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Prepositions are used in English to express spatial or temporal relations for things. Some of the most common prepositions in English are on, in, under, before, after, for, from and with. One of the most important things to remember about prepositions is that they must be followed by a noun. For example :
• “After school I usually go straight home and have dinner.”
Our preposition in this sentence is “after” and our noun is “school”. So we have done well this time.
Another way to create a noun is to use a gerund. A gerund is a noun that we make by putting the letters “ing” at the end of a verb. For example, if we want to use the verb “make” after a preposition we must change it into a gerund and it becomes “making”. For example
• “Before making dinner, I always wash my hands.”
In this sentence our preposition is “before” and we have created a noun by changing the verb make to making. We must remember that we can never follow a preposition with an infinitive. For example, we cannot say “I am really into to run”. We must say “I am really into running”.
So again, we must always follow a preposition with either a noun or a gerund.
K. Charles
Mamen has a degree in History from the University of Valladolid. Her passions include literature, cinema and opera. Mamen has worked as a Culture Technician, a Performing Arts programmer, in the field of archaeology, and she has also been involved in local development since she was very young.
She decided to change course a few years ago, when she settled in Barcelona to begin a new chapter of her professional life.
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