Business English at Work

2003 Glencoe/McGraw-Hill

Prepositions

Identify prepositions.
Objectives
Recognize
prepositional phrases, objects of
prepositions, and compound prepositions.
Differentiate between infinitive phrases and
prepositional phrases.
continued
Business English at Work

PP 14-1a

Prepositions

continued

Recognize the functions of prepositional

Objectives
phrases as
adjectives and adverbs.
Determine inclusion, exclusion, and
placement of prepositions.

continued
Business English at Work

PP 14-1b

Prepositions

continued

Differentiate between commonly confused

Objectives
prepositions.
Use the correct idiomatic prepositional
combinations.

Business English at Work

PP 14-1c

Prepositions
Use of Prepositions
Use a preposition to connect the object of the
preposition (noun or pronoun) to another word or
set of words in a sentence.
Our manager recognizes our strengths and compensates for
our weaknesses.
Top executives spend approximately 90 percent of their time
with others.
The need for constant approval at work can be
counterproductive.
Business English at Work

PP 14-2

Prepositions
Common Prepositions
about

behind

during

on

throughout

above

below

except

onto

to

across

beneath

for

opposite

toward

after

beside

from

out

under

in

outside

underneath

against besides

Business English at Work

PP 14-3

Prepositions
Compound Prepositions
A compound preposition consists of a combination of
words that is often considered as one preposition and
connects the object of a preposition to another word or
set of words.
Examples
according to
in regard to
apart from
by means of
Business English at Work

in place of
along with
instead of
in front of

ahead of
in spite of
because of
out of
PP 14-4a

Prepositions
continued

Compound Prepositions

Examples
I gave the company tour on behalf of my manager.
In addition to Sara, we have five vice presidents in our
company.
Because of my positive attitude, Mary chose me as
group leader.

Business English at Work

PP 14-4b

Prepositions
Infinitive Phrases/
Prepositional Phrases
An infinitive phrase consists of the word to followed
by a verb.
A leader has to dramatize a vision for his or her
organization.
Employers need to build the trust of their employees.

No verb appears in a prepositional phrase.

Leaders set high goals and objectives for themselves.
Business English at Work

PP 14-5

Prepositions
Prepositions and Adverbs
The words by, through, and in can be used as
adverbs without objects. When these same words
take objects, they are prepositions.
Casual Fridays are in. (In is an adverb that answers the
question Where? No object follows the word in.)
Causal Friday attire is described in the company
handbook. (In is a preposition. In this sentence, it takes
the object handbook.)
Business English at Work

PP 14-6

Prepositions
Objects of Prepositions and Pronouns
Use the objective case of a pronoun as the object
of a preposition.
Objective Case
her him you me us them it whom

We awarded the Web design project to them.

Between you and me, I prefer working in the
accounting department.
Business English at Work

PP 14-7

Prepositions
Adjective Functions
Use a prepositional phrase as an adjective to
modify a noun or a pronoun.
Place the prepositional phrase after the word or
words being modified or after a linking verb.
Carol requested an office with a window.
John Garcia from Newsweek will interview our president
next week.
Richard was in Bolivia when he learned about the
merger.
Business English at Work

PP 14-8

Prepositions
Adverb Functions
Use a prepositional phrase as an adverb to
modify a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.
A leader assists in problem solving.
A motivated employee completes all
assignments with enthusiasm.

Business English at Work

PP 14-9

Prepositions
General Placement
Avoid ending a sentence with a preposition.
Place a preposition before its object in the
majority of sentences.
Avoid
We did not know the appointments he was scheduled for.

Revised
We did not know the appointments for which he was
scheduled.
Business English at Work

PP 14-10a

Prepositions
continued

General Placement

Examples
Avoid
Some of the technology jargon is difficult to relate to.

Revised
I find it difficult to relate to some of the technology jargon.

Business English at Work

PP 14-10b

Prepositions
Inclusion of Necessary Prepositions
Do not omit a preposition when it is needed.
The cancelled flight prevented Lynn from going to
the leadership seminar.

Use separate prepositions when words cannot

be related to one object by the same
preposition.
Doug has knowledge of and experience with
various management techniques.
Business English at Work

PP 14-11

Prepositions
Omission of Unnecessary
Prepositions
Omit prepositions that do not add clarity to the meaning of
a sentence.
Our international headquarters are near the San Francisco airport.
(Do not use near to the San Francisco airport.)

Do not repeat a preposition in a sentence if phrases make

sense by using the same preposition.
Our president speaks at national and international leadership
seminars. (The preposition at does not need to be repeated before
national and international since the same preposition applies to both
phrases.)
Business English at Work

PP 14-12

Prepositions
Beside/Besides
Use beside as a preposition to mean by the
side of or not connected with something.
Darrell usually sits beside me during
management staff meetings.

Use besides as a preposition to mean in

addition to or other than.
Besides Sherry, the manager promoted Joyce
and Bob.
Business English at Work

PP 14-13

Prepositions
Among/Between
Use between to refer to two persons, places,
activities, ideas, things, or qualities.
Our manager distributed the work between the
two programmers.

Use among to refer to more than two persons,

places, activities, ideas, things, or qualities.
I was among those who voted for Andy as the
team leader.
Business English at Work

PP 14-14

Prepositions
Different From
Use the word different followed by the
preposition from when from connects an
object to another word or set of words in a
sentence.
The latest sales figures are different from what I
expected.
Marions leadership style is quite different from
mine.
Business English at Work

PP 14-15

Prepositions
Like/As
Use like to mean similarly to or resembling.
Do not use a verb after the preposition like.
Do not use like to join clauses.
Stacy handles her responsibilities like a true leader.
We are looking for a manager with leadership
characteristics like Gordons.

