Prepositions, conjunctions and phrasal verbs

Why it matters

Small words decide whether a sentence is right or wrong: "caught at 2 a.m." is correct, "caught in 2 a.m." is not.

• A preposition is a word placed before a noun or pronoun to show its relation to another word: time (at 6 p.m.), place (in the room), direction (towards the gate), cause (because of rain) or means (by bus).
• A conjunction is a joining word. It links words, phrases or clauses: and, but, because, although, unless, either…or.
• A phrasal verb is a verb + a small particle (up, off, out, into, after…) that together give a new meaning: call off = cancel, look into = investigate.

In the English part of the Constable written test, these three areas are tested in fill-in-the-blank, spot-the-error, sentence-improvement and meaning-of-the-phrase questions. Most questions test one fixed rule or pair, so they are quick marks once learnt.

Core concept

Level 1 — Prepositions of time and place

Time: at → on → in (small to big)

Preposition	Used with	Examples
at	an exact time or point	at 7 o'clock, at noon, at midnight, at night
on	days and dates	on Monday, on 15 August, on Republic Day, on Sunday morning
in	months, years, seasons, parts of the day, long periods	in June, in 1947, in summer, in the morning

since / for / from

• since + a point of time (when it started), usually with the perfect tense: He has worked here since 2015 / since Monday.
• for + a length of time: He has worked here for six years.
• from + a starting point, often with to/till: The office is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

by / till (until)

• by = not later than: Submit the form by Friday.
• till / until = continuing up to that time: The shop stays open till 9 p.m.

on time / in time

• on time = exactly at the fixed time (punctual).
• in time = early enough (before it is too late): The ambulance arrived in time to save him.

Place

Preposition	Idea	Examples
at	a point or a specific spot	at the bus stop, at the police station, at the gate
in	inside an area or space	in the room, in Mumbai, in India, in the car
on	on a surface or line; on public transport	on the table, on the wall, on the bus, on the train

Movement and position pairs

• into (movement inside) vs in (position): He jumped into the well. / He was standing in the water.
• across (from one side to the other of a flat surface) vs through (inside something with sides): walk across the road, drive through the tunnel.
• between two people/things; among three or more (the rule examiners follow): Divide the sweets between the two boys / among the five boys.
• between … and is a fixed preposition pair (never between … to): between 5 and 6 p.m.
• beside = next to; besides = in addition to: He sat beside me. Besides Hindi, she knows Tamil.
• by for the doer, with for the tool: The lock was broken by the thief with a hammer.
• Transport: by bus/train/car (no article), but on foot.

Level 2 — Fixed prepositions (verb/adjective + preposition)

Many words always take one particular preposition. These must be learnt as pairs.

of	to	in	on	with	from	for
afraid of	prefer X to Y	interested in	depend on	angry with (a person)	different from	famous for
proud of	senior / junior to	believe in	insist on	agree with (a person)	suffer from	responsible for
aware of	superior / inferior to	succeed in	congratulate on	deal with	prevent from	apologise for
accused of	addicted to	confidence in	comment on	charged with (a crime)	refrain from	arrested for
consist of	agree to (a proposal)			familiar with (a thing)		wait for
guilty of	pay attention to			cope with

Words that take NO preposition (a very common error area): discuss (not discuss about), enter a room (not enter into a room), reach the place (not reach to), resemble, marry (not marry with), attack, order (not order for), request (as a verb), lack (as a verb), comprise (not comprise of; but consist of).

Two more rules

1. A pronoun after a preposition takes the object form: between you and me, with him, for them.
2. A verb after a preposition takes the -ing form: He is fond of reading. I look forward to meeting you. (Here to is a preposition, so it is to meeting, not to meet.)

Level 2 — Conjunctions

Coordinating conjunctions join two equal parts. Remember FANBOYS: For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So.

Subordinating conjunctions join a dependent clause to a main clause: because, since, as, although, though, if, unless, until, when, while, whereas, so that, as soon as.

Correlative conjunctions always come in fixed pairs. Changing the partner is an error.

