Prepositions aren’t that hard. This web page was created to help teach prepositions for those who may not be so sure about them. ;)

 WHAT IS A PREPOSITION?

      Prepositions are words that relate its object to another word in the sentence. Often the words below are used as prepositions, however, there are more than what is listed here.

about	before	down	of	to
above	behind	during	off	toward
across	below	for	on	under
after	beneath	from	onto	underneath
against	beside	in	out	until
along	between	inside	outside	up
among	beyond	into	over	upon
around	but (except)	like	past	with
at	by	near	through	without

All prepositions are used as the first word of a prepositional phrase.
You can see all of these words relate their object to other words in a sentence.

*Keep in mind, these are not the only Prepositions*

WHAT IS A PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE?

A prepositional phrase is a group of words that begins with a preposition and ends with its object. 
Words that modify the object are part of the phrase.

The mouse ran up the clock.

The phrase "up the clock" is the prepositional phrase - "up is the preposition and the noun "clock" is the object of the preposition. The prepositional phrase is telling where the mouse ran. It is not really needed in the sentence, but it is giving more detail, or making the sentence more interesting for the reader. A sentence can have more than one prepositional phrase.

WHAT IS THE OBJECT OF A PREPOSITION?

The object of a preposition is the noun or the pronoun that is closely associated with the preposition. A prepositional phrase starts with the the preposition and ends with the object.

I looked into the chimney.

The prepositional phrase is "into the chimney".

The object of the preposition (noun), is underlined.

In this sentence, chimney is the object of the sentence.

The word, into, is the preposition. The word chimney, is the object of the preposition. The object of a preposition usually comes after the words "the" or "a".

The object of a preposition can also be a pronoun, like in this sentence: I looked at you. When there is a pronoun as the object, there isn't "the" or "a" in the prepositional phrase. 

PREPOSITION OR ADVERB?

Click here to see the adverb home page.

Many words that are used as prepositions, can be used as adverbs. Some examples are up, down, around, in, and out. Prepositions, like adverbs tell where or when. This can be confusing, very confusing. See if this helps! The difference between a preposition and an adverb, is that an adverb describes in one word, whereas a preposition is always used in a prepositional phrase (more than one word).

Example:

The dog went in.

The dog went in the house.

Which sentence is in used as an preposition?

Which sentence is used as a adverb?

"The dog went in the house", is the sentence where IN is used as a preposition. "In" is a preposition in this sentence, because it is used in in a prepositional phrase, also, where the dog went is described in more than one word.

"The dog went in", is the sentence where IN is used as a adverb.

This is because IN is expressing where the dog went in one word, it is also not in a prepositional phrase.