Creating an account only takes 20 seconds, and doesn’t require any personal info.

If you’ve got one already, please log in.🤝

Place preposition

From Teflpedia
(Redirected from Preposition of place)

A preposition of place is a preposition used to link place. They form the head of place prepositional phrases such as "on the chair" or "to the park.”

As place can be categorised into categories, prepositions can be discussed there, namely:

In pedagogical grammar the term "preposition of place" usually refers specifically to location prepositional phrases(!).


These are used to achieve the language function of locating concrete objects within space.

Examples of (single word) place prepositions include:

  • at, e.g. at the park
  • on, e.g. on the box
  • in e.g. in the box, in Germany
  • by, e.g. by the park
  • over, e.g. over the box
  • under, e.g. under the box
  • behind, e.g. behind
  • between, e.g. between

To can be used as a place preposition after certain adjectives:

  • close to, closer to, closest to
  • near to, nearer to, nearest to
  • next to

Near can also be used without to, but is really an adjective not a preposition.

The grammar for at/on/in can be a little complicated and confusing for learners[1]

In pedagogical grammar, the term "preposition of place" is also used to describe phrases that achieve the same function as single prepositions. For example:

  • in front of
  • at the front of
  • to the right of
  • to the left of

Pedagogy[edit | edit source]

Basic prepositions of place can be demonstrated physically, e.g. by placing a pen on a table.

References[edit | edit source]