What is the Difference Between Adverbs and Prepositions?

The main difference between adverbs and prepositions lies in their functions within a sentence:

• Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs, answering questions like "how?", "where?", or "when?". For example, in the sentence "The package was carefully inspected when it was delivered to the office," the word "carefully" is an adverb.
• Prepositions show the relationship between nouns or pronouns and other words in a sentence, such as location, direction, or time. In the sentence "The package was carefully inspected when it was delivered to the office," the words "to" and "in" are prepositions, as they show the relationship between the package and the location it was delivered to.

Some words can function as both prepositions and adverbs, depending on the context in which they are used. For example:

• Adverb: "The school bus just went past." (Here, "past" has no object and is acting as an adverb)
• Preposition: "My brother just drove past us." (Here, "past" has an object, "us", and is acting as a preposition)

In summary, a word is a preposition when it governs a noun or a pronoun and shows a relationship, while it is an adverb when it modifies a verb, adjective, or other adverb and provides information such as how, where, or when.

Comparative Table: Adverbs vs Prepositions

Here is a table comparing the differences between adverbs and prepositions:

Some words can function as both adverbs and prepositions, depending on the context. For example, "around" can be an adverb in "He came to me a day before" and a preposition in "She is speaking before the audience".