English prepositions
and prepositional adverbs   

Page index:

Prepositions of position and direction

Prepositions of time

Prepositions of manner

Many prepositions have related adverbs. This page looks at prepositions and at the adverbs that are related to prepositions, known as prepositional adverbs. 

• Prepositions generally precede the noun they are referring to, but this is not always the case. They can – indeed sometimes they must – come at the end of a sentence, notably in some relative clauses with omission of who, or in some questions.
• Prepositional adverbs stand alone; there is no second noun or pronoun.
  Examples:
  Prepositions:  The Queen is at home.  Dinner is on the table.  Go to bed.
  Prepositional adverbs:   They're standing outside.  We're going together.
• For prepositions with verbs, see prepositional verbs

Prepositions of position and of direction

The table below lists the common English prepositions of position and of direction, and the related adverbs for each case. You will see than many English prepositions can signify either direction or position; but this is not the case for all prepositions.
  Prepositions of position and direction normally only introduce nouns or pronouns; a few, such as into, can occasionally introduce verb phrases.
In this table, less common forms and rarely used equivalents are shown in brackets ( -- ).

Denoting position		Denoting direction
Adverbs	Prepositions	Prepositions	Adverbs
	across	across
	at	at, to 1
* in, inside, (within)	in, inside, within	into	in, inwards
outside	outside	(out), out of  2	out, outwards
(on)	on	on, onto	(on)
	(far from)	from
overhead	over, above 3	over (above)	(overhead)
underneath	under, (underneath)	under, (underneath)
throughout	throughout	through
below	below	below
		up	upwards
		down	downwards
nearby	near	(nearer)
(alongside)	alongside	along	along
in between	between	(between)
opposite	opposite

There are several other types of adverb, many of them derived from adjectives.
For more on this, see Adverbs .

Footnotes:
1.  As prepositions of direction, "at" and "to" are not synonyms. "At" is not common as a preposition of direction, and is only used with the meaning of "towards" or "in the direction of", and then only in some contexts. Compare these two sentences.
You can say "I'm going to London next week",
but it is impossible to say: "I'm going at London next week."

2.  In classic English, "out of" is the normal prepositon of direction.
   Example: "I went out of the house."
But increasingly, particularly in spoken English, the "of" is being dropped, so you are likely to hear: "I went out the house".

3.  There is a small difference between "over" and "above" as prepositions of position. Above means over, but not touching.
So you could say "There are clouds above London",
but it would be strange to say "There is fog above London".

Prepositions of time

English has nine common prepositions of time : only one of these, since, can also be used as an adverb. In other cases, another word or phrase, sometimes quite similar, must be used.

Prepositions	Adverbs
Before	beforehand, before that, earlier, previously
After	afterwards, then, later, subsequently
by
in
at	whereat, (thereat), whereupon
since	since
for
during	meanwhile
until

Notes:
1.  Since is used with moments in time, or with units of time, but not with numeric quantities
       We cannot say:  since three weeks.  Since can also be used as an adverb, with no following noun, and sometimes strengthened with ever, as in :
2  For is used with numerals (or undefined quantities) – See Since and for
3. During is used with periods of time; it is not used before numerals.
4. Prepositions of time cannot introduce verb phrases.  Before, after, since and until are used as conjunctions, not as prepositions, in front of verb phrases.  
Before coming to London, he....  is the same as  Before he came to London, he...

Other Prepositions - manner and other relations

English has several common prepositions of manner, relation or  agent, notably:  as, against, among, by, for, of, with, without, except
For a detailed guide to the preposition of , a preposition of relation, see ► possession.

For a detailed look at the word as, used as a preposition or a conjunction, see  Problem Words in English (Rossiter - 2020)

And a few more prepositions:

Apart from these common prepositions, English has several more words or phrases that can be used as prepositions.
  A few examples:
      Apart from,  following, amid,  via,  per,

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► Prepositions exercise : test how well you can use English propositions . This exercise is part of  the worksheet accompanying the advanced-level English article on Ellis Island. You may like to read the article first.
Return to Grammar index 

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