Did you know that there are prepositions for almost everything? These grammatical structures help us connect ideas or phrases, and their use depends on their functions, such as time, place, among others. In this post, we will study the “prepositions of movement”.
How do we use the prepositions of movement?
As we mentioned in the title, these types of prepositions are used to support verbs that express movement. How? By indicating where the action is taking place. In other words, they are used to indicate the movement action done by a subject or thing, from one place to another.
These prepositions are most commonly used after the movement verb that we use in our sentences.
Do you want to learn some action verbs?
The most common ones are: go, walk, run, and drive. These actions imply that the subject is moving from one place to another.
These are the most common prepositions of movement that you can learn, practice and use:
As we told you in other posts, the prepositions are grammatical structures that are not only used in English, but in every kind of language in the world, and they even possess the same categories. That is why we have a table for you to learn the meaning and use of the prepositions of movement.
Let’s begin!
Preposition | Use | Examples |
across | Movement of something from one side to another. It also means through or via. | There’s a bridge across the street |
around | Located or situated in both sides of something, or close by. | I was dancing around the room |
away from | It means that the subject has a certain amount of distance from a place, and we can also define it as ‘from here to another place’. | I am away from home |
down | It means that something feel from a high point to a lower one. Or in other words it means that it is heading to a lower position. | The moon went down |
from | It indicates the moment in space or time when something starts, and when it comes to prepositions of movement it means the starting point of a movement. | You walk from home to your office every day |
into | It expresses an action movement or action with the result that someone or something becomes enclosed or surrounded by something else. | She got into her car and shut the door |
off | To get away from a place, and in certain occasions it means to get out or turn “off (stop working)” something. | The sunglasses fell off the table |
on to, onto | It is a movement preposition that implies a change of level, or the movement of the subject to a higher surface. | They went onto the train |
over | This preposition is used when you want to indicate that the subject moved to a higher surface, on top of or above a surface. | They are flying over the forest |
past | It indicates the movement of passing in front of something or shifting from one position to another that is farther away, in other words, from one place past another. | Past the school and the store is on the right |
to | In this context of prepositions of movement, it expresses the final destination of an action. | They were brought to safety |
through | It is used to indicate the movement from one side and out of the other side in a closed space. | The dog entered through an open window |
under | This preposition indicates a movement that extends directly below something. | The mouse ran under the table |
up | It indicates a movement that is done from an inferior point to a higher one. | I love running up mountains |
As you can see, some prepositions are not only applied from movement but for other situations as well, and in fact, you can find them in our list of prepositions of time, space and others.
The good thing is that you can use these prepositions to accompany the movement verbs and that is why we call them prepositions of movement. We hope that this post has been helpful for your learning process and to expand your vocabulary.
Remember that we can also help you with your Aptis tests, and with developing your grammar, vocabulary, and much more. If you have any doubts, do not hesitate to contact us.
