English Grammar prepositions and articles

Prepositions

A preposition is a word that tells you where or when something is in relation to something else, for example:

• after
• before
• on
• under
• inside
• outside

After walking for miles she rested on a small hill.

After tells you when she rested and on tells you where she rested.

Articles

An article is a word that tells you whether a noun is specific or general, for example a, an, the.

She took a big suitcase on holiday.

A tells you that the noun suitcase is general. It's not talking about any particular suitcase, it's any old big suitcase.

She took the big suitcase on holiday.

The tells you it was a particular suitcase. Perhaps she has a big suitcase and a small one. She took the big suitcase.