This is a list of English prepositions.

Many English prepositions are compounds of bare roots and

afxes 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
'bout, bout (abbreviations)

5. above
bove (archaic)

6. abreast

7. abroad

8. absent (law)

9. across
cross (archaic)

10. adjacent (US, rare)

11. after

12. against
'gainst, gainst (poetic or archaic); again, gain (archaic)

13. along
'long (abbreviation), alongst (archaic)

14. alongside

15. amid
amidst, mid, midst (poetic or archaic);

16. among
amongst (poetic or archaic)
 'mong, mong, 'mongst (abbreviations)

17. apropos (rare for apropos of)

18. apud (formal)

19. around
'round, round (abbreviations)

20. as

21. astride

22. at
@ (abbreviation)

23. atop, ontop

24. bar

25. before
afore, tofore (dialectal or archaic)

B4 (abbreviation)

26. behind
ahind (dialectal or archaic)

27. below
ablow, allow (Scotland)

28. beneath
'neath, neath (poetic)

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
c., ca. (abbreviations)

37. come
dehors (law)

38. despite
spite (abbreviation)

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
nearer (comparative), nearest (superlative)

anear (archaic)

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
o'er (poetic)

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
sauf (archaic)

70. short

71. since
sithence (archaic)

72. than

73. through
thru (abbreviation)

74. throughout
thruout (abbreviation)

75. to
2 (abbreviation)

76. toward, towards

77. under

78. underneath

79. unlike
80. until
'til, til, till (abbreviations)

81. up

82. upon
'pon, pon (abbreviations)

83. upside

84. versus
vs., v. (abbreviations)

85. via

86. vice (formal)

87. vis--vis (formal)

88. with
w/, c (abbreviations)

89. within
w/i (abbreviation)

90. without
w/o (abbreviation)

91. worth

Multiple words

Two words
1. according to

2. adjacent to

3. ahead of

4. apart from

5. as for

6. as of

7. as per

8. as regards
9. aside from

10. astern of

11. back to

12. because of

13. close to

14. due to

15. except for

16. far from

17. inside of

18. instead of

19. left of

20. near to

21. next to

22. opposite of

23. opposite to

24. out from

25. out of

26. outside of

27. owing to

28. prior to

29. pursuant to

30. rather than

31. regardless of

32. right of

33. subsequent to

34. such as

35. thanks to
36. up to

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 denite or, occasionally, indenite
article) followed by another preposition.[1] Common examples include:

1. at the behest of

2. by means of

3. by virtue of

4. for the sake of

5. in accordance with

6. in addition to

7. in case of

8. in front of

9. in lieu of

10. in order to

11. in place of

12. in point of

13. in spite of

14. on account of

15. on behalf of

16. on top of
17. with regard to (sometimes written as "w/r/t")

18. with respect to

19. with a view to

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)

'twixt, twixt (abbreviations)

14. bewest (dialectal or archaic)

15. benorth (dialectal or archaic)

16. emforth

17. ere (poetic or archaic)

or

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
aslant (archaic)

4. away

5. hence

6. notwithstanding (also prepositional)

7. on

8. short (also prepositional)

9. through

10. withal (archaic)

See also

Preposition and postposition

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.618620. ISBN0-521-43146-
8.

External links

Wiktionary list of English prepositions (more comprehensive)

Last edited 14 days ago by Hppavilion1