Definition: We use the reciprocal pronouns to indicate that two people can carry out an action and get the consequences of that action at the same time. There are two reciprocal pronouns:
Reciprocal pronouns
each other
one another
They enable you to simplify sentences where the same general idea is expressed two or more times.
For example:
On their wedding day Jhon gave Mary a gold ring and Mary gave Jhon a gold ring. * Using the reciprocal pronoun, "each other", this could be rewritten: => On their wedding day Mary and Jhon gave each other gold rings.
Peter and Mary kissed each other. * In this example "each other" indicates that both people involved in the action of "kissing" got the result, kisses, at the same time.
If you need to refer to more than two people, say the students in a classroom, then we could use the reciprocal pronoun, "one another".
For example:
The students in this classroom cooperate with one another.
The teachers gathered to congratulate one another on the year's conclusion.
Definition: We use the reflexive pronouns to indicate that the person who realizes the action of the verb is the same person who receives the action. Reflexive pronouns are identical in form to intensive pronouns.
Subject
Reflexive
Singular
I You He She It
myself yourself himself herself itself
Plural
We You They
ourselves yourselves themselves
For example:
I cut my hair myself. * In this example "I" does the action of cutting the hair and at the same time "I" gets the action of the hair being cut.
We defended ourselves brilliantly. * In this example the reflexive pronoun "ourselves" refers back to the subject of the sentence.
John talks to himself when he is nervous. * In this example "Himself" refers to John.
Reflexive pronouns always act as objects not subjects, and they require an interaction between the subject and an object.
For example:
Because she was not hungry when the cake was served, Ellen saved herself a piece. * In the independent clause, "Ellen" is the subject and "herself" is a reflexive pronoun acting as the indirect object. This sentence is grammatically correct.
Jhon and myself are going to the movie. * In this sentence, "Jhon" and "myself" are the subjects. Reflexive pronouns cannot be subjects. This sentence is grammatically incorrect.
Care must be taken to identify whether the noun is singular or plural and choose the pronoun accordingly.
For example:
Nor is she shy about giving herself credit for it.
We gave ourselves a second chance to complete the course.
Did they lock themselves out of the house again?
Give yourselves a pat on the back for a job well done.
Note: The reflexive pronoun can also be used to give more emphasis to the subject or object (intensive pronoun).
For example:
I did it myself. * I want to emphasise the fact that I did it.
Examples:
He washed himself.
She looked at herself in the mirror.
Diabetics give themselves insulin shots several times a day.
After the party, I asked myself why I had faxed invitations to everyone in my office building.
Richard usually remembered to send a copy of his e-mail to himself.
Definition: We use the relative pronouns to refer to a noun mentioned before and of which we are adding more information. They are used to join two or more sentences and forming in that way what we call "relative sentences".
Relative pronouns
Who, Whom, That, Which
whoever, whomever, whichever
For example:
People who speak two languages are called bilingual. * In this example, the relative "who" introduces the relative sentence "speak two languages" that describes or gives more information about the noun "people".
Relative pronouns: Subject or Object As the relative pronouns relate to another noun preceding it in the sentence, they connect a dependent clause to an antecedent (a noun that precedes the pronoun.) Therefore, relative pronouns acts as the subject or object of the dependent clause.
For example:
The chef who won the competition studied in Paris. * Here, "who" relates back to (or is relative to) the noun "Chef". "Who" also acts as the subject of the dependent clause and the verb "won". => The dependent clause: who won the competition. => The independent clause: The chef studied in Paris.
The shirt that Carl bought has a stain on the pocket. * Here, "that" relates back to (or is relative to) the noun "shirt". "That" is also the object of the verb "bought". => The dependent clause is: that Carl bought. => The independent clause: The shirt has a stain on the pocket.
Referring to people: Who, Whom, Whoever, Whomever These pronouns take a different case depending on whether the relative pronoun is a subject or an object in the dependent clause.