Correct pair	Example
either … or	Either pay the fine or go to court.
neither … nor	He neither called nor wrote.
both … and	Both Ravi and Salma passed.
not only … but also	She is not only honest but also brave.
whether … or	Tell me whether you will come or not.
no sooner … than	No sooner had he left than it began to rain.
hardly / scarcely … when	Hardly had I sat down when the phone rang.
so / such … that	He was so tired that he slept at once.
rather … than	I would rather walk than wait.
lest … should	Walk carefully lest you should slip.

Level 3 — Advanced rules examiners love

1. Unless already means if not, and until already means up to the time. Never add not: Unless you hurry, you will miss the bus (not Unless you do not hurry). Wait until I return (not until I do not return).
2. Although/though is never followed by but. Use a comma, or (formal) yet: Although he was ill, he came to duty.
3. Do not use because and so together: Because it rained, we stayed in — or — It rained, so we stayed in.
4. Lest already carries a negative idea: lest he should fall (not lest he should not fall).
5. Inversion: when No sooner, Hardly, Scarcely or Not only begins a sentence, the helping verb comes before the subject: No sooner had the bell rung than…; Not only did he steal the bike, but he also sold it.
6. Agreement with pairs: with either…or / neither…nor, the verb agrees with the nearer subject: Neither the inspector nor the constables were present. With both…and, the verb is plural.
7. Parallel structure: the words after each half of a pair must be the same kind. She speaks not only Hindi but also Tamil (noun–noun) is correct; She not only speaks Hindi but also Tamil is wrong, because not only stands before a verb and but also before a noun.

Level 3 — Phrasal verbs

A phrasal verb's meaning often cannot be guessed from its parts. Give + in does not mean "give inside"; it means surrender.

Separable vs inseparable

• Separable: the object can go in the middle — turn off the fan / turn the fan off / turn it off. With a pronoun, it must go in the middle: turn off it is wrong.
• Inseparable: the object always comes after — look after the child / look after her (never look her after). Most three-word phrasal verbs (put up with, look forward to, run out of) are inseparable. A few take the object after the verb: take him up on his offer.

High-frequency phrasal verbs

Phrasal verb	Meaning	Phrasal verb	Meaning
call off	cancel	put off	postpone
call on	visit briefly	put out	extinguish (a fire)
call for	demand, require	put up with	tolerate
carry out	perform, execute (orders)	look into	investigate
carry on	continue	look after	take care of
break into	enter by force	look up to	respect, admire
break out	start suddenly (fire, war, disease); escape (from jail)	look down on/upon	consider inferior
break down	stop working; lose control of feelings	look forward to	wait eagerly for
bring up	raise (a child); mention (a topic)	turn down	reject
come across	find or meet by chance	turn up	arrive, appear
give up	stop, quit	take after	resemble (an elder relative)
give in	surrender, yield	run out of	have no more left
hand over	give control or possession	track down	find after searching
own up	confess	do away with	abolish
set off / set out	start a journey	make out	understand with difficulty

Worked examples

Example 1 — Fill in the blanks (time)
The parade will begin ___ 8 a.m. ___ Republic Day.
Answer: at, on. 8 a.m. is an exact time → at. Republic Day is a particular day → on. If the sentence said ___ January, the answer would be in, because it is a month.

Example 2 — Spot the error (fixed preposition)
The two constables (A) / discussed about (B) / the case for an hour. (C) / No error (D)
Answer: (B). Discuss already means "talk about", so about is extra. Correct: discussed the case. Note: the noun form takes about — a discussion about the case is correct.

Example 3 — Agreement with a correlative pair
Neither the driver nor the passengers ___ hurt in the accident. (a) was (b) were (c) has (d) is
Answer: (b) were. With neither…nor, the verb agrees with the nearer subject, passengers (plural). If the order were reversed — Neither the passengers nor the driver — the answer would be was.

Example 4 — Sentence improvement (no sooner)
No sooner did the thief see the patrol van when he ran away.
Answer: replace when with than. No sooner always pairs with than. (Hardly and scarcely pair with when.)

