Precise Time Months, Years, Centuries Days and Dates and Long Periods

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® Top Careers & You

GRAMMAR LECTURE – 2 PREPOSITION, CONJUNCTION, ARTICLE

The love that l ies in her eyes. Verb Prepos it ion Noun In the above sentence the word ‘in’ express the relation between the verb ‘lies’ and noun ‘eyes’. Examine another example.

She is very desirous of d ignity. Adjective Preposition Noun In the above sentence, ‘of’ expresses the relation between the adjective ‘desirous’ and noun ‘dignity’. In both the above examples the words ‘in’ and ‘of’ respectively, have been used as prepositions.

What is preposition? Preposition is a word which occurs before a noun or a pronoun and which expresses the relation between it (Noun or Pronoun) and some part of the remaining sentence.

The fly is above the coffee.

The fly is in the coffee.

The fly is behind the coffee.

TIP

Recognize a preposition when you see one. What is a preposition?

Preposition positioning. Omission of the preposition. Adverb of Preposition???? Common prepositional usages Important

conjunctions Article: A, An or The

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Eye Opener

When we say last, next, every, this we do not also use at, in, on. • I went to Delhi last July. (not in last July) • He's coming back next Monday. (not on next Monday) • I go home every Diwali. (not at every Diwali) • We'll meet you this evening. (not in this evening)

Common Prepositions and Their Usage

at in on Precise Time Months, Years, Centuries

and Long Periods Days and Dates

at 2 o’clock in August On Saturday

at 6.00 am in winter on Wednesday’s

at noon in the spring on 9 July

at lunchtime in 1981 on 31 Dec, 2006

at bedtime in the 1982’s on Diwali Day

at sunset in the next year on Republic Day

at dawn in the Ice Age on my anniversary

at the moment in the past/future on Christmas’s Eve Notice the use of the preposition of time at in the following standard expressions:

Expression Example at noon The sun shines at noon.

at the weekend I usually meet my friends at the weekend.

at Diwali I give gifts to my friends at Diwali.

at the same time We purchased the books at the same time.

at present He’s home at present. So go and meet him. Notice the use of the prepositions of time in and on in these common expressions:

in on in the evening on Monday evening

in the evenings on Monday evenings

in the afternoon(s) on Sunday afternoons

in the morning(s) on Monday mornings

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PREPOSITION POSITIONING

(a) A preposition usually precedes its object. E.g.

The above arrow indicates the placement of the preposition before the object ‘movies’.

(b) Examine the given sentences carefully:

Who is the boy you were speaking of? Object Preposition

This is the toy that you were searching for. Object Preposition

It is beauty she is bent upon. Object Preposition

Confused??? The prepositions in the above sentences follow the object. Well, they are correctly placed. In the case of; interrogative pronouns, relative pronouns and when an emphasis on the object is desired preposition is placed after its object.

“OMISSION OF THE PREPOSITION” Prepositions like; from, for and in are often omitted when the sentences contain noun of time and place. This is further elucidated with the help of the following example:

I cannot wait any longer. (Noun expressing time) Here ‘longer’ is the noun expressing time so, there is no need to add any preposition. We don’t use prepositions with words and phrases like:

This morning This afternoon Home Every week Last Tuesday Next Year

She is a great lover of movies. Subject Verb Preposition object

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ADVERB OR PREPOSITION????

There are some words, which can function both as a preposition and as an adverb depending upon the sense they convey. Words like; since, after, before, in, etc can be used both as Adverbs and as Prepositions. Let’s check out the following examples to see how ‘in’ performs a double role of an Adverb and a Preposition. Consider the following Sentences. 1. Kindly come in.

In this sentence ‘in’ is functioning as an adverb. Since it answers the question where?

2. Ram is sitting in the car. In this sentence ‘in’ functions as a preposition because it states the position of the noun ‘Ram’.

Some important Clues regarding Preposition Usage Junior, senior, elder, inferior, superior, prior, interior, prefer are followed by ‘to’. But my senior officer, my junior officer, his prior approval, etc. are used without ‘to’.

1. Character is preferable to wealth.

2. He is more senior to me not only in service but also in age.

4. My senior officer is proposing to proceed on leave next week.

(no error) The words need not, better, rather – are not followed by ’to’.

1. You need not worry about your health.

2. Something is better than nothing. The word ‘Call at’ is used for place, whereas, ‘Call upon’ or ‘Call on’ is used for persons.

1. All of us called at her office. 2. They called upon us yesterday to discuss the Cash Credit

Account. ‘Different’ and ‘Separation’ are followed by ‘From’ instead of other words.

1. Under these circumstances, I cannot bear separation from my

sister.

