Prepositions of Manner: How to Describe Actions in English

Prepositions are nothing but bridges. The job of bridges is to connect to different places. The preposition does the job of linking words in sentences. Without prepositions, sentences may remain separated from each other. Prepositions do the job of connecting nouns, phrases, and pronouns to different words in the sentence.

Let's try to understand prepositions with the help of a few examples:

1. The food is on the dining table. Raman is very fond of ice cream.

2. The man jumped off the cliff.

3. The mother divided the food between her two kids.

4. Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first ascenders atop Mount Everest.

5. The paper plane flew above the ground.

6. Vishnu danced with Jyotsna. I wake up every day at 12:30 pm.

7. He will come back from Germany in a month.

As you can observe from the above-cited examples, prepositions typically establish the link between nouns, pronouns, and other words. Answering questions about where, when, and how? Now the prepositions are multi-faceted. They can be used in a variety of situations.

A preposition shows where an action took place, when an action took place and how it took place. Preposition of manner shows us how a particular thing has happened. The preposition of manner is also known as a preposition of styles. Prepositions are essentially joining words in the sentence. They enter nouns, phrases, or pronouns to other terms in a particular sentence. The preposition of manners consists of words like on, by, with, like, etc.

Prepositions of Manner

Prepositions of form- By, With. These have the same purpose in the sentence but do not possess the same meaning. Both of them tend to exhibit the form of nouns. They usually provide an insight into what was used to make a specific thing happen.

Let's look at a few examples:

1. The gun will kill him. (the gun is going to be the reason for his death)

2. He faced the enemy with courage. (he was courageous when he met his enemy)

3. Ayush left the class in a flash. (Ayush was in a hurry when he left the class) Prepositions are also used to answer the 'how' question. Here are some other examples.

i. Ramesh lost 2 kgs by going on an entirely vegetarian diet. (how did Ramesh lose 2 kgs? by eating a vegetarian diet)

ii. Vishnu and Kapil went through the storm with courage. (how did Vishnu and Kapil go through the storm? with courage)

Preposition of Method

As if, as, on, like. These prepositions show the method with which a particular thing was performed.

Let's understand this with a few examples:

1. John spoke as if he was the leader of the group. (in the manner of the leader)

2. Karan acted like there was no other alternative. (in a manner that there was no other alternative)

3. I have worked as a scriptwriter and cinematographer. (in the capacity of a scriptwriter and cinematographer)

Different Kinds of Prepositions

Explanation of kinds of prepositions is a little bit tricky as there are not many rules. Let's get introduced to different kinds:

1. Simple Prepositions:

These include 'at, by, for, of, in, of, out, till, with, to, up, through.

a. The blue whale dived back into the water, giving rise to a huge splash.

b. I am from Honduras.

c. Vishnu is here till his sister gets into college.

d. He cannot shine by his light.

2. Compound Prepositions:

Prefix + noun/adjective/adverb – usually a=no and be=byAbove, across, around, along,

below, about, besides, beneath, beyond, between, outside, without, within.

a. According to the director, he is a good actor.

b. The floor was clean aside from a few scattered pieces of glass.

c. You should have gone west instead of going east.

3. Double Prepositions:

Simple prepositions are used two times.

a. My daughter jumped from behind the sofa to scare me.

b. As per the meteorology department, it is not going to rain today.

4. Participle Prepositions:

In this Verbs are the one which acts as a preposition. They usually end in -ing.

a. Apart from a few minor errors, the game went smoothly.

b. Everybody remained silent during the presentation.

5.  Phrase Prepositions:

a. My sister collected the prize money on behalf of my little brother.

b. Despite being the best football team, we were not able to register a win.

c. Owing to her brother's bad health, she retired from the job.

d. She fought valiantly on behalf of her country.

e. As a consequence of his health, he could not take part in the competition.

Prepositions of Place

Preposition of place generally tells us about an object or a person about another object or a person.

Some commonly used prepositions of place are:

Between, behind, by, in front of, and next to.

Examples:

a. He found the gap right between the two fielders.

b. The culprit was standing right in front of me.

c. The postman is right by the door.

d. I will be right by your side during these difficult times.

Rules of Preposition

It is said that if you need punctuation in your sentences then you must follow the rules that are given by the academic experts on different topics. To get perfection in preposition sentences, you will have to follow 6 simple rules and they are as follows:-

1. To create a sentence with prepositions, you must have an object.

2. The object must be placed before the proposition.

3. The pronoun that is following the preposition must be in object form.

4. The Preposition’s form

5. There is a difference between prepositions "to" and infinitives "to". Do not get confused between them.

6. Make sure to remember that a word can never be an object for prepositions. 

Tips For Prepositions

There are more than 150 prepositions that are introduced to us and this is still a very small number as it increases with time and with knowledge.

• The best way to know more about prepositions is by looking for them in the dictionary and reading more and more English sentences to figure out the different prepositions in them

• Prepositions are generally used in phrases therefore you can find it easily by looking at different phrases.

• There are many different ways to memorize prepositions and some of them include self-test, written notes, creating meaningful groups, using distributive practice, etc.

• There are different prepositions for different age groups as you will learn different prepositions in class 9th, class 10th, class 11th, and soon.

Uses of Prepositions

Prepositions can be used with different connecting words to make new phrases and some of them are as follows:-

Prepositional phrases as adjectives- we have all learned that adjectives can be used with nouns and pronouns to give more details about certain things and if we take the help of prepositions we will be able to make more precise and interesting sentences out of it.

Example:

a. Rohan is only one voice among many, but it will be heard.

b. The extra book is in the cupboard under the bed.

c. Saul, unlike many others, will remain there.

d. The car beside the blue one is the one I want to buy.

e. The area outside the boundary is dangerous to cross.

f. All beds below the deck are ready.

g. Tell me the story about the dragon slayer.

Prepositional Phrases as Adverbs- Just like adjectives that modify nouns the same way adverbs modify verbs to frame proper sentences. The same manner of prepositional words can be used to modify by giving extra details. For Example:

1. Put the white bouquet on a high shelf.

2. Our team won against all odds.

3. The tiger crept over the grass.

4. We will order burgers during halftime.

5. I will climb up the highest mountain one day.

6. I love to take my car off the road.

7. The baby napped well into the night.

How to use Prepositions?

According to the study, prepositions are used in so many places, especially if you are making structured English sentences more formally.  For every other situation, there are so many that can be used and each one has its importance. To know more about the values of all the different kinds of prepositions, you need to get a more precise idea about how many prepositions exist in English. The more precise places where prepositions are used are as follows:-

1. In time expression- it is used to put pressure on a specific time or day.

2. Places- it is used to put pressure on the places or any area that you want to mention.

3. Movement- sometimes people confuse on with onto so preposition is used to signify that something is already in position.

4. On foot- it is an exception to show that something is starting with "by" in the sentence.

5. On balance- this is used to give a summary of the situation.

6. On condition- this is used to make up sentences where something must be done for something else to happen.

7. On one's own- the word itself says that it is used for something that is done by yourself.

8. On the contrary- this is used to link two different sentences by giving the reference of the first one.

9. On the other hand- this word is used as a comparison with something that already exists.

10. On the way- on the way is used to show that something is located somewhere else and moving towards a path.

11. On the whole- it is used to summarize or to come to an end of a discussion or an argument.

12. On-time/ in time- this means that you have arrived at a certain point in time as you agreed to.