Writing Tips
http://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca
Liens de la barre de menu commune
Liens institutionnels
-
Bureau de la traduction
Portail linguistique du Canada
-
TERMIUM Plus®
-
Index P
- Pacific Daylight Time
- Pacific Standard Time
- paed-
- paedo-
- palaeo-
- paleo-
- pan-
- Panjabi
- para-
- parallel between
- parallelism in headings
- parallelism with correlative conjunctions
- parallelism with items in a series
- parallel to
- parallel with
- Paralympic Winter Games
- paralyse
- paralyze
- parentheses
- Parsi
- participle
- participle phrase
- particular to
- Pashto
- Pashtun
- passive voice
- past history
- past tradition
- patho-
- patri-
- patro-
- PDT
- PE
- peculiar to
- ped-
- pedal
- peddle
- pedi-
- pedo- (1)
- pedo- (2)
- P.E.I.
- penta-
- per
- per-
- per cent
- percent
- per-cent
- percentage
- perfectly legitimate
- peri-
- period
- period of time
- permanent resident
- perpendicular to
- perpendicular with
- Persian (1)
- Persian (2)
- persist in
- Perso-
- person
- personal
- personal pronouns
- personification
- personnel
- perspective (from the)
- petr-
- petri-
- phase
- PhD
- Ph.D.
- phenom
- phenomena
- phenomenon
- phleb-
- phosphorous
- phosphorus
- photo-
- photocopy
- physio-
- phyto-
- picto-
- Pilipino
- plan
- planning
- planning in advance
- plug
- plurals of compounds
- plurals of family names
- pluri-
- p.m.
- pneumo-
- poet
- poetess
- point at
- point out
- point to
- poisonous
- poly-
- Poppy Day
- possessive with gerunds
- post
- post-
- post on
- post to
- pound sign
- practicable
- practical
- practically
- practice
- practise
- pre
- pre-
- precedents
- preceding
- precise
- precision
- predicate
- predict
- predict in advance
- preface
- preferable
- preference for
- preference in
- prefer one to the other
- preoccupied about
- preoccupied by
- preoccupied with
- preplan
- preplanning
- prepositional phrase
- prepositions
- prerequisite
- presently
- present to
- present with
- preside at
- preside over
- presume
- pretence
- pretense
- preventable
- prevent from
- preventible
- prevent to
- previous
- previously listed
- previously listed above
- Prince Edward Island
- Prince Edward Islander
- principal
- principle
- prior
- prise
- prize
- pro-
- procedure
- proceed against
- proceed to
- proceed with
- process
- prohibit from
- pronoun agreement: collective nouns
- pronoun agreement: compound antecedents with and
- pronoun agreement: compound antecedents with or
- pronoun agreement: gender
- pronoun agreement: indefinite pronouns
- pronoun agreement: number
- pronoun agreement: person
- property owner
- prophecy
- prophesy
- proportional(y)
- proportionate(ly)
- provide a description
- provide against
- provide for
- provide with
- proximity
- pseudo-
- PST
- psycho-
- public service: capitalization rules (Linguistic recommendation from the Translation Bureau)
- punctuation: spacing
- Punjabi
- pursuance (in)
- put in place
- put into place
- pyro-
Divulgation proactive
Avis important
L'outil Writing Tips a été archivé et ne sera plus mis à jour jusqu'à son retrait définitif.
Pour obtenir notre contenu le plus à jour, veuillez consulter Writing Tips Plus, un outil combinant le contenu des outils Writing Tips et The Canadian Style. N'oubliez pas de modifier vos favoris!
La zone de recherche et les fonctionnalités
prepositions
A preposition is a kind of connecting word: it joins a noun, a pronoun or any nominal to another word in a sentence and shows the relationship between them. (A nominal is a word or word group acting as a noun.)
For example, here is a sentence containing the preposition on:
- Bart ate the cookies on the table.
Here, the preposition on is connecting the noun table with the word cookies and showing the relationship between them.
In this case, the preposition shows a relationship of location, since on tells us where the cookies are located in relationship to the table. They’re not over the table, or under the table, or beside the table; they’re on the table. (Or at least they were, before Bart ate them.)
Relationships shown by prepositions
Most of our common prepositions show relationships of time, location or direction:
- Time: after, at, before, during, since, till, until
- Location: above, against, among, around, at, behind, below, beneath, beside, between, beyond, by, in, inside, near, on, outside, over, past, throughout, under, upon, with, within
- Direction: across, along, around, down, from, into, off, onto, out, through, to, toward, up
Object of a preposition
A preposition is normally followed by a noun, a pronoun or a nominal (a word or word group acting as a noun). This word or word group is called the object of the preposition. For example, in the phrase on the table, the noun table is the object of the preposition on.
Prepositional phrase
A preposition combined with one or more objects gives a prepositional phrase. If there are any modifiers (adjectives and adverbs) between the preposition and its object, they are part of the phrase as well.
Here are some examples of prepositional phrases:
- beside the smouldering fire [preposition beside + modifiers + object fire (noun)]
- with swords and bayonets [preposition with + 2 objects: swords and bayonets (nouns)]
- between you and me [preposition between + 2 objects: you and me (pronouns)]
- without opening the letter [preposition without + object opening the letter* (nominal)]
* Opening is a gerund (a verb form ending in -ing that acts as a noun). Opening the letter is a gerund phrase that acts as a noun and serves as the object of the preposition without.
Preposition versus adverb
Many of the words included in the above lists of prepositions can be used as adverbs as well. In that case, they will not take an object:
- preposition + object: Marjorie raced past the startled security guard.
- adverb: Marjorie raced past.
Wiffaboot
Wiffaboot is a word formed from the first letters of the nine most common prepositions in the English language: with, in, for, from, at, by, of, on and to.
Since most of the prepositions we use every day belong to this short list, if you can remember wiffaboot, you’re off to a good start!
© Services publics et Approvisionnement Canada, 2024
TERMIUM Plus®, la banque de données terminologiques et linguistiques du gouvernement du Canada
Outils d'aide à la rédaction – Writing Tips
Un produit du Bureau de la traduction
