growing over the airport.
There was an iron box over the table.
18. Since: from a point of past time till now, during the periodafter
I haven’t seen her since last week.
It is a long time since our last visit to Mumbai.
19. Through: in at one end and out at the other, by way of, by means of, as a result of
They passed through a big tunnel.
The burglar came in through the open stairs.

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 20. To: in the direction of, as far as, until, and for the attention or possession of
She pushed the book to me.
I walked to the end of the corridor.
He is busy from 8’o clock to 4’oclock.
21. Under: lower than, vertically below, less than
There is a black spot under her left eye.
He sat under the tree.
22. With: by means of, in the possession of, in the company of
She writes with a fountain pen.
I left my suitcase with the driver.
She went to Australia with her husband and children.
Omission of prepositions:
Prepositions are omitted in some places. In such cases where prepositions are omitted, the word
order in the sentence changes. Indirect object is placed before the direct object.

‘To’ and ‘for’ before indirect objects (I.O.)

He gave a gift to his daughter.
He gave his daughter a gift.
(He gave to his daughter) x
I brought a bat for my son.

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I brought my son a bat (‘for’ is not used)
Note: He gave it to his daughter.
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S.
He gave his daughter it. (x)
I brought it for my son.
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C

I brought my son it(x).

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Prepositions at the end of clauses and sentences

It is quite common, especially in informal style, to find a preposition at the end of a clause or
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sentence.
‘wh’ : Do you know what he has come for?
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Who are you afraid of?

“John is getting married”. “Who to?”
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What a lovely place we’ve come to!

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Relative clause: You remember the boy I was going out with?
There’s the man I complained to you about.
Passive clauses: He’s already been operated on.
I don’t mind being laughed at.
Infinitive : He is a boring teacher to listen to.
Expressions: I need a paper to write on.
Note: Who are you traveling with? (or) With whom are you traveling?

EXERCISE

I. Fill in the blanks in the following sentences with suitable prepositions:

1. The apartment consists three bed-rooms, a kitchen and two bathrooms.

2. The accident took place because of my fault, so I had to pay the damage.
3. It is terrible that some people are dying _ hunger while others eat too
much.
4. You know that you can depend me whenever you need help.
5. One India’s priorities is growing more food.
6. There are countless opportunities qualified computer personnel.
7. Gold is a rare metal a beautiful yellow colour.

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 8. 10 degrees is the limit which the nozzle controls the steam flow.
9. The earth’s reserves of fossil fuels have been formed
organic matter subjected enormous
heat and pressure millions of years. But such reserves are finite.
Because power demand is increasing very rapidly, fossil fuels will be
exhausted a relatively short time.
10. The ore is then transported mills.

II. Fill in the blanks with suitable prepositions:

I was very lonely and very bored. I lived myself an old house the
edge
the village and rarely talked anyone. The villagers thought that I ought
to have a pet company but the only pet they could find was a dog only
one ear. When I saw it I shouted, ‘Get my house’. The
dog, to my surprise, responded
doing exactly the opposite. It wagged its tail and went the house. I

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stared

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the funny dog a while and then said finally, ‘Ah well, you might as well

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stay, I suppose. Come and sit next me’. The dog wagged its tail but
walked me, and went to sit S.
the other side the room. ‘Sit the
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chair’, said I. The one-eared dog promptly sat it. I took the dog outside and
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pointed up the road. The dog immediately turned round and went the
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road! ‘Why do you always do the opposite

what I tell you to do?’ I asked. The dog just looked up me its head
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one side and its solitary ear sticking up a radio aerial.

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CONJUNCTIONS
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Conjunctions are words used as joiners.

Different kinds of conjunctions join different kinds of grammatical structures.

The following are the kinds of conjunctions:

A. COORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS (FANBOYS)

for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so

Coordinating conjunctions join equals to one another:

words to words, phrases to phrases, clauses to clauses.

words to words, phrases to phrases, clauses to clauses.

Coordinating conjunctions usually form looser connections than other conjunctions do.

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Coordinating conjunctions go in between items joined, not at the beginning or end.

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Punctuation with coordinating conjunctions:

When a coordinating conjunction joins two words, phrases, or subordinate clauses, no

comma should be placed before the conjunction.
A coordinating conjunction joining three or more words, phrases, or subordinate
clauses creates a series and requires commas between the elements.

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A coordinating conjunction joining two independent clauses creates a compound
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sentence and requires a comma before the coordinating conjunction
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B. CORRELATIVE CONJUNCTIONS

either. . .or both. . . and

neither. . . nor not only. . . but also

These pairs of conjunctions require equal (parallel) structures after each one.
C. CONJUNCTIVE ADVERBS

These conjunctions join independent clauses together.

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The following are frequently used conjunctive adverbs:

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after all in addition next
also incidentally
S. nonetheless
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as a result indeed on the contrary
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besides in fact on the other hand

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consequently in other words otherwise

finally instead still
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for example likewise then

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furthermore meanwhile therefore

hence moreover thus
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however nevertheless
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Punctuation: Place a semicolon before the conjunctive adverb and a comma after
theconjunctive adverb.

D. SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS

These words are commonly used as subordinating conjunctions

after in order (that) unless
although insofar as until
as in that when
as far as lest whenever
as soon as no matter how where
as if now that wherever
as though once whether
because provided (that) while
before since why
even if so that
even though supposing (that)
how than
if that
inasmuch as though
in case (that) till

Subordinating conjunctions also join two clauses together, but in doing so, they make

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one clause dependent (or "subordinate") upon the other.

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A subordinating conjunction may appear at a sentence beginning or between two

clauses in a sentence.
A subordinate conjunction usually provides a tighter connection between clauses than a
coordinating conjunctions does.

Loose: It is raining, so we have an umbrella.

Tight: Because it is raining, we have an umbrella.

Punctuation Note:

When the dependent clause is placed first in a sentence, use a comma between the two
clauses. When the independent clause is placed first and the dependent clause second, do not
separate the two clauses with a comma.

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