What's a PREPOSITION?

Prepositions are generally used to show the relationship between its object and other words in the sentence.

— Secara umum PREPOSISI digunakan untuk menunjukkan hubungan antara objek dan kata lainnya dalam kalimat.

The following show preposition usage and the relationships of prepositions with the other words in the sentences they are in.

— Di bawah ini ditunjukkan kegunaan preposisi dan hubungannya dengan kata lainnya dalam kalimat.

PLACE — in, on, under, over, near, beside, etc.

• The books are on the table.

• She hang her jacket in the closet.

DIRECTION — to, toward, into, through, etc.

• The football player ran through the stadium to the other end.

TIME — in, on, at, etc.

• We can meet at five o’clock.

• I don’t work on Fridays.

AGENT — by

• This book was written by a famous author.

• Life on the Mississippi was written by Mark Twain.

INSTRUMENT — by, with

• He opened the bottle cap with his teeth. (instrument or tool)

• She came by bus. (transportation)

— We use BY + no article for communication and transportation.

by phone, by radio, by bus, by car

ACCOMPANIMENT — with

• I like spaghetti with white sauce.

• Barry went to Staten Island with his wife.

PURPOSE — for, to

• He went to the store for milk and bread.

• I joined Learn English with Demi to learn English.

PARTITION, POSSESSION — of

• They painted the front of the building white and green.

• He broke the top of the table with his fist.

MEASURE — by, of

• Please buy a quart of milk from the market.

• We buy the olive oil by the 16 kilo container.


INTO VS. IN TO

How does one know when to use INTO or IN TO?

One of the main uses of the preposition INTO is to indicate movement toward the inside of a place.

Examples:

• The children jumped into the lake for a swim.

• She put the IPod into her pocket.

IN TO is the adverb IN followed by the preposition TO.

Examples:

• He turned his paper in to the teacher.

  [turned in (phrasal verb) = submitted]

• The administrators wouldn’t give in to the demands of the protesters.

  [give in (phrasal verb) = surrender]

Now, let’s see if you understand this lesson by doing this exercise:

1. As a child, I was too afraid to go (into / in to) the Halloween haunted house.

2. I’m going to turn the wallet I found (into / in to) the police.

3. If your battery is running low, you’ll need to plug your power cord (into / in to) the socket.

4. I am going (into / in to) have a few drinks.

5. After a long night, she crawled (into / in to) her bed to go to sleep.