What Is A Preposition?
A preposition is a small word that shows where, when or how one thing connects to another, like under in "under the bed."
More precisely, it links a noun or pronoun, its object, to another word in the sentence (Britannica).
Read this with your child: The cat is under the bed. We eat lunch at noon. The ball rolled toward me.
What Is A Prepositional Phrase?
A prepositional phrase is the preposition, its object and any words describing the object: under the old wooden bench. It can describe a noun or an action, as in "The girl with the red backpack ran across the field," and by 4th grade it gives stories their detail.
When Do Kids Learn Prepositions?
Common Core (CCSS) standard L.K.1e asks kindergartners (ages 5–6) to use the most frequently occurring prepositions, and L.1.1i adds words like during and toward in 1st grade (ages 6–7). L.4.1e asks 4th graders (ages 9–10) to form and use prepositional phrases, and L.5.1a asks 5th graders to explain what prepositions do. In England, Year 3 in the UK National Curriculum teaches prepositions for time, place and cause.
Examples of Prepositions For Kids
These five sentence tasks run from easy to hard.
Example 1
Find the preposition in "The cat is hiding under the bed."
Under answers where?, and its object is the bed.
Example 2
Find the preposition and its object in "We read a story after dinner."
After is the preposition and dinner is its object. The rusher circles a because it's the smallest word, but a tells neither where nor when.
Example 3
Is "in" a preposition in "It's raining, so come in"?
Tempting answer: yes, because in is on every preposition list.
Why it breaks: nothing answers "In what?", and a preposition needs an object.
The rescue: this in is an adverb that tells which way to come. In "Wait in the car," the car answers, so that in is a preposition.
Example 4
Fix the sentence: "Grandpa made pancakes for my sister and I."
Write "for my sister and me": drop "my sister and," and you'd say "for me," not "for I." After a preposition, use me, him, her, us or them.
Example 5
Build it: add one phrase that tells where and one that tells when to "The dog slept."
One answer: "The dog slept under the porch during the storm."
Table 1: Prepositions for kids in 10 example sentences, with three not-quite versions
Sentence | It tells |
|---|---|
Maya hung her coat on the hook. | Where |
We sat between Grandma and Grandpa. | Where |
Recess starts at 10:30. | When |
Nobody talks during a fire drill. | When |
Mateo walked toward the slide. | Which way |
The kids raced across the playground. | Which way |
Priya made a card for her teacher. | Who it's for |
Our field trip is on Friday (not in Friday). | When |
The puppy ran into the yard (not in to the yard). | Which way |
Share the stickers among the class (not between the class). | How it's shared |
What Are The Types Of Prepositions?
Table 2 sorts prepositions by the question they usually answer.
Table 2: A list of 46 common prepositions for kids, sorted by the question each one usually answers
The question it answers | Prepositions |
|---|---|
Where? (place, 14) | above, against, among, behind, below, beneath, beside, between, inside, near, next to, outside, under, in front of |
When? (time, 5) | after, before, during, since, until |
Which way? (direction, 13) | across, along, around, down, from, into, onto, out of, past, through, to, toward, up |
With what, for whom or why? (10) | about, by, except, for, like, of, with, without, because of, instead of |
Both where and when (4) | at, in, on, over |
Prepositions Of Place (Where?)
They show where something is, as in "The keys are under the mat."
Prepositions Of Time (When?)
They show when something happens, as in "We swim after school."
Prepositions Of Direction (Which Way?)
They show movement, as in "The squirrel ran up the tree."
Prepositions For Other Jobs
They show tools and reasons: "Noor drew with markers," "School closed because of the snow."
Prepositions By Form
They can be simple (at), double (into), compound (next to) or participle, from an -ing verb form (during). Phrase prepositions like at home are really prepositional phrases.
How Do You Find A Preposition In A Sentence?
Ask what question the word answers, then check for an object. The usual tip is to look for the small word before a noun. Actually, the question works better, because the and a sit before nouns too.
Ask the job question. In "Jayden left his hat on the bus," where? points to on.
Find the object. On what? The bus. Objects are nouns or pronouns.
No object, no preposition. In "Jayden put his hat on," nothing answers "On what?", so on is an adverb, a distinction that trips up adults too.
Read the whole phrase. Preposition, object and describing words make the prepositional phrase: on the crowded bus.
Why Does English Have Prepositions?
English needs prepositions because its nouns don't change shape to show where, when or how.
The name says where it sits. Preposition comes from the Latin praeponere, "to put in front" (Merriam-Webster).
Endings used to do more work. Modern English nouns have just two case forms, like girl and girl's (Britannica).
One word can flip an instruction. "Keep your bike on the path" and "Keep your bike off the path" mean opposite things.
Can You End A Sentence With A Preposition?
Yes, and English speakers have done it since Old English, say Merriam-Webster's usage editors, who add that usage guides have agreed for about 100 years that it's fine. The "rule" spread after the poet John Dryden attacked it in 1672, from a wish to make English follow Latin. So "What are you looking at?" is correct, and moving the preposition is a style choice for formal writing, not a rule.
