List of English prepositions

This is a list of English prepositions. Many English prepositions are compounds of bare roots and affixes such as a-, be-, -side, and -st, giving English a relatively high number of morphemically distinct prepositions. However, these processes are no longer productive, and many of these prepositions have fallen out of use or become limited to a certain dialect. English prepositions generally remain a closed class.

Single words

  1. a, an (meaning "per")
  2. abeam
  3. aboard
  4. about
  5. above
  6. abreast
  7. abroad
  8. absent (law)
  9. across
  10. adjacent (US, rare)
  11. after
  12. against
  13. along
  14. alongside
  15. amid
  16. among
  17. apropos (rare for apropos of)
  18. apud (formal)
  19. around
  20. as
  21. astride
  22. at
    • @ (abbreviation)
  23. atop, ontop
  24. bar
  25. before
  26. behind
    • ahind (dialectal or archaic)
  27. below
  28. beneath
  29. beside
  30. besides
  31. between
    • atween (dialectal or archaic)
  32. beyond
    • ayond (dialectal or archaic)
  33. but
  34. by
  35. chez (rare)
  36. circa
  37. come
  38. despite
  39. down
  40. during
  41. except
  42. for
    • 4 (abbreviation)
  43. from
  44. in
  45. inside
  46. into
  47. less
  48. like
  49. minus
  50. near
  51. notwithstanding (also postpositional)
  52. of
    • o' (poetic or eye-dialect)
  53. off
  54. on
  55. onto
  56. opposite
  57. out
    • outen (archaic or dialectal)
  58. outside
  59. over
  60. pace (formal)
  61. past
  62. per
  63. post (often hyphenated)
  64. pre (often hyphenated)
  65. pro (often hyphenated)
  66. qua (formal)
  67. re (often used with colon)
  68. sans (formal)
  69. save
  70. short
  71. since
  72. than
  73. through
    • thru (abbreviation)
  74. throughout
  75. to
    • 2 (abbreviation)
  76. toward, towards
  77. under
  78. underneath
  79. unlike
  80. until
  81. up
  82. upon
  83. upside
  84. versus
  85. via
  86. vice (formal)
  87. vis-à-vis (formal)
  88. with
  89. within
    • w/i (abbreviation)
  90. without
    • w/o (abbreviation)
  91. worth

Multiple words

Two words

Three words

  1. as far as is one example of the many expressions which can be analyzed as as+adjective+as rather than a multiword preposition
  2. as opposed to
  3. as soon as
  4. as well as

Preposition + (article) + noun + preposition

English has many idiomatic expressions that act as prepositions that can be analyzed as a preposition followed by a noun (sometimes preceded by the definite or, occasionally, indefinite article) followed by another preposition.[1] Common examples include:

Archaic or dialectal

See also archaic forms of modern prepositions listed above.

  1. abaft (nautical or archaic)
  2. abeam (nautical)
  3. aboon, abun, abune (dialectal)
  4. afront (dialectal or archaic)
  5. ajax (Polari)
  6. alongst
  7. aloof
  8. anenst, anent (rare, U.K. dialectal)
  9. athwart (nautical or archaic)
  10. atop, ontop
  11. behither
  12. ben (dialectal)
  13. betwixt, atwix (dialectal or archaic)
  14. bewest (dialectal or archaic)
  15. benorth (dialectal or archaic)
  16. emforth
  17. ere (poetic or archaic)
  18. forby (dialectal or archaic)
  19. foreanent, forenenst (dialectal or archaic)
  20. foregain, foregainst (dialectal or archaic)
  21. forth
  22. fromward, froward, fromwards
  23. furth (Scotland)
  24. gainward
  25. imell (dialectal or archaic)
  26. inmid, inmiddes
  27. mang (Devon)
  28. mauger, maugre
  29. nearhand (archaic or dialectal)
  30. next (archaic for next to; originally superlative of nigh)
  31. nigh, anigh, anighst (poetic or archaic)
  32. outwith (dialectal)
  33. overthwart (archaic or dialectal)
  34. quoad (formal)
  35. umbe, umb, um (archaic or dialectal)
  36. unto (archaic or poetic)
  37. uptill

Postpositions

  1. ago
  2. apart
  3. aside
  4. away
  5. hence
  6. notwithstanding (also prepositional)
  7. on
  8. short (also prepositional)
  9. through
  10. withal (archaic)

See also

References

  1. ↑ Rodney Huddleston, Geoffrey K. Pullum; et al. (2002). "chapter 7 §3.1". The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 618–620. ISBN 0-521-43146-8.

External links

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