Preposition defination & meaning , types , examples
Table of Contents
Preposition defination & meaning , types , examples
Preposition defination –
(a) A preposition is a word which is placed before the object to indicate relationship between words or phrases, such as that of time, space (position, direction etc.) and mental or emotional attitudes.
[ शब्दों और वाक्यांश के बीच सम्बन्ध सूचित करने हेतु (समय, स्थिति, दिशा आदि) एवं मानसिक और भावनात्मक व्यवहार बताने के लिए object से पूर्व preposition का प्रयोग किया जाता है]
Ex. – (i) There is a cow in the field.
(ii) He is fond of tea.
(iii) The cat jumped off the chair.
(b) A preposition is usually placed before its object, but in relative and interrogative clauses they may come after the object.
[सामान्यत: prepositon का प्रयोग object से पूर्व होता है, परन्तु relative और प्रश्नवाची खण्ड वाक्यों में object के बाद लगाया जाता है।]
Ex. (i) Here is the watch that you asked for.
(ii) That is the boy (whom) I was speaking of.
(iii) What are you looking at?
(iv) Which of these chairs did you sit on?
(c) Sometimes a preposition may have two or more objects.
[कभी-कभी किसी preposition के साथ एक से अधिक object का प्रयोग होता है।]
Ex. (i) The road runs over hill and plain.
(ii) I spoke to Rakesh and Hari.
(d) The preposition for, from, to, on are often omitted before noun of place or time.
[प्राय: स्थान एवं समय सूचक संज्ञाओं के पूर्व for, from, in, on आदि preposition का प्रयोग नहीं करते ।]
Ex. (i) We did it last week.
(11) I can’t walk a yard.
(iii) Wait a minute.
(e) Most prepositions are single word ones. They are called simple preposition’.
[अधिकांश prepositions एक शब्द के होते हैं। उन्हें simple preposition कहते हैं ।]
Ex. At, by, for, from, in, of, off, on, out, through, till, to, up, with.
(f) Prepositions which are generally formed by prefixing (a= on or be=by) to a noun, an adjective or an adverb are called compound prepositions.
[ ऐसे prepositions जो संज्ञा, विशेषण या क्रिया विशेषण में prefix को जोड़कर बनाये हैं, compound prepositions कहलाते हैं ]
Ex- aboard, about, above, across, after, against, along, alongside, amid amidst, among, around, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, besides, between beyond, despite, down, during, inside, minus, not withstanding, opposite, outside past, per, plus, round, since, than, throughout, toward(s), under, until, undernea upon, via, within, without.
(g) There are a number of phrases formed by a group of words with the force of a single or more prepositions.
These are called phrase/complex prepositions.
[अनेक phrases जो एक या अनेक prepositions के साथ अन्य शब्दों की संयुक्ति से बने है phrase / complex prepositions कहलाते हैं ]
Here are some examples –
Adverb + Preposition-
along with, apart from, as for, as to, away from, on to , out of, together with, upto, such as.
Verb/adjective/conjunction, etc. + Preposition –
Except for, owing to, due to , but for, because of.
Preposition + Noun + Preposition –
by means of, on account of, in comparison with, in accordance with, in view of, inspite of etc.
(h) Preposition such as barring, concerning, during, not withstanding, pend ing, regarding etc. and a few similar words which are present participle of verbs are used without any noun or pronoun being attached to them. These are called sometimes as participle prepositions.
[ Barring, concerning during आदि जैसे कुछ शब्द, जो क्रिया के present participle रूप हैं, कभी-कभी संज्ञा अथवा सर्वनाम से जुड़े बगैर स्वतन्त्र रूप से प्रयुक्त होते हैं। इन्हें participle prepositions भी कहा जाता है]
Ex. (i) Barring accident, the mail will arrive.
(ii) Pending further orders, Mr. Dessai will act as headmaster.
(iii) Concerning yesterday’s fire, there are many rumours in bazar.
(i) Several words are used sometimes as an adverb and sometimes a preposition. A word is a preposition when it governs a noun or pronoun; it is an adver when it does not.
[कुछ शब्द कभी क्रिया विशेषण के रूप में तो कभी preposition के रूप में प्रयुक्त होते हैं। ऐसे शब्दों को preposition तब कहते हैं जब वे noun अथवा pronoun को प्रभावित करते हैं। अन्यथा उन्हें adverb ही माना जाना चाहिए।
Adverb | Preposition |
Go and run about. | Don’t walk about the street. |
I could not come before. | I came the day before yesterday. |
Has he come in? | Is he in his room? |
Let us move on. | The book is on the table. |
I have not seen him since. | I have not slept since yesterday. |
NOTES ON THE USE OF PREPOSITIONS
Time and Date( समय तथा दिनांक ): at, on, by before, in.
