Now, the bad news is that there's no clear way of knowing which preposition you need to use. In fact, different prepositions can be used with the same words but this can change the meaning of your sentence.
Am I at the car? Am I on the car? Most of the time, you can't just guess the correct preposition. It's not really a good strategy to improve your English to improve your English — unless you're a really lucky person! The worst way to try and learn prepositions is to translate them from your native language. This can cause lots of problems. Prepositions must be learned in chunks of words or called collocations — groups of words that are often used together. Learning this way will help you to make fewer mistakes with prepositions.
Instead, pay attention to how native speakers pay attention to how native speakers use these prepositions. How are they used in the newspaper articles that you read or stories? What words are they used with? And pay close attention to the general rules that I'll teach you in this lesson, so that you can make so that you can make when choosing prepositions of place. So let's start really simply with containers or spaces that are enclosed. I've got the key in my pocket.
She left it in the top drawer. There's nothing left in my cup. Now, it's easy to think about all of these examples Now, it's easy to think about all of these examples as being inside something because the edges are really clear.
You can see inside them. There's a clear inside and an outside. Take our earlier example, I'm in the car. The car has clear edges, I'm definitely inside the edges of the car. Can you take a seat in the waiting room, please? I've left my bag in your office. Why don't we have a picnic in the park? But there are lots of times when you need to use this preposition when the edges are less clear.
I'm filming this video in Spain. I grew up in Melbourne. Holidaying in France is easy if you speak French! Regolisa is a small village in the mountains.
We're going for a drive in the country. Lots of people were swimming in the lake. Now, all of these nouns have borders or edges, even if they're not really obvious or clear. We can physically be located inside the edges of this space. She works in the finance team, surrounded by people. He got selected to play in the national team.
But there's an exception for important high-level groups where members are often elected. He's on the board. Or they're on the committee, or on the council.. There's a lot of chilli in that sauce. There's too much sugar in soft drinks. Do you have milk in your coffee? My phone is on the table. You can see a painting on the wall behind me. We live on the fourth floor of the building. Can you write it on that piece of paper? He's spilled ice cream on his new jumper! Now, keep thinking about this idea of flat surfaces because it includes roads and streets and rivers.
The supermarket is on the corner of Martin Street. Nice is on the south coast of France. What's that on the water? We'll be on the lake, in our boat. It's used to talk about specific places or points in space. Sarah's still at school. I'll meet you at the bus stop. Turn left at the traffic light. Now it's also used with public places and shops. I studied design at college or school or university. Let's meet at the station.
We have to stop at the supermarket on the way home. There was a crazy guy at the library today. They live at 14 Eagle Road.
I'll meet you at the corner of Beach Street and Park Road. I had a coffee at Helen's house. At her house, right? I had a cup of coffee with Helen. We met at a party. He's speaking at a conference later this week.
Okay I went through quite a few examples there, but let's just stop and review the rules for a minute. Think of a map. When you're looking at a map, you're referring to a specific place or position in space.
You have a flat surface and you're referring to the position of something or someone in relation to that surface. So you're recognising the space around you a little more when you're using that preposition. So when you use it, you need to think about the position of something in relation to what surrounds it.
Now, of course, there are grey areas and many exceptions that will make you scratch your head and wonder, what?! It's not black and it's not white, it's somewhere in the middle but we don't know exactly where — it's unclear. That's a very common expression.
Now there are many grey areas for prepositions when you're talking about the place or the location of something. It's on the corner. Or it's at the corner. Now there is a difference here when we're referring to the flat surface and the region or the area. So it's that spatial difference. On the south coast or in the south of France. It's a little hard to get your head around, right? But France is a space that has edges. But I'll meet you in the kitchen.
It's an enclosed room or enclosed space. I saw it in the corner of the room. So that's an enclosed space, right? Write it on the paper in your notebook, at the top of the page or in the corner. We say I'm in the car and I'm on the bus or the train.
Sarah's still in school. Or Sarah is still at school. She's a student, she's learning there. She could be a parent visiting the school, for example. I think they're at the beach Or I think they're on the beach. You can be in the water. She's in the sea. She's in the lake. She's in the water. I'm waiting by the car. Put your bag by the door and sit down. These are all prepositions that give us detail about the location of something.
They live near the school. They live next to the school. They live by the school. To successfully learn to use prepositions really well, learn them with the words around them. Don't try and learn them on their own. The general rules that we talked about during this lesson, will help you to make better choices — most of the time! Well I hope this lesson has helped to make a few things clearer for you. If you've got any questions at all, just pop them in the comments under this video.
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Thank you for this lesson. It has been developed and presented in nice manner so people like me can understand the use of prepositions clearly and easily. I request you to add some exercise material which will be helpful to learner. Consider or regard? Consist , comprise or compose?
Content or contents? Different from , different to or different than? Do or make? Down , downwards or downward? During or for? Each or every? East or eastern ; north or northern? Economic or economical? Efficient or effective? Elder , eldest or older , oldest? End or finish? Especially or specially?
Except or except for? Expect , hope or wait? Experience or experiment? Fall or fall down? Far or a long way? Farther , farthest or further , furthest? Fast , quick or quickly? Fell or felt? Female or feminine ; male or masculine? Finally , at last , lastly or in the end? First , firstly or at first? Fit or suit? Following or the following? For or since? Forget or leave? Full or filled? Fun or funny?
Get or go? Grateful or thankful? Hear or listen to? High or tall? Historic or historical? House or home? How is …? If or when? If or whether? Ill or sick? Imply or infer? In the way or on the way? Late or lately? Lay or lie? Lend or borrow? Less or fewer? Look at , see or watch? Low or short? Man , mankind or people? Maybe or may be? Maybe or perhaps? Nearest or next?
Never or not … ever? Nice or sympathetic? No doubt or without doubt? No or not? Nowadays , these days or today? Open or opened? Opportunity or possibility? Opposite or in front of? Other , others , the other or another? Several common uses of in and on occur with street. The first two follow the general pattern of in and on usage. The third is an idiom that must be learned as a unit. In a , the street is understood as an area enclosed by the sidewalks on either side.
Compare b with the discussion of sentence 3 in the first section. Here, on locates the house on either side of Third Street; it doesn't mean that the street is a surface on which the house sits. Because the street is understood as a line next to which the house is situated, on functions much like at in its normal use; in other words, it locates the house in relation to the street but does not specify the exact address.
For that purpose, at is used because the address is like a particular point on the line. Compare: "Our house is at Third Street. In and on are also used with means of transportation: in is used with a car, on with public or commercial means of transportation:. Some speakers of English make a further distinction for public modes of transportation, using in when the carrier is stationary and on when it is in motion.
General Writing Grammar Prepositions. The cattle are grazing on the open range. This is an idiom meaning that he's poor.
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