Use the conjunction as or as if to join clauses.

Stacy acts as if she wants to be a leader.
This schedule looks as if it were hastily developed.
Business English at Work

PP 14-16

Prepositions
Off/From
Do not use off of in prepositional phrases.
Roger was positive that Edward took the production
results off his desk. (Do not use off of his desk.)

Do not substitute off for from in certain

phrases.
Lorraine borrowed paper from Erica during the meeting.
(Do not use off Erica as the prepositional phrase.)

Business English at Work

PP 14-17

Prepositions
In/Into
Use in to indicate a location or position within
a place.
Please place your self-evaluation form in my mailbox.

Use into to indicate movement or direction

from outside to inside or a change of
condition or form.
Please step into my office to discuss your concerns.
We divided the report into three sections.
Business English at Work

PP 14-18

Prepositions
To/Too/Two
Use the preposition to to indicate toward.
Please e-mail this message to all the other managers.

Use to as an infinitive or as a part of an

infinitive phrase.
She plans to promote Gale next month.

Use too as an adverb to indicate an

excessive amount or also.
The president made the hiring decision too quickly.
Our company is moving to Minneapolis too.
Business English at Work

PP 14-19a

Prepositions
continued

To/Too/Two

Use two to indicate the number.

We have two outstanding candidates for the R.B.
Rutledge Leadership Award this year.
The selection committee chose two candidates for
the president to interview.

Business English at Work

PP 14-19b

Prepositions
Identification of
Idiomatic Expressions
An idiom refers to an expression that has
evolved from general usage through the years
but which has no established rule for this
usage.
Many idioms involve a verb and preposition
combination.
Business English at Work

PP 14-20

Prepositions
Accompanied by/
Accompanied by or with
accompanied by

(a person)

accompanied by or
with

(an item)

Wesley is accompanied by an interpreter on his trips to

Japan.
Jans leadership award was accompanied with a check
for $500.
Business English at Work

PP 14-20

Prepositions
Adapted from/Adapted to
adapted from
adapted to

(taken from another

source)
(adjusted to)

Our performance evaluation is adapted from a

computer software program that Leon purchased.
The new manager soon adapted to our
companys culture.
Business English at Work

PP 14-22

Prepositions
Agree in/Agree on/
Agree with
agree in
agree on
agree with

(principle)
(plan)
(a person)

Oscar agreed in principle with the plan for the new building.
The staff agreed on the need to lengthen our customer service hours.
The managers agreed with the employees about replacing the copy
machine.
Business English at Work

PP 14-23

Prepositions
Angry at/Angry about/Angry with
angry at, angry about

(a situation)

angry with

(person)

Bill is angry about our antiquated e-mail system.

My manager was angry with Lucy for not
regulating Internet usage in her department.
Business English at Work

PP 14-24

Prepositions
Argue about/Argue for/Argue with
argue about
argue for
argue with

(situation)
(something)
(person)

Several employees argued about the evaluation system.

Our manager argued for decision-making software.
Sometimes I argue with Richard.

Business English at Work

PP 14-25

Prepositions
Arrive at/Arrive by
arrive at
arrive by
arrive in

(time, specific location,

conclusion)
(type of transport)
(general location)

She will arrive at 6 p.m.

They plan to arrive by train.
Peggy plans to arrive in St. Louis by Monday.
Business English at Work

PP 14-26

Prepositions
Concur in/Concur with
concur in
concur with

(an opinion)
(a person)

Most employees concurred in recommending that we

reorganize our department.
Do you concur with Zachary about the lack of leadership
in our company?

Business English at Work

PP 14-27

Prepositions
Correspond by/Correspond to/
Correspond with
correspond by

(means)

correspond to

(show similarity)

correspond with

(a person by writing)

We feel that correspondence by mail is too slow.

The expense allocation corresponded to employee requests.
Our president corresponds with a leadership consultant in
Vail.
Business English at Work

PP 14-28

Prepositions
Enter in or on/Enter into
enter in or on

(record)

enter into

(agreement)

Our receptionist enters every visitors name and address

in a log book.
The union and the managers entered into a binding
arbitration agreement.

Business English at Work

PP 14-29

Prepositions
Live at/Live in/Live on
live at
live in
live on

(address, place)
(area)
(street, amount)

We decided that those lawyers must live at their offices.

Most federal workers live in the Washington, D.C. area.
I could not live on the salary that they offered me during
the interview.
Business English at Work

PP 14-30

Prepositions
Reconciled to/ Reconciled with
reconciled to
reconciled with

(to accept)
(to bring into agreement)

We are finally reconciled to the fact that we will not

receive a raise this year.
Our accountant insists on the reconciliation of our
returns with the sales.

Business English at Work

PP 14-31

Prepositions
Talk about/Talk for
talk about
talk for

(something)
(time period)

Lorraine did not want to talk about her salary.

The manager talked for an hour about the reorganization
plans.

Business English at Work

PP 14-32

Prepositions
Talk to/Talk with
talk to
talk with

(tell something to someone or to

an audience)
(converse with an individual or
small group)

Have you talked to your coworkers about your concerns?

Loretta and I talked with our manager about job sharing.

Business English at Work

PP 14-33

Prepositions
Wait at/Wait for/Wait on
wait at
wait for
wait on

(location)
(person, thing)
(customer)

Please wait at the front door for a security clearance.

We waited for our managers response to the scheduling
problem.
Waiting on a customer is always a first priority for us.
Business English at Work

PP 14-34

End of

Business English at Work

2003 Glencoe/McGraw-Hill