Usage Notes on Prepositions
[#permalink]
25 Sep 2012, 19:47
at, on, in – Prepositions of Time
We use at to designate specific times.
The train is due at 12:15 p.m.
We use on to designate days and dates.
My brother is coming on Monday.
The results will be declared on the Fourth of July.
We use in for nonspecific times during a day, a month, a season, or a year.
She likes to jog in the morning.
It’s too cold in winter to run outside.
He started the job in 1971.
He’s going to quit in August.
at, on, in – Prepositions of Place
We use at for specific addresses.
Prof. G.K. lives at 652 Dr Ambedkar Road.
We use on to designate names of streets, avenues, etc.
Her house is on Dr. Ambedkar Road.
And we use in for the names of land-areas (towns, districts, states, countries, and continents).
She lives in Bandra.
Bandra is in Mumbai.
Mumbai is in Maharashtra.
at, on, in – Prepositions of Location
in – (the) bed, the bedroom, the car, (the) class, the library, school
at – class, home, the library, the office, school, work
on – the bed, the ceiling, the floor, the horse, the plane, the train
No Preposition
downstairs, downtown, inside, outside, upstairs, uptown
With the words home, downtown, uptown, inside, outside, downstairs, upstairs, we use no preposition.
He went upstairs.
He went home.
They both went outside.
Prepositions of Movement: to
We use to in order to express movement toward a place.
They go to work together.
She’s going to the library this morning.
Toward and towards are also helpful prepositions to express movement. Toward and towards are simply
variant spellings of the same word.
We’re moving toward the light.
This is a big step towards the project’s completion.
‘for’ and ‘since’ – Prepositions of Time:
We use for when we measure time (seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years).
He held his breath for seven minutes.
She’s lived there for seven years.
The Indians and Pakistanis have been quarreling for five decades.
We use since with a specific date or time.
He has worked here since 1970.
She has been sitting in the waiting room since 2:30 p.m.
Unnecessary Prepositions
In everyday speech, we fall into some bad habits, using prepositions where they are not necessary. It would
be a good idea to eliminate these words altogether, but we must be especially careful not to use them in
formal contexts.
She met up with the new professor in the library.
The book fell off of my bag.
He threw the letter out of the window. (of may be retained in informal contexts.)
She wouldn’t let him inside of the house. [or use ‘in’]
Where did they go to?
Where is your college at?
close
