Not all languages possess words or phrases that Linguistics classifies as Prepositions. In fact, Hungarian, Turkish, Greek, and Japanese use Post-Prepositions. Post-Prepositions function much like English Prepositions, but are dissimilar in syntactical placement and may be suffixed (a syllable added to the end of a word).
What are Prepositions?
Prepositions express a spatial relationship between two objects.
Our Preposition of the day is “up.” It is a word that means to be above or over. For example, “The balloon is up in the air.”
By saying this, the speaker is telling the listener that a balloon is in the sky.
In regards to syntax, Prepositions most often precede a sentence’s second Noun Group. They are part of the Object. Let’s look at the sentence:
“The balloon is up in the air.”
| The balloon| | is| | up in the air. |
| Noun Group | Verb | Noun Group |
In these simple sentences, “is” or “are” will always be the Verb. And of course, using the singular or plural form of the Verb depends on whether the preceding Noun is singular or plural.
Here are a few more sentences using the aforementioned grammatical structure:
“The dishes are up in the cabinet.”
“The plane is up in the air.”
Don’t panic, Prepositions are easy to use. With practice, you’ll speak like a native in no time.
Examples of up
James walked up the stairs and went to bed.
The bird flew up and settled on a tree branch.
Let’s practice
Q1: Try making your own sentence.
Q2: Is it tougher to climb up a mountain or come down?
Q3: Do you have to walk up a flight of stairs at your office/school? Where do the stairs lead?
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