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Necessary Preposition

This document provides rules and examples for using common English prepositions involving time and place. It discusses the basic uses of in, on, at, and to to indicate time, such as being at a time or on a day. It then lists 20 special rules for these prepositions, including their use with verbs, means of transportation, intersections, islands, and forms of communication. The document also summarizes rules for using prepositions to indicate location, such as in for countries and buildings, on for surfaces and roads, and at for positions. Finally, it discusses prepositions used for movement, including towards, away, through, into, onto, and off.

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299 views4 pages

Necessary Preposition

This document provides rules and examples for using common English prepositions involving time and place. It discusses the basic uses of in, on, at, and to to indicate time, such as being at a time or on a day. It then lists 20 special rules for these prepositions, including their use with verbs, means of transportation, intersections, islands, and forms of communication. The document also summarizes rules for using prepositions to indicate location, such as in for countries and buildings, on for surfaces and roads, and at for positions. Finally, it discusses prepositions used for movement, including towards, away, through, into, onto, and off.

Uploaded by

Pasha
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Prepositions (in, on, at, to)

Rules for Prepositions IN, ON, AT, TO

Basic Rules

A. AT a time
B. ON a day
C. IN a month (season, year, decade, century)

D. AT an address
E. ON a street
F. IN an area (neighborhood, town, borough, state, country, continent, ocean,
the world, the solar system, the universe)

20 Special Rules for Prepositions IN, ON, AT, TO

1. look AT and listen TO


2. TO with verbs of desire, necessity, expectation
love TO, like TO, hate TO, want TO, need TO, have TO, hope TO, expect TO
3. AT night
IN the morning, IN the afternoon, IN the evening
4. ON transportation
ON the bus, ON the train, ON the subway, ON a plane, ON a jet, ON a ship,
ON a bicycle, ON a motorcycle, ON a surfboard, ON a skateboard
BUT
IN a car, IN a taxi, IN a small boat, IN an elevator, IN a helicopter
5. AT an intersection (where two streets cross)
AT Broadway and 42nd Street, AT Fifth Avenue and 34th Street
6. ON an island, ON a farm, ON a college campus, ON earth, ON a planet
7. expressions that mean sometimes use different prepositions:
from time TO time, ON occasion, once IN a while
8. IN a park, IN a yard, AT a playground
9. ON anything flat
ON a plate, ON the wall, ON the floor, ON a shelf, ON the blackboard,
ON a table, ON a desk, ON the stove, ON your face, a hat ON your head
10. IN a room or anything smaller
IN the closet, IN a drawer, IN a cup, IN a bowl, IN a glass, IN your
mouth, ideas IN your head, a look IN your eye, a ribbon IN your hair
11. TO when moving from point A TO point B
go TO school, drive TO work, take a trip TO Boston, take your kids TO
school, fly TO London, walk TO the library, bring your dog TO the vet
12. ON a/an [adjective] morning, afternoon, evening, night, day
ON a cold afternoon, ON a sunny morning, ON a rainy evening,
ON a Saturday night, ON a spring day, ON a special night
13. ON vacation, ON the weekend, ON a trip, ON a picnic, ON your break,
ON a leave of absence, ON your lunch hour
14. IN the water swimming (or drowning), ON the water boating
15. AT the beach (the whole place), lie ON the beach (=ON the sand), play IN the sand
16. ON anything like a line
ON the coast, stand ON line, ON the border, ON the side, ON a team/committee
17. ON forms of communication
ON TV, ON the radio, ON the phone, ON the fax machine, ON the computer, ON
a disk, ON a CD, ON a hard drive, ON a channel, ON a screen
18. a report or news article ON the economy (ABOUT the economy)
19. ON time for an event or activity: Come to the meeting ON time. Be in class ON time.
20. IN time (or too late) TO do something: Get to the station IN time TO catch a train.

[ESLprof.com/handouts/Info/preprule.doc]
Preposition of time
At:
At 3 oclock
At Lunchtime, at bedtime
Night: I cant sleep at night
The weekend: See you at the weekend
Festivals: We went away at Easter.

In:
The morning/afternoon/evening: See you in the morning!
Months: My Birthdays in June.
Seasons: We always go on holiday in summer.
Years: He was born in 1996

On:
Dates: We arrived here in 4th August.
Days of the week: Lets go the zoo on Saturday
Single day events: We always eat out on Christmas Day.

Use ON before a day + morning/afternoon/evening/night. See you on Tuesday night!

Dont use a preposition before: today, tonight, tomorrow, yesterday.

Preposition of Place:

In is also used in these situations:


Countries, Cities, Villages: We live in France/ in Paris/ in Madrid

The world: It is the highest building of the world.

Mountains and Valleys: They have a cottage in the mountains/ in a valley.

Buildings: She worls in a bank

Water: Dont swim in the river/ in the sea/ in the lake.

The Middle/ Centre: He lives in the middle of Paris/ in the city centre.

Books/Films/Newspaper: Which film was the actor in?


I read about it in the newspaper.

ON is also used in these situations:

Walls/ ceilings/doors/floor: She hung the picture on the cielieng/ the wall/ the door.

Surfaces: Theres dirty mark on the page/ table

The front/side/ back: Theres label in on the box/ bottle

Left/ right: The school is on the left

[ESLprof.com/handouts/Info/preprule.doc]
Floors: Jims office is on the second floor

Lists/Menus: Whts on the menu? Did you buy everything on the list?

Roads: I live on Jackson street. The nearest gas station on the motorway. The post box is on the way to work.

Naturals lines and borders: London is on the river thames.

AT is also used in this situation:

The top/ bottom (of a page): Sign your name at the yop / bottom.
Direction: turn left at the traffic lights/ roundabout/ end of the street.
Position (next to something) Wait at the traffic lights/ corner/ tree.
The front/ the back: I wrote my name at the front/ back of the book
The begining/ the end: What happened at the beginning/ end of the film?
Events: I met him at a party
Buildings: Ill meet you at the airport/ the station/ home

Preposition of Movements:

Towards: He is walking toward the house.


Away (from) : He is walking away from the house.
Through: Go through the park/ forest/ wood
Into: He walked into the shop.
Onto: He walked onto the stage.
Out of: Take the machine out of the box
Off: He walked off the stage.

By/ Until:
By: BY means not later than.
Application for the job must be submitted by 24 th march.
By is used to describe an action that will be complete before a fixed time in the future.
Can you finish the work by Friday?
Hopefully, Ill know everyones names by the end of the day.

By the time (+ present simple) is a common way of talking about something that will be complete before an action takes
place in the future.
Ill have dinner ready for you by the time you get home.
By the time I arrive, Ill be really tired.

By the time (+past simple) can be used when narrating a story about the past.
By the time I got home, my dinner was cold.

Untill/ Till:
Untill or Till is used to describe an action that will be in progress up to a point in the future.
Im going to work with my dad until I go to university.

For/ Since/ Ago:


For:
For ages: Ive been waiting for you for ages.
For a long time: I havent seen Amy for a long time.
[ESLprof.com/handouts/Info/preprule.doc]
For a (little) while: I worked in turkey for a little while.
For a moment: Can you wait here for a moment?

Since: I have worked here since August

Ago: I started this job ten months ago.


Other common phrases with ago include:
Ages ago: Where have you been? We got here ages ago!
Hours ago: Where have you been? We got here hours ago!
A little while ago: Dont worry , we only got here a little while ago.

Since and Ago can be used in the same sentence. Such sentences are usually in the present perfect tense.
Ive worked here since ten months ago.

[ESLprof.com/handouts/Info/preprule.doc]

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