Subjective case Use the subjective case when these relative pronouns are the subject (initiating the action) of the dependent clause: Who, Whoever
For example:
Negotiations were not going smoothly between the two leaders, who made no bones about not liking each other. * "Who" relates back to the noun "leaders" and is the subject of the dependent clause and the verb "made".
Most workers, whoever was not employed by the auto manufacturer, toiled at one of the millions of little minnow companies. * "Whoever" relates back to the noun "workers" and is the subject of the dependent clause and the verb "was employed".
Objective case Use the objective case when these relative pronouns are the object (receiving the action) of the dependent clause: Whom, Whomever
For example:
This is the approach taken by journalists, whom some consider to be objective. * "Whom" relates back to the noun "journalists" and is the object of the verb "consider". The subject of the dependent clause is "some".
The three representatives, whomever the committee chooses, should be at the meeting tomorrow. * "Whomever" relates back to the noun representatives and is the object of the verb "chooses". The subject of the dependent clause is "Committee".
Referring to a place, thing or idea: Which, That When using relative pronouns for places, things or ideas, rather than determining case, the writer must decide whether the information in the dependent clause is essential to the meaning of the independent clause or simply additional information.
When information is critical to the understanding of the main clause, use That as the appropriate relative pronoun and do not set the information off by commas.
For example:
Russian generals have delivered a message that is difficult to ignore. * "That" relates back to the noun "message" and is necessary for the reader to know what "message" the sentence is about.
There is another factor that obviously boosts the reputation of both of these men. * "That" relates back to the noun "factor" and is necessary for the reader to know what "factor" the sentence is about.
When information is not critical to the understanding of the main clause, use "Which" as the appropriate relative pronoun and set the information off by commas.
For example:
The toughest intramural fight of all for Clinton was the North American Free Trade Agreement, which he undertook a full year before the 1994 election. * "Which" relates back to the noun "agreement" and the information following it is not necessary for the reader to know what "agreement" the sentence is about.
Clinton refused to head toward the center on affirmative action and abortion, which are the two most sacred issues to the traditional liberal wing of the party. * "Wich" relates back to the noun "affirmative action and abortion" and the information following it is not necessary for the reader to know what "affirmative action and abortion" the sentence is about.
When referring to more than one place, thing or idea use these relative pronouns: Whatever, Whichever
For example:
The three approaches, whichever works is fine, produce a more ambiguous picture of a man. * "Whichever" relates to the noun "approaches" and the information contained within the commas is additional, not critical information.
Any excessive profits, whatever exceeded accepted limits, would attract the notice of representatives. * "Whatever" relates to the noun "profits" and the information contained within the commas is additional, not critical information.
Definition: We use the Possessive Pronouns when we want to substitute a group of words that are indicating a possession relation.
Subject
Possessive
I
Mine
You
Yours
He
His
She
Hers
It
Its
We
Ours
You
Yours
They
Theirs
For example:
This is my book. * In this example, we can substitute "my book" for the possessive pronoun "mine". => This is mine.
This is your disk and that's mine. * Mine substitutes the word disk and shows that it belongs to me.
A possessive pronoun indicates it is acting as a subject complement or a subject of the sentence.
For example:
The smallest gift is mine. This is yours. * Here the possessive pronouns acts as a subject complement.
His is on the kitchen counter. Theirs will be delivered tomorrow. Ours is the green one on the corner. * Here the possessive pronoun acts as the subject of the sentence.
Note : Possessive pronouns are very similar to possessive adjectives.
For example:
You can borrow my book as long as you remember that it's not yours. => The possessive "my" depends on the noun "book." => The possessive "yours" is a pronoun which stands in the place of "your book".
When you drive to Manitoba, will you take your car or theirs? => The possessive "your" depends on the noun "car." => The possessive pronoun, "theirs," stands in the place of the noun phrase, "their car."
Definition: Personal pronouns refer to the person who is doing the action or to whom the action affects. In that way we distinguish two types of personal pronouns: Personal "Subject Pronouns" and Personal "Object Pronouns".
