Prepositions are used to show the relationship between other words in a sentence, making them essential for communicating clearly in your written work. Here we take closer look at two examples: ‘into’ and ‘because of’.
The word ‘into’ has two main meanings. The first involves movement, such as when describing something entering or travelling towards something else:
She dived into the pool.
They drove off into the sunset.
This sense of ‘into’ can also be used to describe reaching a specific point in time (‘he worked deep into the night’) or investigating a particular subject (‘we inquired into marketing trends’).
The second important use of this preposition is to describe a change in something’s state. This can be physical, but may also be more abstract, such as language or a mental state:
Left out in the sun, the snowman soon turned into a puddle.
Since her audience couldn’t speak English, she translated it into German.
One thing to look out for is the difference between ‘into’ and ‘in to’, since when a verb with ‘in’ (e.g. ‘hand in’ or ‘move in’) is followed by ‘to’, the ‘in’ and ‘to’ should be kept separate:
I handed my work in to the teacher.
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Here the ‘in’ is part of the verb phrase ‘handed my work in’, not the preposition ‘into’; saying that you handed your work ‘into the teacher’ would imply you were putting it inside them!
When used as a preposition, ‘because’ is followed by ‘of’ and used to give a reason or justification for something, making it equivalent to saying ‘due to the fact that’. Like all prepositions, ‘because of’ should be followed by a noun phrase or an ‘-ing’ verb:
The experiment will need to be repeated because of inconsistencies in the results.
New sources are required because of increasing demand.
The other main use of ‘because’ is as a conjunction. Its meaning as a conjunction is still a way of giving a reason for something, but since ‘because’ by itself is not a preposition the sentence structure changes a little.
When used as a conjunction (without ‘of’), ‘because’ should be followed by a subject and a verb:
The crowd applauded because he danced.
Both ‘because’ and ‘because of’ are useful for explaining your ideas clearly, so it’s important to use each form correctly.
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