Take the Preposition Quiz!

 

Take a page of your writing, grab a pen or a pencil, and circle the prepositions.  What is a preposition?

Preposition:      A word that combines with a noun or pronoun to form a phrase (e.g., of, in, on, for, about, to, by, with, over, between, onto, regarding, through, during).  See The Merriam-Webster Dictionary 411 (Merriam-Webster 1998).

Prepositions are easy to find, as they are usually small words in long sentences.  If you need a sample, click here.

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Grading Your Quiz

What does your page look like?  If you see a sea of circles (i.e., 3 or more prepositions per sentence), you likely are breaking several writing style principles.  Prepositions are enablers.  Writers use prepositions to break several writing style principles, including:

Avoiding Nominalizations: verbs in noun form (e.g., documentation of v. to document);

Avoiding Complex Prepositions: phrases that begin and end with a preposition (e.g., for purposes of v. regarding or for); and

Avoiding Unnecessary Prepositional Phrases: prepositional phrases that could be single-word or double-word adjectives (e.g., accounts of foreign banks v. foreign bank accounts).

Tax accountants and attorneys are some of the worst offenders, given the antiquated statutory and regulatory language as subject matters (e.g., Title 26 of the U.S. Code). 

Limiting prepositions can improve your writing.  For more information, see To The Point.  To The Point has five issues that complement this quiz, including Issue 5 on the over-use of simple prepositions.