One of my common grammar mistakes that I have made in my first assignment will be the inaccurate use of preposition. What is a preposition? A preposition describes a relationship between other words (noun, pronoun) in a sentence. It is often used with other words to form prepositional phrases and preposition normally comes before the noun (Learn English Language, n.d). A preposition usually indicates a logical relationship of its object to the rest of the sentence. For instance,
I placed my laptop on the table.
The preposition, on, locates the noun “laptop” in space or in time.
Preposition can be simple (in, on, into) or compound (in between, because of ). They can also be classified under preposition of time and preposition of space. Sometimes a preposition can be used in both ways. For example,
The bus will be here shortly in a minute or two.
Please help yourself with the food in the kitchen.
In this case, the preposition, in, was used in preposition of time and preposition of space.
Preposition can also be found in parallel form. The preposition will not be repeated if two phrases used in parallel require the same preposition to be idiomatically correct (Capital Community College Foundation, n.d). This can be shown in this example,
You can wear this outfit in summer and in winter.
On the other hand, there are cases which requires different preposition to make the sentence correct. Look at this,
The children were interested in and disgusted by the movie.
Here are a few questions to try out (ESL English Quiz, 2001,2004):
1) ________ my stay in New York, I have made a lot of friends
2) The library is open _______ four to nine.
3) There will be a concert ________ in the evening.
4) We will have a party _______ Christmas Eve.
5) Classes begin _______ nine in the morning.
Referenes:
Learn English Language (n.d). English Grammar: Prepostion. Retrieve September 13, 2008,
from http://www.englishlanguageguide.com/english/grammar/preposition.asp
Capital Community College Foundation (n.d). Preposition: Locater in time and space.
Retreive September 13, 2008 from
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/prepositions.htm
Kelly, C. (2001,2004) Activities for ESL students: ESL English Quiz. Retrieved September
13, 2008, from http://a4esl.org/q/f/z/zz98bck.htm
2 comments:
Nice! I wouldn't say that I am good at preposition but after reading your blog and the weblinks, it sure help me understand better. The grammar mistake was well explained and illustrated with examples. It will be great if you can show the answers too^^
Identifying one's mistakes is always rewarding and encouraging as it is part of one's learning curve. It is imperative to execute the right preposition. A clause could mean differently and sound funny if the preposition is used incorrectly. Eg. "They were asked to walk in (wrong preposition) the pavement instead." In addition, I find the first reference handy as it has a clear description of some of the commonly used prepositions. Continue working on your mistakes. Your efforts will pay off eventually...
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