Purpose of the Lesson

The purpose of this lesson is to clarify the use of English prepositions while showing their meanings graphically.

Prepositions can be difficult for second language learners because there is often no equivalent in their mother tongue. Look at the icons below to clarify the difference between various prepositions. Go through the prepositions of time, place, and location and the corresponding examples one by one. Then move on to the practice exercises.

Prepositions of Time: at, on, in, for, and since

• We use at to designate specific times.
  The train is due at 4:25 p.m.
• We use on to designate days and dates.
  My aunt is coming on Friday.
  We're having a party on Halloween.
• We use in for nonspecific times during a day, a month, a season, or a year.
  She likes to do exercise in the evening.
  It's too cold in winter to play basketball outside.
  He got married in 1992.
  He's going to Rome in June.
• We use for to designate a length of time.
  She has been a teacher for 5 years.
• We use since to designate a specific time in the past.
  My aunt has been visiting since last week.
  We've been friends since 1990.

Prepositions of Place: at, on, in, and by

• We use at for specific addresses.
  My father lives at 156 Cougar Road in Banff.
• We use on to designate names of streets, avenues, etc.
  His house is on Cougar Road.
• We use in for the names of land-areas (towns, counties, states, countries, and continents).
  He lives in Banff.
  Banff is in Alberta.
  Alberta is in Canada.
• We use by for places that are beside other places or people.
  He lives by the river in Banff.
  Mary bought a new home by the ocean.
  Please come and sit by me.

Prepositions of Location: at, on, in, above, below, between, behind, and among

• We use at for specific locations that we go to.
  ~at the park, at the library, at the zoo, at the store, at school.
• We use on for places we can be on top of .
  ~on the bed [on top of the covers], on a horse, on a train [sitting on the seats]
• We use in for places we can be inside of.
  ~in the kitchen, in school, in bed [under the covers], in the car, in the army, in a choir
• We use above for places that are on top of other things.
  She lives upstairs above the bakery.
• We use below for places that are underneath others.
  She lives in the basement suite below her uncle's apartment.
• We use between for places that have something else on either side of them.
  Mary's house is to the north, Joe's house is to the south, and Alison's house is between them.
• We use behind for places that are in the back of other places.
  Could you take this to the garage behind the house?
• We use among for places that are in a cluster with each other.
  They built a house among the trees in the beautiful forest.
• We do not use prepositions for the following:
  ~inside, outside, upstairs, downstairs

Remember, learning is all about practice and feedback. You are now ready to begin the Practice Exercises for Lesson 3. Go back into the system and do the exercise. The system will give you a score

Next move on to the Interactive Writing Practice page for Lesson 3.

Click here for optional practice exercises on prepositions.

Great! You are now ready to enter Lesson 4.