Personal Pronouns
Subject form
Object form
I
Me
You
You
He
him
she
her
it
it
we
us
you
you
they
them
Personal Subject Pronouns We use the Personal Subject Pronouns to refer to the person who is doing the action of the verb or the verb speaks about. A subjective personal pronoun indicates that the pronoun is acting as the subject of the sentence.
For example:
Jhon is listening to music. => He listens to music every day. * In this case, "he" substitutes "Jhon" which is the subject of the sentence.
Are you the delegates from Malagawatch?
After many years, they returned to their homeland.
Personal Object Pronouns We use the Personal Object Pronouns to refer to the person whom the action of the verbs affects. An objective personal pronoun indicates that the pronoun is acting as an object of a verb, compound verb, preposition, or infinitive phrase.
For example:
Seamus stole the selkie's skin and forced her to live with him. * The objective personal pronoun "her" is the direct object of the verb "forced" and the objective personal pronoun "him" is the object of the preposition "with."
Definition: An interrogative pronoun is a pronoun used in order to ask a question. Some of them refer only to people, like "who" and others refer to people and objects, etc like "what". They do not distinguish between singular and plural, so they only have one form. Interrogative pronouns produce information questions that require more than a "yes" or "no" answer.
For example:
What is her phone number?
What do you want?
Interrogative pronouns are: What, Which, Who, Whose, Whom. In addition, these pronouns may take the suffixes -ever and -soever.
Forms: As we can see in the next table, these pronouns could act as a subject, object or possessive in a sentence.
Subject
Object
Possessive
who
whom
whose
which
that
WHAT can be used to ask about objects or people. For example:
What time is it?
What is your name?
What do you want?
WHICH can be used to ask about objects or people. For example:
Which chair are you talking about?
Which jumper do you like?
Which is your mother?
WHO can be used to ask about people For example:
Who are you?
Which is your mother?
Who has been sitting in my chair?
WHOSE can be used to ask about a possession relation. For example:
Whose is this book?
Whose car did you drive here?
WHOM can be used to ask about people.It is less usual and more formal than "who" For example:
Whom did you phone?
For whom will you vote?
NOTE: Either "which" or "what" can also be used as an interrogative adjective, and that "who," "whom," or "which" can also be used as a relative pronoun.
Definition: Demonstrative pronouns are pronouns that point to specific things. "This, that, these, those, none and neither" are Demonstrative Pronouns that substitute nouns when the nouns they replace can be understood from the context. At the same time, to indicate whether they are close or far, in space or time, from the speaker in the moment of speaking. They also indicate whether they are replacing singular or plural words. Some grammars describe them as members of the class of function words called "determiners", since they identify nouns and other nominals.
"This" (singular) and "These" (plural) refer to an object or person NEAR the speaker.
"That" (singular) and "Those" (plural) refer to an object or person further AWAY.
For example:
This is unbelievable. * In this example, "this" can refer to an object or situation close in space or in time to the speaker.
That is unbelievable. * In this example, "that" can refer to an object or situation farther in space or in time to the speaker.
These are unbelievable. * In this example, "these" can refer to some objects close in space or in time to the speaker.
Those are unbelievable. * In this example, "those" can refer to some objects farther in space or in time to the speaker.
Position
Before the noun.
Before the word 'one'.
Before an adjective + noun.
Alone when the noun is 'understood'
Examples
Who owns that house? (distant - physical )
Is this John's house? (near - physical )
That's nothing to do with me.. (distant - psychological )
Definition: A pronoun usually refers to something already mentioned in a sentence or piece of text. A pronoun is a word that substitutes a noun or noun phrase used to prevent repetition of the noun to which they refer. One of the most common pronouns is it.
Rule for Pronouns A pronoun must agree with the noun it refer. Therefore, if the noun is singular, therefore the pronoun must be singular; if the noun is plural, use a plural pronoun; if the noun is feminine, use a feminine pronoun, and so on.
