Verbs are doing words. A verb can express:
- A physical action (e.g., to swim, to write, to climb).
- A mental action (e.g., to think, to guess, to consider).
- A state of being (e.g., to be, to exist, to appear).
A preposition is a word which precedes a noun (or a pronoun) to show the noun's (or the pronoun's) relationship to another word in the sentence. (The word preposition comes from the idea of being positioned before. It is not true to say that a preposition always precedes a noun or a pronoun, but it does most of the time.)
Prepositions cause a great deal of confusion for students.Here we will explain the correct usage of some common prepositions.
EXCEPT AND ACCEPT:
The words except and accept are often confused.
Except is a preposition. It means ‘not including’.
Everybody came except John. (John didn’t come.)
Accept, on the other hand, is a verb.
I accept this award with great pleasure.
A preposition should be followed by a noun that acts as its object. A verb, too, can be followed by a noun or noun phrase that acts as its object. However, verbs and prepositions have very different grammatical properties. Note that a verb does not have to take an object all the time. Verbs that do not take objects are called intransitive verbs. A preposition, on the other hand, needs an object.
PAST AND PASSED:
The word past can be used as a preposition. Passed, on the other hand, is a verb.
He passed his test.
The word passed can also be used to refer to the act of distributing an item.
She passed the salt.
The word past can be used as a preposition, and an adverb.
As a preposition
It is past your bedtime.
I went past his house.
Note that when past is used as a preposition, it will be followed by a noun.
As an adverb
An old man walked past.
When past is used as an adverb, it is not followed by a noun.
INTO
Into is a preposition. It is usually written as one word.
King Midas could turn everything he touched into gold.