Rules of Prepositions with Practice Papers for all Exams

English Subject  is an integral Part of all the Recruitment/Competitive Exams whether it is for a Clerk or IAS or for Admission to Diplomas or Degrees. Everywhere English has  good reputation. And in English, Grammar enjoys the same reputation as is by English in the Exams.

Grammar includes all the topics such as Tense, Narration, Voice, Articles, Modals, Question Tags, Prepositions etc. In this topic we are focusing on the usage of Prepositions. We shall also provide you a little exercise at the end for your Practice.

Preposition is built up from two Elements – Pre and Position. The former means before and the latter stands for Place. So Preposition means before place. So if we go by this meaning, preposition is a word that comes before a Noun or Pronoun to relate them with the rest of the sentence.

Use of Prepositions –

There are many prepositions such as At, On, with, In, For etc. We will do their use one by one.

Use of At –

1. With names of Smaller Places such as towns, villages, Localities etc.

Example –

• He lives at Narwana.
• I live at Patram Nagar.

2. With the following words –

• At home, At the Railway Station, At School, At Page 10, At the top/ bottom etc.

3. With the clock time –

• At 6 am, at 7 o’clock

4. With the following time indicating words –

• At noon, At night, At dawn, At twilight, etc.

5. At is also used before the names of festivals if they refer to specific time –

• My brother comes here at Christmas. ( Here Christmas is the time when my brother comes, specific time )

6. With the word ‘ home ‘ –

• Rudra is at home now.

Use of In – Learn Prepositions

It is used with the names of big Cities and Countries –

• He lives in Mumbai.
• My brother lives in the USA.

With the general mention of small towns and villages –

• I live in a small town.
• He lives in a village.

The names of streets –

• He lives in Hanuman Street.

With the names of months and years-

• In January, In 2014

The names of seasons –

• In Winter, In Summer

With the following words and phrases –

• In the sky, In the morning, In the World, In hospital/ temple etc.

Difference between in and in to –

In shows activity with an enclosure whereas in to the movement from outside to inside.

• Children are playing in the room.
• He went in to the room.

In to is also used to mark a change in the form or status –

• Translate this passage in to English

Since and For –

Since comes for showing point of time whereas For for period of time.

With Morning, Evening, Last Night, Name of Days, Months, Years, And Date, Clock time we use Since

With the period such as Two minutes, two hours, two days, two months, two years we use For

• Children have been playing since morning.
• They have been watching TV for two hours

In and On

In shows within time whereas on comes for the spur of moment –

• I reached school in time. ( Five or ten minutes before the time)
• I reached school on time. ( On the Precise moment with no time left )

Beside and Besides

Beside means near whereas besides stands for in addition to.

• Students were playing beside a wall.
• Besides intelligent, he is honest.

Use of Among and Amongst –

Among is used before the plural noun starting with consonants whereas amongst before plural nouns starting with consonants and vowels.

• Among the girls.
• Amongst the girls.
• Amongst us.

Practice Set for Prepositions –

1. He walks —— foot.

2. He is ——- the staff of BBC.

3. Divide these apples ——– you and her.

4. She came and sat ———– me. ( Beside / Besides ).

5. The cat sprang ——– the table.

6. My mother is ———- sixty. ( Below/ Under )

7. This work is ——— your dignity. ( Below/ Under )

8. He died ——– violence.

9. He died ——— a wound.

10. He died ——— cancer.

Check Answers –

1. on 2. on 3. between 4. beside 5. upon 6. below 7. below 8. by 9. from 10. of

Solution –

3. Between is used for two and among for more than two.

5. Upon shows movement

10. Die of is used for diseases, grief, shame, hunger etc whereas Die from for wound, over eating, food poisoning etc. Die by is for violence, suicide etc.

Practice Set 2 for Prepositions

Practice Set 3

Translation Practice Set Related With Preposition ( Hindi to English )

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