preposition
A part of speech that precede a noun, phrase or pronoun, thereby describing relationships in a sentence in respect to:
- space/direction (below, in, on, to, under ‒ for example, She sat on the table.)
- time (after, before, since ‒ for example, I will go to the beach after lunch.)
- those that do not relate to space or time (of, besides, except, despite ‒ for example, He ate all the beans except the purple ones.)
Prepositions usually combine with a noun group or phrase to form a prepositional phrase (for example, in the office, besides these two articles.).