(a) AT and ON – at a time.
जैसे – at dawn, at 9.30, at midnight.
तथा on a day/date.
जैसे – on Sunday, on 7th April 1999.
Exception (अपवाद )- at night, at christmas.
(b) By and BEFORE –
By a time / date / period का अर्थ है उस समय पर या उसके पहले।
Ex. (1) Students must complete the practicals by 10th of March.
(ii) You must return by 10.00.
(c) On time, in time, in good time –
On time का अर्थ है ठीक उस समय पर, न पहले न बाद में।
in time का अर्थ है समय पर या पहले।
in good time का अर्थ है समय से पर्याप्त पहले।
Ex. (i) The train always arrives on time.
(ii) You must be in time for the match.
(iii) We reached there in good time.
Time: from, since, for.
(a) सामान्यत: from का प्रयोग to या till/until के साथ होता है। इसका उपयोग स्थान के लिए भी हो सकता है।
Ex. (i) We work from eleven to five .
(ii) He comes from Banglore.
(b) Since का प्रयोग केवल समय के लिए होता है स्थान के लिए नहीं।
Ex. She has been in Nepanagar since Monday.
(c) since का प्रयोग adverb या conjunction की तरह भी होता है।
Ex. (i) I haven’t seen Ram since. (Adverb)
(ii) He has worked since he left school. (Conjuntion).
(d) for का उपयोग period of time (कालावधि) को व्यक्त करता है।
Ex. (i) Cook it for 15 minutes.
(ii) He travelled in the forests for three weeks.
Time: to, after, till/until.
(a) To का प्रयोग स्थान एवं समय (place and time) दोनों के लिए until का प्रयोग केवल समय के लिये होता है।
Ex. (i) He works from nine to five.
(ii) Let us work till dark.
(iii) We’ll stay here till it stops raining.
(b) after के बाद में संज्ञा, सर्वनाम या gerund होता है।
Ex. (i) Don’t take a bath after dinner.
(ii) He locked the room after finishing work.
Travel and Movement ( यात्रा तथा गति):
from, to, at, in, by, on, into, onto, off out
(a) हम अपने प्रारंभिक स्थान से गंतव्य की यात्रा करते हैं।
[We travel from the starting point to our destination.]
Ex.- We drove from Agra to Delhi.
(b) यात्रा के साधनों के साथ प्राय: by का प्रयोग होता है।
जैसे- by bus/car/train/plane.
(c) A verb of motion (go, come, reach) + home can be used without prescription.
[ गति प्रदर्शित करने वाली क्रिया + home बिना preposition के प्रयोग की जा सकती है।]
Ex. (i) She went home by train.
(ii) We reached home before lunch.
(d) The following uses also need attention
[निम्न प्रयोग भी ध्यान देने योग्य हैं-]
travel by car.
go on foot.
get onto a horse.
go on board a boat.
get off a horse / bicycle/bus.
At, In, Into.
(a) At is used in the following –
[निम्नलिखित के साथ at का प्रयोग होता है-]
at home, at work, at school, at the bus-stop,
(b) In is used as follows –
[ इन स्थितियों में in का प्रयोग होता है-]
in a country (in England) / City (in Agra) in a room.
‘in’ का उपयोग निश्चित सीमा से घिरी हुई (enclosed) रचना को व्यक्त करता है।
(c) The use of ‘in‘ as in (b ) shows position.
[In का उपर्युक्त प्रयोग स्थिति प्रदर्शित करता है।]
Into is used to show movement or entrance.
(Into का उपयोग गति तथा प्रवेश व्यक्त करता है।]
Ex.- (i) We climbed into the truck.
(ii) She jumped into the river
(d) ‘put’ के साथ in तथा into दोनों संभव हैं।
Above and Over
Above can be a preposition or adverb. Over is a preposition.
[ Above preposition या adverb (क्रिया विशेषण) दोनों हो सकता है। जबकि over preposition है) कुछ स्थितियों में दोनों का प्रयोग संभव है। ]
Ex. – The plane hovered above / over us.
over का अर्थ है से अधिक या से ऊँचा
above केवल से ऊँचा का अर्थ देता है।
Over means more than or higher than. Above means higher than.
By and With (से, के द्वारा )
‘With‘ denotes, instrument and ‘by‘ the agent.
