Student

Learning PREPOSITIONS IN
Centre ACADEMIC WRITING
A preposition is a noun and can be defined as “any member of a class of words found in many languages that are used
before nouns, pronouns, or other substantives to form phrases functioning as modifiers of verbs, nouns, or adjectives,
and that typically express a spatial, temporal, or other relationship, as in, on, by, to, since.” www.dictionary.com, viewed
4 July 2013

The following prepositions are the ones most commonly used in academic writing. You may like to add to the list as
you come across more prepositions in your own reading.

ABOUT / CONCERNING FOR • in . . . font

• in . . . format
• comments about • adequate for • an improvement in
• a conference about • to apply for something • inherent in
• data about • appropriate for
• a debate about • interested in
• available for • involved in
• issues about
• a lecture about • a capacity for someone • to have instruction in
• legislation about • a challenge for someone • intrinsic in
• a policy about • compensation for • to invest in
• research about • a contract for • current issues in
• statistics about • criteria for • to be involved in
• a theory about • difficult for someone to do • in a . . . manner
• a thesis about something • to occur in
• to worry about • imperative for someone to do • participation in
something • persistent in -ing
AGAINST • to have implications for • proficiency in something
• an incentive for -ing • in . . . region
• discriminated against
• a justification for • to conduct research in
• a mechanism for -ing • resident in
AS • a need for • a revolution in
• to conceive of something as • an option of someone • to have a role in doing something
• to emerge as • to prepare someone for • . . . in scope
• to identify someone/something as - • a problem for someone • in the first semester
ing • problematic for someone • a shift in
• to perceive something as • responsible for • significant in
• its status as • scope for • in a topic
• strategies for • to have training in something
AT • to be suitable for
• a tendency for someone to do
• at the end of the semester something
INTO
• to estimate something at • for a year (e.g. statistics for 2004) • to conduct research into
• at fault • integration into
• at a university FROM • an investigation into
• at a/the x level
• derived from
• a deviation from
OF
BETWEEN
• to discourage someone from doing • accused of
• a comparison between something • an analysis of something
• a connection between • excluded from • to analyse something
• a contrast between • protected from • ashamed of
• a differentiation between • removed from • an awareness of
• a distinction between • on behalf of
• an interaction between IN • capable of -ing
• a partnership between • composed of something
• in the area of • to conceive of something (as)
BY • in conformity with • constraints of
• in a university department • critical of
• allocation by • to engage in • a definition of something
• followed by • an error in
• offset by • to have experience in
• preceded by • in . . . field/sphere
• to fill in
Prepositions 11/2012  © SLC   1 of 2