Prepositions In, On, and At
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Prepositions of Time
IN- The pyramid’s TOP (wider), which is BIGGER and more GENERAL:
- Description: Bigger periods of time: Centuries, Decades, Years, Months
- Examples: in the 20th century, in the 1980’s, in March, in the third week of April, in the future
- Exceptions: in the morning, in the evening, in the afternoon
ON- The pyramid’s MIDDLE part, which is SMALLER and MORE SPECIFIC:
- Description: Days, or periods of time shorter than three days
- Examples: on my birthday, on Saturday, on the weekend (United States), on June 8th
- Exceptions: on my lunch break, on time
AT- The pyramid’s BOTTOM (pointed), the SMALLEST, and the MOST SPECIFIC:
- Description: Specific times or small time periods.
- Examples: at 9:00 PM, at lunch, at dinner, at the start of the party, at sunrise, at the start of the movie, at the moment
- Exceptions: at night, at the weekend (England)
Prepositions of Location
IN – The TOP (wider), which is BIGGER and more GENERAL:
- Description: In larger areas (countries, states, cities, neighborhoods)
- Examples: in the United States, in Miami, in my neighborhood
- Exceptions: in downtown (“I work in downtown”)
ON – The MIDDLE, which is SMALLER and MORE SPECIFIC:
- Description: a longer area, street, beach, river
- Examples: on Broadway Street, on the beach, on my street
AT – The pyramid’s BOTTOM (pointed), the SMALLEST, and the MOST SPECIFIC:
- Description: the address or specific location, specific points.
- Examples: at 345 broadway street, at the store, at my house
N – for enclosed spaces and personal modes of transportation
- Enclosed Space: in the kitchen, in the house, the water is in the glass
- Personal Modes of Transportation: get in the car, my friend is in the taxi
ON – for surfaces and public modes of transportation
- Surfaces: on the floor, on the wall, the book is on the table, on a page, I put on my clothes (my clothes are on my body)
- Public Modes of Transportation: on the bus, on the plane, on a boat, on a ship,
- Exceptions: on my motorcycle, on my bike (these are personal modes of transportation, but we use “on”)
AT – for specific point (the same as prepositions of location)
- at the bus stop, at the cinema, at the corner, at the top of the hill, at the mall
Becoming Friends With Prepositions
Again, these rules are not an exact science, but they will help you get past 90% of the preposition confusion that most people encounter with IN, ON, and AT.
After you learn these techniques, you will not only speak a lot better, and with a lot more confidence, but the final 5 to 10% of prepositions won’t seem too hard. It will probably take some study time and some memorization of collocations (“in the kitchen,” “at the mall,” but you will see that it’s a lot more manageable. The point is that you don’t want to be thinking about the rules too much when you’re communicating.
This will help make most of the process unconscious and automatic, which is exactly what fluency is.
You can use Anki, a really effective vocabulary study tool, or other free study resources that can make your process a lot easier to learn using these prepositions. Another thing that will naturally help is reading and making English a part of your life.
These are all very important parts of the Real Life English methodology. You can get FREE PDF Worksheets for this exercise by joining our global community (or a copy of our popular e-book, 101 Words You Won’t Learn at School)
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