For example:
The train was late, it had been delayed.
The trains were late, they had been delayed.
Types of pronouns English Pronouns are divided into sub-categories. These are Demonstrative, Personal, Reflexive, Possessive, Interrogative, Negative, Reciprocal, Relative and Quantifier
Type
About
Example
Personal Pronoun
Takes the place of a specific or named person or thing.
I, you, he, she, etc..
Reflexive Pronoun
Adds information by pointing back to a noun or another pronoun.
myself, yourself, etc..
Demonstrative Pronoun
Points out a specific person, place, or thing.
this, that, these, those
Relative pronoun
Begins a subordinate clause and relates the clause to a word in the main clause.
who, whose, which, that, etc..
Interrogative Pronoun
Is used to ask a question.
who, what, where, etc..
Possessive Pronoun
Used to substitute a noun and to show possession or ownership.
mine, yours, his, etc..
Negative Pronoun
nothing, no, nobody, etc..
Reciprocal pronoun
Express an interchangeable or mutual action or relationship.
Definition: An uncountable noun (or non-count noun) is a type of common noun that cannot be modified by a number without specifying a unit of measurement. In general, non-count nouns are considered to refer to indivisible wholes (which are not individual objects and can not be counted). For this reason, they are sometimes called MASS nouns. Uncountable nouns are used to describe a quality, action, thing or substance that can be poured or measured. Non-Count nouns also refer to a whole category made up of different varieties or a whole group of things that is made up of many individual parts. Uncountable nouns are always singular. Use the singular form of the verb with uncountable nouns.
For example:
There is some water in that pitcher.
That is the equipment we use for the project.
Examples:
Usually non-count nouns
Things
Qualities
Actions
Fields of Study
water stuff money advice proof equipment dust homework fun information ink luck
dependability honesty loyalty sincerity integrity
walking/to walk typing/to type jumping/to jump thinking/to think swimming/to swim
psychology history social work economics biology English anatomy philosophy religion theology
Some nouns, like the word time, beauty, fire, death, gossip can be used as either a count noun, or a non-count noun.
For example:
How much time did it take for you to drive to school?. Here, time is a non-count noun, because it refers to a category that contains smaller items (think of it as a "group" of minutes).
How many times did you take the test before you passed?. Here, time is a count noun, because you can count exactly how many separate times you took the test.
They had a death in the family.
Death is a tragic thing.
Supermarkets have aisles for different foods.
The animals at the zoo wanted food.
The "much" and "many" Rule Many is used with count nouns.
For example:
How many papers do you have to write?
There were too many books required for that class.
Much is used with non-count nouns.
For example:
How much homework did you have last night?
I had to read so much literature for my English class.
You can use "some" and "any" with uncountable nouns. For example:
I usually drink some wine with my meal.
I don't usually drink any water with my wine.
You only use "much" and "little" with uncountable nouns. For example:
I don't usually drink much coffee.
Little wine is undrinkable though.
You can use "a lot of" and "no" with uncountable nouns. For example:
Definition: Proper nouns ( also called proper names) are the words which name specific people, organisations, places, titles, cities, countries, calendar times, etc. They are always written with a capital letter.
For example:
Janet; Simon; John Wesley; London; The President; Tuesday; Christmas; Thanksgiving; Atlantic Ocean; Spain.
Definition: A Count Noun is a noun which can be modified by a numeral and occur in both singular and plural form, as well as co-occurring with quantificational determiners like every, each, several, most, etc. Countable nouns are individual objects, people, places, etc. which can be counted. Count nouns can be made plural, usually by adding -s or -es at the end.
Some nouns, like the word time, beauty, fire, death, gossip can be used as either a count noun, or a non-count noun.
For example:
How much time did it take for you to drive to school?. Here, time is a non-count noun, because it refers to a category that contains smaller items (think of it as a "group" of minutes).
How many times did you take the test before you passed?. Here, time is a count noun, because you can count exactly how many separate times you took the test.
They had a death in the family.
