Those Pesky, Perplexing Prepositions

I have been hearing and reading a lot about prepositions lately, so I thought I would do a post about those pesky words—one of the most challenging parts of the English language to learn if you are not a native speaker.

When I sometimes ask a question in a grammar class whose answer is "preposition," I often get these answers instead:

• pronoun
• proposition
• proverb

A pronoun is a part of speech, like a preposition, but different. Pronouns stand in for nouns, e.g., his, I, me, we, they.

Proverbs are wise sayings, generally from the distant past.

Propositions—well, you know what those are!

A preposition is a part of speech that, I have read lately, really has no meaning. True. Often prepositions don't have much meaning on their own because they don't ever appear on their own. They generally appear in what we call a prepositional phrase, which has a specific format: 1) preposition, 2) usually an article, 3) noun or pronoun. For example, in the house, out the door, up the stairs, down the street, by the river, along the beach, under the table, over the moon.

If they are not in a prepositional phrase, pronouns can be found after a verb, in many cases becoming an actual part of the verb, for example, strike out, go inside, mess up, etc. In such cases, the preposition is actually functioning as an adverb, but let's not worry about that. 

So what is so weird and perplexing about prepositions?

Is there any difference between burning up and burning down?

We sit in a chair, but we sit on a sofa. Why? If a chair has no comfy armrests, do we then sit on the chair?

We sit in a car, but we sit on a bus. Do we sit in a plane or on a plane? 

We are at the mall, but we are not at the school; we are at school. One could be at the school, but there is a slight shade of difference in meaning: If you are a student there, you are probably at school. If you parents are called in to see the principal, they are probably at the school.

We can turn the car in to the garage, but you probably wouldn't want to turn the car into the garage. (unless you have a magic wand).

You turn in at night when you are tired. And you turn in your math exam. But you turn out at a protest march. 

You can take up knitting, but you take down an opponent. 

You can bring up a topic, but you bring down a foe.

You can tune in to a radio station, and then you can tune out what your friend is saying.

You can let out your emotions, and let go of your anger.

You can have a walk-in closet and a walk-out basement. Doesn't anyone want to walk out of the closet or walk into the basement?

You can make up a story, but when you put the two words together, you put it on your face.

Sometimes people put a verb and preposition (adverb) together when they should be separate:

You take off your makeup. But when you put the words together, you have a noun: Are you ready for takeoff?

Similarly, you can set up for the party. Then, everyone else can enjoy the setup of the tables.

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