Picking the right preposition can be tricky. After all, there are so many to choose from! But prepositions can make a big difference to the meaning of a sentence, so it’s important to know how these terms work if you want to avoid grammatical errors in your writing.
Here, then, we look more closely at three common terms: ‘as’, ‘at’ and ‘by’.
The word ‘as’ has many functions. In fact, it isn’t even a preposition most of the time! Usually, it is either an adverb (when making comparisons) or a conjunction (when linking clauses in a sentence).
However, it can also be a preposition, where it always comes before a noun. In this case, it is used to express the function or character of something:
Monique works as a proofreader.
Alan was difficult as a child.
In the first sentence above, ‘as’ points to the type of work Monique does. In the second, ‘as’ tells us the time (and state of being) during which Alan was difficult.
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The good news is that ‘at’ is always a preposition, so on that level it is simpler than ‘as’. Unfortunately, it also has many uses as a preposition, so it is still tricky!
We won’t list all of its functions here, but some of the most important include showing:
Most of the time, then, ‘at’ indicates a location, position or state of some kind.
Finally, we have ‘by’, which is almost always a preposition. This term has many uses, too. Nevertheless, we can summarise some of the most common, which include indicating:
As with ‘at’, the variety of uses here can seem confusing. But if you keep the definitions above in mind, and practise using different prepositions, you should get the hang of them in no time!
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