2. It is quite different from this.

CLUE – 1

CLUE – 2

CLUE – 3

CLUE – 4

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® Top Careers & You Though “in”, “at”, and “on” have similar meanings, but there are conventions about their use. Generally speaking, “in” is used before large places such as a country, state, city etc. “On” is used before middle sized places such as a road, train, plane, ship, street, table etc. “At” is used to denote an exact spot (at the door) or the no. of the house (at 212, Almond Street). “In” is also used to denote very small places such as room, house, car etc. Example:

Mr. John was staying in a room at Door no. 29 on Richmond Street

in Detroit on the West Coast in Michigan State in USA. There is difference between few, little and a few, a little. Few is used incase of countable nouns. Few means no and a few means some. Much and Less are used in the case of uncountable nouns, while fewer is used for countable nouns. Like, unlike are prepositions and Alike is an adverb.

1. The twins look alike.

2. Unlike other turtles, marine turtles breathe air through their

lungs and lay eggs on land. The preposition “between” must always be followed by the conjunction “and” as in the phrases “between Ram and Sham” and always in two persons. In case of more than two persons “among” is used. Both “among” and “amongst” are used for more than two persons and things but “amongst” is used before a vowel. The preposition “from” must always be followed by “to” as in “from Monday to Friday”. “Each other” is used for two persons & things. Whereas, “One another” is used for more-than two.

1. All the five brothers were quarreling with one another over

their father’s property.

2. They were discussing the point with each other/They were

discussing the point with one another. (no error) 3. Ambika & Sonia are fast friends. They love each other very

much.

CLUE – 5

CLUE – 6

CLUE – 7

CLUE – 8

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COMMON PREPOSITIONAL USAGES abhorrence of abide by absorbed in abstain from accede to acceptable to access to accompanied by according to account for accuse of/by accustomed to acquainted with acquiesce in acquit of adapt to addicted to adhere to affection for afraid of aim at alarmed at alight from alliance with allot to along with alternative to ambition for angry at antidote to anxiety for apologize to apology for appeal to appetite for apply to approach to approve of apprised of aptitude for argue with arrive at ask about/for assent to associate with assurance of assure of atone for attention to authority on away from backward in bargain with bear with beg for beg of/ beg from believe in belong to beneficial to bereft of beset with beware of bigoted in blame for bless with blow-up boast of born of break out/outbreak breakdown break-in break-up breakthrough brushing down build up busy with call on/at candidate for canvass for capacity for care for/of carry on catching up caution against cautious of cease from charge with check out clamour for clean up coincide with collide with come down commence on comment on common to compare to comparison with compassion for complain of comply with composed of conceal from concede to condemn to confer with confidence in confident of confined to conformity with conform to congratulate on conscious of consent to consist of/in conspicuous for conspire against contemporary with contempt for contended with contrary to contribute to control over conversant with convey to convicted of convince of cope with correspond with

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® Top Careers & You count on craving for crowned with dabble in deal with/in defective in defer to deficient in deliberate on delight in delighted with deliver from demand for depend on dependent on/upon deprive of derogate from derogatory to desire for desirous of despair of desperate of destined to detrimental to deviate from devoted to differ with/from disagree with disastrous to disgusted with dispense with dispose of dissent from dissuade from distrust of distrustful of divert from divide between drenched with dressing down drop down due to dwell on eager to ear for elicit from eligible for embark on emerge from encroach on endow with engaged to enlarge on enquire of enter into entitled to entrust to envious of equal to escape from excel in exemption from experienced in expose to expostulate with fail in faith in faithful to false to familiar with famous for fatal to favor with fearful of feed on feel for fight against fill with fit for fond of fondness for free from full of furnish with get at get over gifted with give away glad of glance at goings on good of/at grapple with grasp at grateful for grateful to greedy of grown up grumble at guilty of heedless of hindrance to hinge on hint at hold up honest in hope for hostile to ignorant of imbued with implicated in impress on/upon impute to indebted to indifferent to indulgent to infatuated with infected with infer from inflict on innocent of insist on inspired with interfere with intimate with intrigue with invite to involved in irrelevant to

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® Top Careers & You jest at join in jump at kind to land in laugh at lead to let down let out liable for lie in liking for listen long for look at loyal to meddle with mobbed by mourn for negligent of notorious for obedient to object to obliged to occupied with occur to offensive to open to operate on overcome with painful to part with partial to passion for pay for peculiar to persist in pertinent to pine for plunge into point at popular with pray to prefer to prepared for pretend to prevail on prevail over previous to prey upon pride in prior to productive of proficient in prohibit from prolong by prompt in prop up protect from protest to proud of provide with pry into put down quarrel with quick at ready for recoil from recover from reduce to refer to refrain from regardless of rejoice at relevant to rely on remonstrate with renowned for repent of replete with repugnant to resolve on responsible to restricted to revert to rich in rid of rule over satisfied with search for sell out send for sensible of set back set up short of show off sick of similar to slave to slip up slow in/at sorry for speak for stick to stipulate stoop to strike at submit to subsist on succumb to sue for sufficient for suitable to superior to supply with sure of surrender to suspicious of sympathize with take over taste of testify to thankful to think of tide over tolerant of touched with trample on/upon

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® Top Careers & You trifle with trust with turn out vain of versed in victim of victory over vie with void of walk out wanting in weary of welcome to wish for withdraw from wonder at worthy of write off write up yearn for yield to

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The teacher asked him that why he was late. The teacher asked him why he was late.