Death is a tragic thing.
Supermarkets have aisles for different foods.
The animals at the zoo wanted food.
The "much" and "many" Rule Many is used with count nouns.
For example:
How many papers do you have to write?
There were too many books required for that class.
Much is used with non-count nouns.
For example:
How much homework did you have last night?
I had to read so much literature for my English class.
You can use "some" and "any" with countable nouns. For example:
Some dogs can be dangerous.
I don't use any computers at work.
You only use "many" and "few" with plural countable nouns. For example:
Many elephants have been hunted.
There are few elephants in England.
You can use "a lot of" and "no" with plural countable nouns. For example:
No computers were bought last week.
A lot of computers were reported broken the week before.
Definition: Concrete nouns refers to objects and substances, including people and animals, physical items that we can perceive through our senses, that means concrete nouns can be touched, felt, held, something visible, smelt, taste, or be heard.
Concrete nouns can be countable nouns or uncountable nouns, and singular nouns or plural nouns. Concrete nouns can also be a common noun, proper nouns and collective nouns.
Example:
This is my house.
* In this example the noun "house" names a building where I live. That building is an individual object and can be seen and touched by everyone.
Other examples:
Common Concrete Nouns: snake, cat, table, girl, water
Countable Concrete Nouns (Singular): table, computer, book, door
Definition: A common noun is a word that names people, places, things, or ideas. They are not the names of a single person, place or thing. A common noun begins with a lowercase letter unless it is at the beginning of a sentence.
Definition: An abstract noun refers to states, events, concepts, feelings, qualities, etc., that have no physical existence.
Examples:
Friendship; peace; romance; humor are all abstract nouns that have no physical existence.
An abstract noun can be either a countable noun or uncountable noun. Abstract nouns that refer to events are almost usually countable: a noise; a meeting.
Definition: A noun is a word used to refer to people, animals, objects, substances, states, events and feelings. Nouns can be a subject or an object of a verb, can be modified by an adjective and can take an article or determiner.
For example:
Table
Pencil
The dog
A white house
Nouns also denote abstract and intangible concepts.
For example:
birth
happiness
evolution
technology, etc.
Noun Plurals We are going to explain some rules that will help you to form the plural forms of the nouns. The general rule is to add "-s" to the noun in singular.
For exaample:
Book - Books
House - Houses
Chair - Chairs
When the singular noun ends in: -sh, -ch, -s, -ss, -x, -o we form their plural form by adding "-es".
For exaample:
sandwich - sandwiches
brush - brushes
bus - buses
box - boxes
potato - potatoes
When the singular noun ends in "y", we change the "y" for "i" and then add "-es" to form the plural form. But do not change the "y" for "ies" to form the plural when the singular noun ends in "y" preceded by a vowel.
For exaample:
nappy - nappies
day - days
toy - toys
However, there are many Irregular Nouns which do not form the plural in this way:
For exaample:
Woman - Women
Child - Children
Sheep - Sheep
Nouns may take an " 's " ("apostrophe s") or "Genitive marker" to indicate possession. If the noun already has an -s ending to mark the plural, then the genitive marker appears only as an apostrophe after the plural form.
For example:
my girlfriend's brother
John's house
The Browns' house
The boys' pens
The genitive marker should not be confused with the " 's " form of contracted verbs, as in John's a good student = John is a good student.
Noun Gender Many common nouns, like "engineer" or "teacher", can refer to men or women. Once, many English nouns would change form depending on their gender. For example: A man was called an "author" while a woman was called an "authoress".
For example:
David Garrick was a very prominent eighteenth-century actor.
Sarah Siddons was at the height of her career as an actress in the 1780s.
The manager was trying to write a want ad, but he couldn't decide whether he was advertising for a "waiter" or a "waitress"
Types of Nouns
Proper nouns are the names of specific things, people, or places, such as Jhon, France. They usually begin with a capital letter.
Common nouns are general names such as person, mansion, and book. They can be either concrete or abstract.