[‘With‘ उपकरण या साधन को द्योतित करता है एवं ‘by‘ व्यक्ति को ।]
Ex. (i) He killed two birds with one shot.
(ii) The tiger was killed by a man with a knife.
(iii) This letter is written by me with a pen.
Between and Among ( के बीच)
‘Between‘ is used when we refer to two persons or things etc.
[‘Between‘ का प्रयोग तब होता है जब दो व्यक्तियों या वस्तुओं के संदर्भ में बात की जाती है।]
Ex. – Sita sits between Mona and Lata
‘Among‘ is used when we refer to more than two persons or things etc.
[‘Among‘ का प्रयोग तब होता है जब दो से अधिक व्यक्तियों या वस्तुओं का उल्लेख किया जाता है।]
Ex.- People quarrelled among themselves.
Distribute these sweets among the children.
Under, Underneath (नीचे)
‘Under‘ is usually used with reference to person or persons.
[‘Under‘ का प्रयोग सामान्यतया किसी व्यक्ति या व्यक्तियों के संदर्भ में किया जाता है।]
Ex. A sub-inspector works under an inspector.
‘Underneath‘ is used with reference to things.
[‘Underneath‘ का प्रयोग वस्तुओं के संदर्भ में किया जाता है।]
Ex.- Tuck this away underneath that box.
In, Within
‘In‘ before a noun denoting period of time means ‘at the end of, within means ‘before the end of ‘.
[समय की अवधि को सूचित करने वाली संज्ञा के पूर्व ‘in’ के प्रयोग का अर्थ होता है ‘at the end of; ‘within’ से तात्पर्य होता है ‘before the end of’]
Ex. (i) I shall return in an hour.
(ii) I shall return within an hour.
Beside / Besides ( के पास / के अलावा)
‘Beside’ means ‘by the side of’; ‘besides’ means ‘in addition to”.
[‘Beside’ का अर्थ होता है ‘बगल में’; ‘Besides’ का अर्थ होता है अतिरिक्त’ या अलावा।
Ex. (i) The queen sat beside the king.
(ii) Besides his children, his nephews were present.
Than
It is a conjunction but sometimes used as a preposition.
[यह एक योजक शब्द है, परन्तु कभी-कभी इसका प्रयोग preposition के रूप में भी किया जाता है।]
I cannot accept less than 50 Rupees.
But (के अलावा)
As a rule ‘but‘ is a conjunction. When used as preposition it means except.
[सामान्य नियमानुसार ‘but’ एक योजक है। जब इसका प्रयोग preposition के रूप में होता है तब इसका अर्थ होता है ‘के अतिरिक्त’ |]
Ex. (1) What can he do but die ?
(ii) None but the brave win the war.
(iii) She returned all his gifts but one.
इन prepositions को चित्रों के माध्यम से ऐसे भी समझा जा सकता है:
use of some prepositions shown by diagrams
Some Examples of Phrase Prepositions
By dint of/ by means of (द्वारा):
(i) He succeeded by dint of sheer hard work.
(ii) They crossed the wall by means of ladders.
In case of / In the event of (स्थिति में / घटना में ) :
In case of necessity phone to No. 32967.
By virtue of (अधिकार अथवा ताकत के द्वारा) :
He has given order by virtue of the power vested in him.
In consequence of/on account of/ Due to Because of/ Owing to reason of ( कारणवशात् / कारण से ) :
On account of his illness he could not come in time.
With reference to (संदर्भ में):
This letter is written with reference to the previous letter.
In course of (समय के साथ) :
In course of time he saw his mistake.
On behalf of ( के तरफ से ) :
He died fighting on behalf of his country.
In spite of (बावजूद ) :
He completed study in spite of poverty.
Instead of (बदले में ) :
Instead of talking, start doing something.
According to/ as per (अनुसार):
He acted according to my instructions.
In front of (सामने)
There is a big tree in front of our school.
In accordance with (के अनुसार) :
In accordance with the terms of agreement, we have remitted your cheque.
By way of (बातों-बातों में ) :
By way of introduction, he made some fitting remarks.
In favour of (सपक्ष में) :
He left his position in favour of his son.
In lieu of / In exchange of (विनिमय में):
He accepted the car in lieu of his claim for Rs. 2 lakh.
With a view to/ With an eye to ( नजर में रखते हुए):
With a view to score better marks, he read till late night.
Nouns followed by prepositions
Verbs followed by prepositions
Adjectives followed by prepositions
Learn more –
Parts of speech with examples , definition , types
What is sentence , definition, type , examples
What is phrase , examples, noun phrase
Tense Chart in English , Definition, type, examples