Prepositions of Possession

Prepositions of Possession: Preposition is a word that connects various elements of a sentence. To define it: A preposition is a word usually put before a Noun (or a pronoun) to show it’s relation to another element in the sentence. This element could be another noun, adjective or verb. In our previous chapters, we read about the introduction and kinds of Prepositions. Further, we went one step further and dissected each kind one by one, which leads us to our chapter here – Prepositions of Possession.

Prepositions of Possession:

The Possessive form is used in a sentence in context of things that belong to a person or animal. We can also use it to show a connection between things. Some of the most commonly used prepositions of Possession are of, with and to. We will show you a few examples:

This is the house of Mormons.

He’s the boy with the olive sunglasses.

This book is a property of the Half Blood Prince.

The house on the mountain belongs to my grandmother.

She’s the one with the ponytail.

The preposition form words and their usage:

Of: This preposition of possession is usually used for cities, countries, people, and possessive pronouns. Of is placed in a sentence to show possession of a place like a city, country or people or possessive pronouns like mine, yours, etc.

Usual form: Of + noun/possessive pronoun(mine, yours, his, hers)

The preposition of explains to whom the person or an object belongs to. In this case Let’s see a few examples:

Canberra is the capital of  Australia.

This is the house of my uncle.

He is a friend of ours.

Taj Mahal is the finest monument of India.

A friend of  mine had a car accident yesterday night.

With: With is used with objects/materials/animals, accents, and physical characteristics. To fully understand this definition, read the examples below and come back again to this definition to see what we mean:

Usual form: With + adjective/noun

Let’s see a few examples:

I saw a girl with a pink purse.

The boy with the dragon tattoo is sitting by the corner.

The cat with black spots on her tail is my pet.

To: A preposition that shows possession, this is usually used in the expression “belong to“.

Usual form: To + object pronouns(it, him, her)

Let’s see a few examples:

This race course belongs to the Government.

This garden belongs to my old aunt Mercy.

Now, don’t stop here. Look around you and use these prepositions in the form of possession right away. One quick tip is that notice how most of these sentences are passive in voice. Go on then! Have fun with Grammar!