Concrete nouns refer to things which you can sense such as clock and telephone.
Abstract nouns refer to ideas or qualities such as liberty and truth.
Countable nouns refer to things which can be counted (can be singular or plural)
Uncountable nouns refer to some groups of countable nouns, substances, feelings and types of activity (can only be singular)
Definition: Prepositions are a class of words that indicate relationships between nouns, pronouns and other words in a sentence. Most often they come before a noun. They never change their form, regardless of the case, gender etc. of the word they are referring to.
Some common prepositions are:
about
above
across
after
against
along
among
around
at
before
behind
below
beneath
beside
between
beyond
but
by
despite
down
during
except
for
from
in
inside
into
like
near
of
off
on
onto
out
outside
over
past
since
through
throughout
till
to
toward
under
underneath
until
up
upon
with
within
without.
Prepositions typically come before a noun:
For example:
after class
at home
before Tuesday
inLondon
on fire
with pleasure
A preposition usually indicates the temporal, spatial or logical relationship of its object to the rest of the sentence.
For example:
The book is on the table.
The book is beside the table.
She read the book during class.
In each of the preceding sentences, a preposition locates the noun "book" in space or in time.
Prepositions are classified as simple or compound.
Simple prepositions Simple prepositions are single word prepositions. These are all showed above.
For example:
The book is on the table.
Compound prepositions Compound prepositions are more than one word. in between and because of are prepositions made up of two words - in front of, on behalf of are prepositions made up of three words.
For example:
The book is in between War and Peace and The Lord of the Rings.
The book is in front of the clock.
Examples:
The children climbed the mountain without fear.
There was rejoicing throughout the land when the government was defeated.
The spider crawled slowly along the banister.
The following table contains rules for some of the most frequently used prepositions in English:
Prepositions of Time:
English
Usage
Example
on
days of the week
on Monday
in
months / seasons
time of day
year
after a certain period of time (when?)
in August / in winter
in the morning
in 2006
in an hour
at
for night
for weekend
a certain point of time (when?)
at night
at the weekend
at half past nine
since
from a certain point of time (past till now)
since 1980
for
over a certain period of time (past till now)
for 2 years
ago
a certain time in the past
2 years ago
before
earlier than a certain point of time
before 2004
to
telling the time
ten to six (5:50)
past
telling the time
ten past six (6:10)
to / till / until
marking the beginning and end of a period of time
from Monday to/till Friday
till / until
in the sense of how long something is going to last
He is on holiday until Friday.
by
in the sense of at the latest
up to a certain time
I will be back by 6 o’clock.
By 11 o'clock, I had read five pages.
Prepositions of Place:
English
Usage
Example
in
room, building, street, town, country
book, paper etc.
car, taxi
picture, world
in the kitchen, in London
in the book
in the car, in a taxi
in the picture, in the world
at
meaning next to, by an object
for table
for events
place where you are to do something typical (watch a film, study, work)
at the door, at the station
at the table
at a concert, at the party
at the cinema, at school, at work
on
attached
for a place with a river
being on a surface
for a certain side (left, right)
for a floor in a house
for public transport
for television, radio
the picture on the wall
London lies on the Thames.
on the table
on the left
on the first floor
on the bus, on a plane
on TV, on the radio
by, next to, beside
left or right of somebody or something
Jane is standing by / next to / beside the car.
under
on the ground, lower than (or covered by) something else
the bag is under the table
below
lower than something else but above ground
the fish are below the surface
over
covered by something else
meaning more than
getting to the other side (also across)
overcoming an obstacle
put a jacket over your shirt
over 16 years of age
walk over the bridge
climb over the wall
above
higher than something else, but not directly over it
a path above the lake
across
getting to the other side (also over)
getting to the other side
walk across the bridge
swim across the lake
through
something with limits on top, bottom and the sides
drive through the tunnel
to
movement to person or building
movement to a place or country
for bed
go to the cinema
go to London / Ireland
go to bed
into
enter a room / a building
go into the kitchen / the house
towards
movement in the direction of something (but not directly to it)
go 5 steps towards the house
onto
movement to the top of something
jump onto the table
from
in the sense of where from
a flower from the garden
Definition: Prepositions are a class of words that indicate relationships between nouns, pronouns and other words in a sentence. Most often they come before a noun. They never change their form, regardless of the case, gender etc. of the word they are referring to.