Where Do Kids Slip Up With Prepositions?
Mistake 1: At, On And In For Time
Where it slips in: A blank before a time word, as in "___ Monday" or "___ 3:00."
Don't do this: Guess by sound. The guesser writes "in Monday" because in worked for "in the morning."
The correct way: Use at for a clock time (at 3:00), on for a day or date (on Monday) and in for parts of the day, months, years and seasons (in the morning, in July, in the summer). Watch two exceptions, at night and on Sunday morning.
Mistake 2: Writing In To For Into
Where it slips in: Writing about movement, as in "The puppy ran in to the house."
Don't do this: Split the word in two. Kids do it because they hear two beats.
The correct way: Write "The puppy ran into the house," and use in to only when in belongs to the verb, as in "Hand your book in to the librarian." In alone can show movement too ("went in the house," in Merriam-Webster), so "jump in the pool" is fine.
Mistake 3: Saving Between For Two
Where it slips in: "The path runs between the swings, the slide and the sandbox."
Don't do this: Change it to among because "between is for two." The memorizer learned that rule, which Merriam-Webster calls "a persistent but unfounded notion."
The correct way: Use between for separate things named one by one, however many, and among for something spread through a group: "Share the stickers among the class."
Preposition Practice Questions With Answers
Key words: object, prepositional phrase, adverb. The rule: every preposition has an object, so ask "[word] what?"
Read this with your child: Try these six, then check the key.
Find the preposition and its object: "The frog jumped off the log."
Is up a preposition here? "Maya looked up."
Move the phrase to the front: "We play tag after school."
Fix it: "My birthday party is in Saturday."
Fix it: "Share the crayons between the whole class."
Write one sentence with a phrase that tells where and one that tells when.
Answer Key
Off, with the object the log.
No, it's an adverb, since nothing answers "Up what?"
"After school, we play tag."
"My birthday party is on Saturday."
"Share the crayons among the whole class" (or "with"), since a class is one group, not separate things.
Answers vary: "My shoes are under the bed." "We read after dinner."
Your turn: write one sentence saying where a hidden toy is, and see if someone can find it.
How Can You Teach Prepositions At Home?
Start with your child's body and toys: inside, on and under first, the location words ASHA's milestones place at ages 3 to 4 (a typical range, not a deadline), then behind, beside and between.
Where's Teddy? (ages 3–5). Hide a stuffed animal, wait for the full sentence ("Teddy is under the chair"), then swap jobs.
Time talk (ages 5–8). At breakfast, ask what happens before school, during recess and after dinner.
A picture-book walk. Pat Hutchins' Rosie's Walk tells a hen's farm walk in prepositional phrases. Retell it with toys.
Wrapping Up
Prepositions for kids come down to one idea: a small word showing where, when or which way, plus its object.
To find one, ask the job question and "[word] what?", since no answer means an adverb.
Use at for clock times, on for days and in for months, years and seasons.
Into shows movement inside, and between works for any number of separate things.
Ending a sentence with a preposition is fine.
Five Minutes Of Practice
Tonight, hide a toy and have your child say exactly where it is. Next come time words, then conjunctions like because, which join whole ideas.
Before this: nouns and pronouns. After this: conjunctions, clauses and longer sentences.
Want your child to build this with a live Bhanzu English trainer? Book a free English class.
Research Behind This Article
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, "Communication Milestones: 4 to 5 Years" (milestones released November 1, 2023): asha.org
Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Preposition," by Adam Zeidan: britannica.com/topic/preposition
Merriam-Webster, "What Is A Preposition?": merriam-webster.com
Merriam-Webster, "Ending Sentences With Prepositions: Is It Allowed?": merriam-webster.com
Merriam-Webster Dictionary, "between," with its "Between vs. Among" usage guide: merriam-webster.com/dictionary/between
Frequently Asked Questions
How Many Prepositions Are There In English?
No official count exists, because guides disagree about multiword prepositions such as because of, and a list of prepositions for kids needs far fewer, like the 46 here.
What Are The Most Common Prepositions?
Common Core's kindergarten standard, L.K.1e, names ten: to, from, in, out, on, off, for, of, by and with. Add before, after, during and because of from Year 3 in the UK National Curriculum for a strong first list of prepositions for kids.
Is To Always A Preposition?
No, because in "We like to swim," to marks the verb, while in "We walked to the park," it's a preposition.
Is It Toward Or Towards?
Both are correct, and Merriam-Webster notes that toward is more common in the US.
Can A Sentence Start With A Preposition?
Yes: "After lunch, we play outside" opens with a prepositional phrase and a comma.
Is Before A Preposition Or A Conjunction?
It can be either: before a noun it starts a prepositional phrase ("before dinner"), and before a subject and verb it's a conjunction ("before you eat").
Is It By Accident Or On Accident?
Both are used, but Merriam-Webster notes that by accident is far more common.
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