Example 5 — Meaning of the phrasal verb
The SP has ordered the inspector to look into the complaint. (a) ignore (b) investigate (c) register (d) reject
Answer: (b) investigate. Look into = examine the facts carefully. Do not confuse it with look after (take care of) or look down on (consider inferior).

Real-world connection

Police work runs on written English — duty reports, complaint summaries and official letters — and one wrong word can change a fact. "The accused was seen at the bus stand at 11 p.m. on Sunday" gives a clear place, time and day. Note also charged with theft but accused of theft.

Phrasal verbs are everyday station language: a burglar breaks into a house, a fire breaks out, a team tracks down a missing child, a case is handed over to another unit, and an event is called off after a security alert.

How it is asked in the exam

You get about 54 seconds per question and there is no negative marking, so attempt every question. Grammar items should take well under that, saving time for Arithmetic.

Common formats

1. Fill in the blank with the correct preposition, conjunction or particle (four options).
2. Spot the error — the sentence is split into parts (A), (B), (C) with (D) "No error".
3. Sentence improvement — choose the correct replacement for the underlined part, or "No improvement".
4. Meaning of the phrasal verb — pick the word closest in meaning to the underlined phrase.
5. Cloze passage — a short paragraph with blanks, many of which are prepositions and conjunctions.

Difficulty levels

• Easy (10–20 s): one basic rule. She was born ___ June. → in. Put ___ the fire. → out.
• Medium (20–40 s): fixed pairs and common errors. He is junior ___ me. → to. Unless you do not apply… → remove do not.
• Hard (40–60 s): inversion, agreement and parallel structure, or a phrasal verb with two meanings where context decides. Hardly had the officer arrived ___ the crowd calmed down. → when. She brought up the issue at the meeting. → here brought up means mentioned, not raised a child.

తెలుగు సారాంశం (Telugu summary)

Prepositions నామవాచకం లేదా సర్వనామం ముందు వచ్చి సమయం, స్థలం, దిశ, కారణం వంటి సంబంధాన్ని చూపిస్తాయి.
సమయానికి: ఖచ్చితమైన సమయానికి at, రోజు లేదా తేదీకి on, నెల, సంవత్సరం, కాలానికి in వాడాలి; కానీ at night అని అంటాం.
since ఒక ప్రారంభ సమయంతో, for ఒక కాల వ్యవధితో వస్తుంది — "for six years", "since 2015".
కొన్ని పదాలకు స్థిరమైన preposition ఉంటుంది (afraid of, depend on, senior to); discuss, reach, enter, resemble తర్వాత preposition అవసరం లేదు.
Conjunctions పదాలను, ఉపవాక్యాలను కలుపుతాయి; FANBOYS అనే ఏడు సముచ్చయ పదాలను గుర్తుంచుకోండి.
జంటగా వచ్చే వాటి జోడీ మారకూడదు: either–or, neither–nor, not only–but also, no sooner–than, hardly–when.
unless, until, lest తర్వాత not వాడకూడదు; although తర్వాత but రాదు.
Phrasal verb అంటే క్రియ + చిన్న పదం కలిసి కొత్త అర్థం ఇవ్వడం: call off = రద్దు చేయడం, look into = దర్యాప్తు చేయడం, put off = వాయిదా వేయడం.
పరీక్షలో ఖాళీలు పూరించడం, తప్పు గుర్తించడం, అర్థం ఎంచుకోవడం రూపంలో అడుగుతారు — మొత్తం వాక్యం చదివి జోడీ పదాన్ని ముందుగా వెతకండి.

Key terms (English — తెలుగు)

• Preposition — సంబంధ సూచక పదం (విభక్తి)
• Conjunction — సముచ్చయ పదం (కలిపే పదం)
• Correlative conjunction — జంట సముచ్చయం
• Phrasal verb — పదబంధ క్రియ
• Clause — ఉపవాక్యం
• Object pronoun — కర్మ సర్వనామం
• Call off (cancel) — రద్దు చేయు
• Put off (postpone) — వాయిదా వేయు
• Look into (investigate) — దర్యాప్తు చేయు
• Put up with (tolerate) — సహించు