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Prepositions of PlaceExplanation and Rules

Prepositions of place are used to give information about the position or the location of someone or something. They are written before the location.

Don’t forget that “prepositions” is one of the most complex subjects in English so it might take a long time to memorize every preposition.

You may �nd the basic prepositions of place below with de�nitions and examples:

“Behind” means that something is at the back of another thing:

• There is a big tree behind that building.• I hung my coat behind the door.

Behind:

“In front of” is the opposite of behind and it means that something is ahead of another thing:

• She yelled at me in front of everybody.• The band played their songs in front of their audience.

In front of:

“Next to” or “Beside” means that something is at the side of another thing:

• She was sitting next to me on the bus.• All soldiers stand next to each other during the ceremony.

Next to / Beside:

“Near” is used when there is a little distance between two things:

• Is there a bank near here?• Our o�ce is close to the subway station.

Near / Close to:

“Between” is used when something is in the middle of two other things:

• France is between Germany and Spain.• I am standing between Emily and John.

Between:

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“Opposite” or “across from” means that something is on the other side of a location such as road or bridge:

• Our store is across from that café. • She sat opposite me because we were playing chess.

Opposite / Across From:

“Under” or “below” means that something is at a lower level than the other thing:

• My cat is hiding under the table. • They live in the apartment below ours.

Under / Below:

“Above” or “over” means that something is at a higher level than the other thing vertically:

• They live in the apartment above ours. • We jumped over the balls while playing the game.

Above / Over:

“On” has almost the same meaning with above and over but when you use “on”, there must be physical contact between to items.

• I put the glass on the table. • He is sitting on that chair.

On:

“In, on and at” have di�erent usage purposes than the others because although these three prepo-sitions have the same meaning for most of the time, you have to choose one of them depending on the location written after them.

You may �nd the list here:

In, On and At

at

When something is at a point or a building:

in

When something is inside of a box or on a wide flat space:

on

When something is on a vertical of horizantal surface:

at the corner in the kitchen on the wall

at the airport in New York on the t-shirt

at school in the USA on a chair

at the bus stop in the bag on the cover

at the table in the bottle on the floor

at the top in bed on your face

at the cinema in the sea on her foot

at university in a book on a page