4.2: Preposition 介詞

Prepositions are always called the little monsters of English, they are especially difficult for second language learners as there are no obvious rules to learn.

介詞是英文中的’小魔怪’，因為沒有明顯的規則去學習它們。

So, what is a preposition?

甚麼是介詞？

A preposition is a word, or, in some instances, a word group that relates one sentence element (e.g. an adjective) to another sentence element (e.g. a noun).

介詞是一個或一組字，他們的作用是把一個句子中的元素與另一個元素連繫起來。

e.g. The little prince was very fond of sunsets. (Preposition ‘of’ relates the adjective ‘fond’ to the noun ‘sunsets’.

Prepositions are especially difficult for Chinese learners, as we do not need them to relate sentence elements together in Chinese. For instance,

對中國人而言，介詞是一個比較難明白的概念，因為中文不需要介詞來把不同的字詞連繫起來。

小王子十分喜愛日落。

Sometimes, prepositions will appear together with a noun, a verb or an adjective. In these cases, we call them prepositional phrases, e.g. at dawn, wait for, fond of.

有些時候，介詞會跟名詞、動詞或形容詞連在一起，這時我們會稱這一組詞為短語介詞。

Today, we are going to focus on the prepositions of place and prepositions of time.

Day 1: Prepositions of Place and Prepositions of Time

和時間及地方有關的介詞

Prepositions of Place和地方有關的介詞

Examples:

1.                             The ring is in the box.

2.                           My books are on the desk.

3.                           We jumped into the pool.

4.                           She hid herself under the bed.

5.                           She stands beside me.

6.                           He sits next to me.

7.                           We put her jacket behind the cupboard.

8.                           Holland is a country which is below sea level.

9.                           This result is above average.

10.                       He jumped over the hurdle with ease.

11.                         She is at the side of the room.

Prepositions of Time　和時間有關的介詞

At is used for a point of time.

In is used for a period of time.

On is used for a day.

·        Examples:   

1.                             He leaves home at 7 o’clock very morning.

2.                           He leaves home in the morning.

3.                           He leaves home on Mondays./He left on Monday morning.