Prepositions tell relationship of the persons, places things, or ideas on both sides of these words.

While I don't recall all the grammar I learned in school, I do remember that the preposition was viewed as a lowly part of speech. I personally think that it's a very important part of speech because the prepositions tell relationship.

Each preposition has its own unique way to indicate the time, space or logical relationship of its object to something else in the sentence.

Games that Trainers Play

With school behind me and my career ahead of me, I was often faced with several games that trainers play to further reinforce the unimportance of the preposition.

One game is a neatly-typed paragraph on an overhead slide with "of" at the end of one line and repeated at the beginning of the next line, with the question coming from the trainer, "what's wrong with this paragraph?" The purpose, of course, is to show that readers rarely see the "of" at all, and certainly not that it has been repeated.

Another game also includes a paragraph, with the trainer asking how many words are in the paragraph, hoping that most people will skip over most or all the prepositions. And, yes, most people do omit the prepositions in their count.

Respect for Prepositions

Well, I write a lot. And I have to tell you that I often try multiple prepositions to find just the right one to convey my meaning. Some of my writing is intended to be read, some to be heard.

In a Guided Meditation CD ("Confidence of Feeling Good") that I produced several years ago, I used multiple prepositions to guide listeners to focus on their breath. This is said very slowly for the listener to feel the energy. Here's an excerpt:

Relax, once again, into your breath. ... Give your full attention to your breath. ... Feel yourself moving with your breath, ... flowing in, flowing out. ... Breathing in, breathing out. ... Notice whatever you notice about your breath. ...

I'm not going to ask you to count all the prepositions, I promise! In the above example, notice the relationship of "you" and "your breath." Notice also, that each phrase has a different nuance depending on the chosen preposition. Prepositions tell relationship.

Common Prepositions

The most common prepositions are about, above, across, after, against, along, among, around, at, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, besides, between, beyond, by, down, during, except, for, from, in, inside, into, like, near, of, off, on, onto, out, outside, over, through, throughout, till, to, toward, under, underneath, until, up, upon, with, without.

Protocol is Helpful; Conveying Meaning is More Important

You may have learned, as I did, that ending a sentence with a preposition is a serious breach of grammatical etiquette. Although a remedy is often easy, the results sometimes produce a clumsy sentence, especially when expressed verbally.

Those who dislike the rule against ending a sentence with a preposition are fond of recalling Churchill's rejoinder: "That is nonsense up with which I shall not put." And you may also have heard the child's complaint: "What did you bring that book that I don't like to be read to out of up for?"

How do Prepositions Tell Relationship for You?

So, today, what are you about? How do you relate to the other persons, places, things, and ideas in your life?