List of English prepositions - Definition and Overview

This is a list of English prepositions. In English, many prepositions are short, typically containing five letters or less. However, there is a significant number of multi-word prepositions. Throughout the history of the English language, new prepositions have come into use, old ones fallen out of use, and the meaning of existing prepositions changed. Indeed, prepositions are one of the most unstable parts of the lexicon in any language.

Single-word

• about
• along
• among
• around (also round)
• at
• before
• between
• by
• despite
• down
• for
• from
• in
• inside
• into (contraction of in to)
• near
• of
• off
• on
• onto (contraction of on to)
• out
• outside
• over
• since
• through
• throughout
• to
• under
• underneath
• until
• up
• upon
• with
• within
• without

Note that with in and with out are no longer grammatical, unlike in to or on to and their contracted forms into and onto.

Multi-word

Two words

• ahead of
• because of
• close to
• due to
• far from
• in to (contracted as into)
• inside of (note that inside out is an adjective, not a preposition)
• instead of
• on to (contracted as onto)
• out of
• outside of
• near to

Three words

• as far as
• by means of
• in accordance with
• in spite of
• on behalf of

Archaic or infrequently used

• anti (loan word)
• circa (loan word)
• unto (largely supplanted by to; used primarily in religious contexts)
• versus (loan word)
• vis-á-vis (loan word)

References

• Crystal, David (1995). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language (3rd ed.). Cambridge: Press Syndicate. ISBN 0-521-40179-8.