Though the number of prepositions in the English language is limited, the correct use of prepositions is a big problem, especially for those who use English as a second language (ESL). You need to apply a strong check on preposition for finding and fixing misuses to make your writings more professional and effective one.
There are so many interesting things about the use, rules, and types of prepositions that many of the writers don’t know about. Let’s have a look at those exciting fun facts about prepositions and online preposition correction.
Exciting Facts About the Preposition Check You Never Heard About
You can find so many online preposition checker software tools for checking preposition mistakes, but there is no online tool that can tell you about the interesting facts about the prepositions. A few of those interesting facts are listed below.
Fact #1. There is no absolute meaning of prepositions in English
The meaning of all prepositions used in English varies with respect to the structure of the sentences. The location of the preposition in a sentence, the connection with nouns, adjectives, verbs, and pronouns change the meaning of the preposition slightly.
Fact #2. The number of prepositions is much larger than in many other languages
In English, there are 150 prepositions that are a huge number of prepositions as compared with many European and other Western languages. Among those 150 prepositions, 94 prepositions are single-word and 56 prepositions are multi-word or complex phrases.
Fact #3. Prepositions can not make any sense without any complete sentence structure
To find preposition in a sentence with a purposeful use, you need to have a complete structure of the sentence, otherwise, you wouldn’t be able to understand the meaning of a preposition standing alone without a complete sentence.
Fact #4. Prepositions cannot be translated
You cannot translate the English prepositions into any other language with absolute meaning. English has a large number of prepositions and other languages have a short number of prepositions. So, it is not possible to translate the meanings in parallel.
Fact #5. English prepositions are used in two different ways
As compared to many other languages, which use the preposition in just a single way, the English language allows the use of prepositions in two ways as listed below:
- Prepositional phrase – Adam was leaving for New York.
- Prepositional objects – He is good at driving long vehicles.
The Most Common and Most Unusual Prepositions Found Via Preposition Editor
English is a very flexible and adaptive language, which can absorb as well as dilute the importance of words mixing in it. Thus, the words keep evolving like the case of common and uncommon use of prepositions. Let’s figure out the most common prepositions and the most uncommon prepositions. You can also get the help of our online English grammar prepositions checker for this purpose.
The top 15 common prepositions – single-word and complex prepositions are listed in the following table:
| Most Common One-Word Prepositions | Most Common Complex Prepositions |
| In | According to |
| From | In front of |
| For | Out of |
| With | Instead of |
| By | Next to |
| To | Ahead of |
| Off | By means of |
| Of | On account of |
| After | In accordance with |
| Under | Because of |
Other than the above-listed common prepositions, there are certain uncommon/obsolete prepositions, which came into the English language from other languages or regional accents for a specific meaning and contexts. You can use the English grammar preposition app to check and verify those words easily. The list of uncommon prepositions with their respective explanations is shown in the following table.
| Most Uncommon Prepositions | Explanation |
| Per | Meaning: According to Origin: Latin |
| Astride | Meaning: Lying on both sides Origin: Old English |
| Anent | Meaning: About or concerning Origin: Ancient English |
| Apropos | Meaning: With regard to something Origin: Ancient English |
| Intil | Meaning: Into or in Origin: Scottish |
| Re | Meaning: With regard to Origin: Latin |
| Natheless | Meaning: Nevertheless, or Notwithstanding Origin: English (na the Laes) |
| Versus | Meaning: Against Origin: Latin |
| vis-à-vis | Meaning: As compared with OR In relation to Origin: Latin |
| Anti | Meaning: In opposition OR against Origin: Old English |
How to identify a preposition whether it is in use or not in modern English? You can check and verify this by using our online wrong or missing prepositions checker with full confidence.
Useful Tips on How to Use Prepositions Correctly Like A Pro
Tip #1. Always use preposition for establishing a relationship with nouns
Always focus to effectively connect nouns and pronouns with the most suitable preposition to make the structure of a sentence perfect.
Tip #2. Don’t confuse “in” with “into’ and vice versa
The use of the preposition “into” shows the motion of the subject while the “in” is used to simply denote the position of the main action in the sentence.
Tip #3. Always differentiate gerund and infinitive verb formation with “to” preposition
The preposition “to” can be used as either the main preposition or to form an infinitive verb to express a meaning like a gerund. So, differentiate the use properly.
Tip #4. Don’t end a sentence with a preposition
Many writing standards prohibit ending the sentence with a preposition. It creates confusion and makes writing a bit vague.
How to Correct Preposition Errors in Your Paper Through Our Online Tool
How to find prepositions and their misuses in a paper? Use our online preposition identifier tool to edit your paper to make it a professionally written piece of text. It helps you:
- Find and fix preposition misuses
- Correct grammatical mistakes
- Punctuation and spelling mistakes
- Detect tones, plagiarized text, and style errors
- Catch and correct active and passive misuses
- Corrects sentence structure and wrong word choices
If you are looking for a professional preposition detector to detect preposition mistakes in a few clicks, try our online English grammar prepositions checker right away!
