Using prepositions in context

Adverbs and particles[edit]
There are often similarities in form between adpositions and adverbs. Some adverbs are derived from the fusion of a preposition and its complement (such as downstairs, from down (the) stairs, and underground, from under (the) ground). Some words can function both as adverbs and as prepositions, such as inside, aboard, underneath (for instance, one can say "go inside", with adverbial use, or "go inside the house", with prepositional use). Such cases are analogous to verbs that can be used either transitively or intransitively, and the adverbial forms might therefore be analyzed as "intransitive prepositions". This analysis^[23] could also be extended to other adverbs, such as here, there, afterwards, etc., even though these never take complements.
Many English phrasal verbs contain particles that are used adverbially, even though they mostly have the form of a preposition (such words may be called prepositional adverbs). Examples are on in carry on, get on, etc., over in take over, fall over, and so on. The equivalents in Dutch and German are separable prefixes, which also often have the same form as prepositions: for example, Dutch aanbieden and German anbieten (both meaning "to offer") contain the separable prefix aan/an, which is also a preposition meaning "on" or "to".
Conjunctions[edit]
Some words can be used both as adpositions and as subordinating conjunctions:

• 
  (preposition) before/after/since the end of the summer
  
• 
  (conjunction) before/after/since the summer ended
  
• 
  (preposition) It looks like another rainy day
  
• 
  (conjunction) It looks like it's going to rain again today
  

It would be possible to analyze such conjunctions (or even other subordinating conjunctions) as prepositions that take an entire clause as a complement.
Verbs[edit]
In some languages, including a number of Chinese varieties, many of the words that serve as prepositions can also be used as verbs. For instance, in Standard Chinese, 到 dào can be used in either a prepositional or a verbal sense:

• 
  我到北京去 wǒ dào Běijīng qù ("I go to Beijing"; qù, meaning "to go", is the main verb, dào is prepositional meaning "to")
  
• 
  我到了 wǒ dào le ("I have arrived"; dào is the main verb, meaning "to arrive")
  

Because of this overlap, and the fact that a sequence of prepositional phrase and verb phrase often resembles a serial verb construction, Chinese prepositions (and those of other languages with similar grammatical structures) are often referred to as coverbs.
As noted in previous sections, Chinese can also be said to have postpositions, although these can be analyzed as nominal (noun) elements. For more information, see the article on Chinese grammar, particularly the sections on coverbs and locative phrases.