Some common prepositions are:
about
above
across
after
against
along
among
around
at
before
behind
below
beneath
beside
between
beyond
but
by
despite
down
during
except
for
from
in
inside
into
like
near
of
off
on
onto
out
outside
over
past
since
through
throughout
till
to
toward
under
underneath
until
up
upon
with
within
without.
Prepositions typically come before a noun:
For example:
after class
at home
before Tuesday
inLondon
on fire
with pleasure
A preposition usually indicates the temporal, spatial or logical relationship of its object to the rest of the sentence.
For example:
The book is on the table.
The book is beside the table.
She read the book during class.
In each of the preceding sentences, a preposition locates the noun "book" in space or in time.
Prepositions are classified as simple or compound.
Simple prepositions Simple prepositions are single word prepositions. These are all showed above.
For example:
The book is on the table.
Compound prepositions Compound prepositions are more than one word. in between and because of are prepositions made up of two words - in front of, on behalf of are prepositions made up of three words.
For example:
The book is in between War and Peace and The Lord of the Rings.
The book is in front of the clock.
Examples:
The children climbed the mountain without fear.
There was rejoicing throughout the land when the government was defeated.
The spider crawled slowly along the banister.
The following table contains rules for some of the most frequently used prepositions in English:
Prepositions of Time:
English
Usage
Example
on
days of the week
on Monday
in
months / seasons
time of day
year
after a certain period of time (when?)
in August / in winter
in the morning
in 2006
in an hour
at
for night
for weekend
a certain point of time (when?)
at night
at the weekend
at half past nine
since
from a certain point of time (past till now)
since 1980
for
over a certain period of time (past till now)
for 2 years
ago
a certain time in the past
2 years ago
before
earlier than a certain point of time
before 2004
to
telling the time
ten to six (5:50)
past
telling the time
ten past six (6:10)
to / till / until
marking the beginning and end of a period of time
from Monday to/till Friday
till / until
in the sense of how long something is going to last
He is on holiday until Friday.
by
in the sense of at the latest
up to a certain time
I will be back by 6 o’clock.
By 11 o'clock, I had read five pages.
Prepositions of Place:
English
Usage
Example
in
room, building, street, town, country
book, paper etc.
car, taxi
picture, world
in the kitchen, in London
in the book
in the car, in a taxi
in the picture, in the world
at
meaning next to, by an object
for table
for events
place where you are to do something typical (watch a film, study, work)
at the door, at the station
at the table
at a concert, at the party
at the cinema, at school, at work
on
attached
for a place with a river
being on a surface
for a certain side (left, right)
for a floor in a house
for public transport
for television, radio
the picture on the wall
London lies on the Thames.
on the table
on the left
on the first floor
on the bus, on a plane
on TV, on the radio
by, next to, beside
left or right of somebody or something
Jane is standing by / next to / beside the car.
under
on the ground, lower than (or covered by) something else
the bag is under the table
below
lower than something else but above ground
the fish are below the surface
over
covered by something else
meaning more than
getting to the other side (also across)
overcoming an obstacle
put a jacket over your shirt
over 16 years of age
walk over the bridge
climb over the wall
above
higher than something else, but not directly over it
a path above the lake
across
getting to the other side (also over)
getting to the other side
walk across the bridge
swim across the lake
through
something with limits on top, bottom and the sides
drive through the tunnel
to
movement to person or building
movement to a place or country
for bed
go to the cinema
go to London / Ireland
go to bed
into
enter a room / a building
go into the kitchen / the house
towards
movement in the direction of something (but not directly to it)