COMMON PHRASAL (PREPOSITION) USAGES at peace with the expense of the head of at the rate of at the risk of by dint of (by means of) by force of by means of by order of by reason of by the side of by virtue of (because of) by/with the help of for (the) love of for lack of for the benefit of for the good of for the purpose of for the sake of in accordance with in addition to in agreement with in aid of in answer to in anticipation of in charge of in combination with in compliance with in conflict with in conjunction with in connection with in consideration of in contrast to/with in defence of in exchange for in honor of in lieu of (instead of) in memory of in need of in obedience to in opposition to in peril of (in danger of) in place of in proportion to in pursuit of in recognition of in relation to in remembrance of in response to in return for in (search of in sight of (able to see) in spite of in support of in the course of in the custody of in the event of in the form of in the habit of in the matter of in the wake of (behind, following) in token of (as a sign of) in/with the hope of on account of on behalf of on the basis of on the chance of on the occasion of on the part of on the strength of (relying upon) on/to the right/to the left of on/under the pretence of to the joy of to the satisfaction of to the surprise of with an eye to (with an intention of)

Conjunction A conjunction is a word that joins two words, phrases, or clauses. Some commonly used conjunctions are: And, but, or, nor, for, yet, so, Joining words: Rakesh and Suresh drafted the blue prints. Joining phrases: During the day and throughout the evening, Andrea worked. Joining clauses: Our sales representative made the sale, and the secretary prepared the papers.

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® Top Careers & You Rule 1. The following conjunctions are used in pairs: Though – yet Hardly – When Scarcely – before or when Such – as Such – that So, as – as As – so Rather, other - than Neither – Nor Either – or Not only – but also One – one’s Whether – or No sooner – than Lest – should Both - and 1. Though Ram played well still he lost the match. (yet) 2. Hardly had he gone out than it started raining. (when) 3. No sooner did he reach the station then train whistled off. (than) Rule 2. Although the conjunctions because, since & for are used to give the reason for an action or situation. There is great difference in their use. (a) Because is generally used when the reason is the most important part

of a sentence. 1. Some people envy me because I am a very successful artist. (b) Since is used when the reason is already known or is less important

than the chief statement. 2. Since you refuse to co-operate, I shall have to take legal steps. (c) 'For' suggests that the reason is given as an afterthought

3. The servant must have opened the box, for no one else had the key.

Some Important Conjunctions are given below: Conjunctions of Place : where, wherever, whatever. Conjunctions of Time : when, while, after, before, as soon

as, no sooner than, till, until, whenever, since.

Conjunctions of Purpose : so that, in order that, lest. Conjunctions of Condition : if, unless, provided that Conjunctions of Concession : though, although, even though, but, however, yet, in spite of Conjunctions of Manner : how Conjunctions of Reason : why, because.

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Article: A, An or The. Most of the time we are confused regarding when do we say; “the man" and when do we say "a man"? Let’s solve this mystery out. The and a/an constitute "articles". We divide them into "definite" and "indefinite" like this:

Articles Definite Indefinite

the a, an

The dictionary meaning of the word "definite" is to be sure, certain. "Definite" refers to something particular. Once you are clear with the meaning of the word; definite, you can easily guess what indefinite means. You are right it’s simply the opposite of definite. It means not sure, not certain. "Indefinite" is something in general. When we are talking about one thing in particular, we use the. When we are talking about one thing in general, we use a or an. Think of an office. In the office there is one boss and hundreds of

workers. So, normally we could say:

I saw the boss in the morning.

I saw a worker in the morning. Look at these examples:

the a, an

The capital of India is Delhi. I was born in a city.

I have found the pen that I lost. He never has an omelet for dinner.

Have you cleaned the bike? We all ordered a drink.

There are six apples in the basket.

We took an umbrella.

Please switch off the fan when you

leave.

Have you got a spoon?

But remember we can use the or a/an for the same word. It depends on the situation.

TIP This little story should

help you understand the

difference between the

and a, an:

A boy and a girl were

walking on the Mall. The

girl saw an ice–cream

parlour and she wanted

to have an ice–cream.

She asked the boy to

buy the ice–cream with

chocolate sauce on it.

He said:

“Do you think the shop

will accept the payment

through credit card? I

don’t have my valet”.

Precise Time Months, Years, Centuries Days and Dates and Long Periods

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