what is a preposition
Preposition is a member of a set of words used in close connection with, and usually before, nouns and pronouns to show their relation to another part of a clause. An example is "off" in "He fell off his bike" and "What did he fall off?"
By the way, My source was my dictionary
I find the dictionary definition of preposition extremely hard to understand, even though I taught parts of speech for many years.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/preposition
The best way to learn prepositions is to memorize a list of common prepositions.
http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/prepositions-list.htm
Then learn to recognize prepositional phrases.
Examples:
of my friends
in the box
out of sight
into trouble
from my sister and me
with Joe, Bill, and Aaron
A preposition is a word that shows the relationship between a noun (or pronoun) and another word in a sentence. It is used to indicate location, time, direction, manner, and other relationships. For example, in the sentence "The cat is on the table," the word "on" is a preposition that shows the relationship between the noun "cat" and "table" - it indicates the location of the cat.
To understand how to identify prepositions, you can follow these steps:
1. Look for words that indicate location or direction, such as "in," "on," "under," "above," "beside," etc.
2. Pay attention to words that express time or position, such as "before," "after," "during," "between," "around," etc.
3. Notice words that indicate manner or how something is done, such as "by," "with," "like," etc.
4. Identify words that show a relationship between other words or phrases in the sentence.
By analyzing the structure and meaning of the sentence, you can identify the word or words that function as prepositions.