Prepositions and articles: Class 9 English

Key points

A preposition is a word placed before a noun or pronoun to show how it is related to another word in the sentence. The noun or pronoun after it is called its object. In 'The book is on the shelf' the preposition on links book and shelf. In English the pronoun after a preposition takes the object form: 'with him', 'for us', 'to them'.

Prepositions of time:

• at is used for clock time and points in the day: at 5 o'clock, at noon, at night, at sunrise.
• on is used for days and dates: on Friday, on 14 August, on my birthday.
• in is used for months, years, seasons and long periods: in March, in 2024, in summer, in the morning.
• for gives a length of time: for two hours. since gives the starting point: since Monday, since 2019.
• by means not later than: Submit the form by Thursday. during means within a period: He slept during the film.

Prepositions of place and direction:

• at is used for a point or an address: at the gate, at the bus stop.
• in is used for enclosed space and larger areas: in the room, in Karachi, in Pakistan.
• on is used for a surface: on the wall, on the table.
• under, below, over, above, beside, between, among, behind and in front of show position.
• to shows movement towards a place: go to school. into shows entering: She walked into the hall. from shows the starting point: from Multan to Lahore.
• across, through, along, around and towards show the path of movement.

Some pairs cause confusion. Between is used for two people or things: 'Share the sweets between the two brothers.' Among is used for more than two: 'Share the sweets among the children.' In shows position inside, while into shows movement from outside to inside. Beside means next to, while besides means in addition to. Beside the road stands a tree. Besides English, she speaks Urdu and Punjabi.

Many verbs, nouns and adjectives are followed by a fixed preposition. Learn them as pairs. Examples: depend on, rely on, agree with a person, agree to a plan, listen to, look at, look for (search), look after (care for), wait for, laugh at, suffer from, believe in. Adjectives: good at, afraid of, fond of, interested in, proud of, jealous of, married to, different from, angry with a person, angry at a thing. Nouns: reason for, cause of, respect for, cure for.

A preposition can end a sentence in everyday English: 'This is the pen I wrote with.' In formal writing it often comes before the relative pronoun: 'This is the pen with which I wrote.' Both are correct, but the second is preferred in careful writing.

Articles are the small words a, an and the. They are a kind of adjective. A and an are indefinite articles because they refer to any one member of a group. The is the definite article because it refers to one particular thing already known to both speaker and listener.

Use a before a word that begins with a consonant sound and an before a word that begins with a vowel sound. The rule depends on sound, not spelling. We say a university and a European tour, because these words begin with the sound 'yoo'. We say an hour and an honest man, because the h is silent. We say an MP and an X-ray, because the letters begin with vowel sounds.

Use the in these cases:

• When the thing has already been mentioned: 'I bought a bag. The bag is blue.'
• When there is only one of its kind: the sun, the moon, the earth, the sky.
• Before rivers, seas, oceans, mountain ranges and groups of islands: the Indus, the Arabian Sea, the Himalayas, the Maldives.
• Before superlatives and ordinals: the tallest boy, the first day.
• Before a whole class when we speak in general: the lion is a wild animal.
• Before names of holy books and some titles: the Quran, the Prime Minister.

Articles are not used in these cases:

• Before plural and uncountable nouns used in a general sense: Books are useful. Milk is healthy.
• Before names of people, most countries, cities and single mountains: Ahmed, Pakistan, Lahore, K2.
• Before languages, subjects and games: She studies Urdu. He plays cricket.
• Before meals and after by in expressions of travel: have breakfast, go by bus.
• In fixed phrases about places of routine use: go to school, go to bed, go to hospital as a patient.

Study tip: Prepositions cannot be learned from rules alone, so keep a short list of fixed pairs such as afraid of and depend on and revise it daily. For articles, apply two checks before you write: is the noun already known or unique, and does the next word begin with a vowel sound? These two checks solve most gap-filling questions.

Definitions and flashcards

Say the meaning first, then open the card to check.

Short questions with model answers

These are the kind of questions asked for 2, 3 and 5 marks. Try each one before opening the answer.

Common mistakes

• Choosing a or an by the spelling of the next word instead of its sound, such as writing 'a hour' or 'an university'.
• Putting the before names of single people, cities and most countries, as in 'the Lahore'.
• Omitting the article before a singular countable noun, as in 'I saw elephant' instead of 'I saw an elephant'.
• Using wrong dependent prepositions, such as 'depend of' instead of 'depend on' or 'different than' instead of 'different from'.
• Mixing up in, on and at for time, writing 'on the morning' or 'in Friday'.

Practise this chapter

Practice questions and timed test Printable worksheet