More prepositions AT, IN, TO and ON

Dear students,

As I told you before this is a post about prepositions. A lot of ESL students have problems using preposition. That's why I have decided to write this post for you.

Irena

Yesterday we learned some prepositions with place. Today I'd like you to review everything and practice these prepositions. Here are some videos. Please, watch them and review the prepositions on, in and at.

First, watch these videos. There are 3 parts of it, and all of them are about prepositions.

For Spanish speaking students there is a good video about prepositions. So, Hispanic students, please watch it. It will help you to understand prepositions better.

There is some more information about prepositions here. Please, use this link to get there.Just click on blue words.

More information about prepositions

Now, here are some exercises you can practice to improve your usage of prepositions.

Exercise 1 

Exercise 2 

Exercise 3 

Exercise 4 

To understand the meaning of the prepositions and see some examples of them, look at this  box.

English Preposition	Usage	Examples
above	higher than something	a photo above the sofa
across	getting to the other side getting over something getting to the other side	walking across a road walking across a bridge swimming across the river
after	one follows the other	run after something or someone after you sir
among	in a group	among a crowd of people
around	in a circular	sitting around, around a campfire
at	meaning next to, by an object for table for events place where you are to do something typical (watch a film, study, work)	at the tree, at the bus stop at the table at a festival, at a birthday party at the cinema, at school, at work
behind	at the back of	The house behind the cinema
below	lower than something else but above ground	Fish swim below the surface of the water.
between	on each side	Your nose is between your two ears.
by, next to, beside	left or right of somebody or something	He is standing by / next to / beside her.
close to	near	Stay close to me so you don’t get lost.
down	from high to low	I drove down the hill.
from	in the sense of where from/ the place where it starts	A fish from the river. I’m from Ireland.
in	room, building, street, town, country book, paper etc. car, taxi picture, world	in the kitchen, in London in the book, in the paper in the car, in a taxi in a picture, in the world
in front of	further forward than another person or thing	He is standing in front of the car.
inside	in something/opposite of outside	The toy is inside the box.
into	enter a room / a building	go into the kitchen / the house
near	close to	Stay near me so you don’t get lost.
off	away from something	The baby threw his dinner off the table.
on	attached for a place with a river being on a surface for a certain side (left, right) for a floor in a house for public transport for television, radio	the picture on the wall Paris is on the Seine. on the table on the left, on the right on the second floor on the bus, on a plane on TV, on the radio
onto	movement to the top of something	The cat jumped onto the table.
opposite	on the other side	Our house is opposite the cinema.
out of	leaving something	She got out of the swimming pool because she was very cold.
outside	out of something/the opposite of inside	Put the cat outside before you go to bed.
over	covered by something else meaning more than getting to the other side (also across) overcoming an obstacle above something	Wear a cardigan over your blouse. over 18 years old walk over the bridge/walk across the bridge climb over a wall The cat jumped over the table.
past	going near something or someone	It was raining but she drove past me
around	in a circular	sitting around/around a campfire
through	something with limits on top, bottom and the sides going inside something from one side to another from the beginning to the end of something connected by telephone because of someone or something	She escaped through the hole in the wall. We went through the tunnel. We traveled through the night. I tried to phone you but I couldn’t get through. He got that job through her mother as she is the supervisor.
to	movement to person or building movement to a place or country for bed	go to her, go to the shop go to London / Ireland go to bed
towards	movement in the direction of something (but not necessary directly to it)	We walked towards the city.
under	on the ground, lower than (or covered by) something else	the shoe is under the bed
up	from low to high	I climbed up the mountain.

Here is some more information about prepositions AT, IN TO and ON.
General Information:  AT and ON



We use AT for a point.
We use ON or a surface.

at the window
at the entrance
at the door on the wall

on the ceiling
on the floor
on a page

at the end of the street
at the station 
at the top on a cover

Bill is waiting for you at the bus stop.
Have you seen the notice on the notice board?


General Information: IN

We use IN for an enclosed space

in the garden
in the house
in London
in the water
in her bag
in a row
in a town

There is nobody in the room.
She lives in a small village.


Special Information: AT

We say that someone is at an event.
We say at with buildings when we say where the event (film, concert,...) takes place:

at a party
at a pop concert
at a conference
at a meeting

Where were you yesterday? At the cinema.
Tom is at a party.
The meeting took place at the headquarters.


We say at someone's house.
We say at for a place which is a part of our journey.

We were at Bill's house last Thursday.
We stopped at a very nice village.
Does the train stop at Nashville?

General Information: ON

We use on with small islands.
We say that a place is on the coast / on a river / on a road:

She spent her holiday on a small island. London is on the river Thames.
Portsmouth is on the south coast of England.

General Information: IN

We say in when we talk about a building itself.
We usually say in with towns and villages:

The rooms in Tom's house are small.
His parents live in New York.



Note these expressions: AT

at home
at work
at school
at university
at college
at the station
at an airport
at the seaside
at sea (on a voyage)
at reception
at the corner of a street
at the back / front of a building / cinema / group of people, etc.
arrive at with other places or events



Note these expressions: IN

in the newspaper
in bed
in hospital
in prison
in the street
in the sky
in an armchair (sit)
in a photograph
in a picture
in a mirror
in the corner of a room
in the back / front of a car
arrive in a country or town



Note these expressions: ON

on a farm
on the left
on the right
on the ground floor
on the first, second,... floor
on the way
on the chair (sit)
on the radio
on television
on a horse
on the corner of a street
on the back / front of a letter / piece of paper etc.


TO, INTO, BY


We say go / come / travel / fly / walk / return / drive / have been etc. TO a place or event.
We say go into / come INTO etc. = enter a room / building etc.

Last year we flew to London.
We went to work at seven.
He opened the door and went into the room.


BY

We say by to say how we travel.

We went to Paris BY plane.
I usually go to work by bike / by car / by underground / by bus


but (please, pay attention!)

we say: ON foot
we cannot use BY if you say my car / the train / a taxi

Then use IN for taxis and cars.
Then use ON for bike / and public transport.

 

Here there is some useful information about this subject. Please, read carefully.

Additional Information (click here) 

Here are some more Exercises. Click on them and do, please.

Ex. 1

Ex. 2 

Ex. 3 

Ex. 4 

Ex. 5 




Here are some more prepositions - Prepositions of Place. Please, look at the pictures and try to understand their meaning. Under each of the pictures there are some examples - a question and answers. Read carefully.

Where is the ball?

1. It's in the box.

2. It's on the box.

3. It's under (or below) the box.

4. It's next to (or beside) the box.

5. It's behind (or in back of) the ball.

6. It's in front of the box.

7. It's between the boxes.

Where is the mouse?

1. The mouse is under (or below) the box.

2. The mouse is over (or above) the box.

3. The mouse is in (or inside) the box.

4. The mouse is on the box.

5. The mouse is in front of the box.

6. The mouse is behind (or in back of)the box.

7. The mouse is next to (or beside) the box.

To make the picture bigger (or larger), please, click on it. Look at all additional prepositions and write sentences with each of them.

Study this picture. It has more prepositions.

Hope, you've learned all of these prepositions!
Check yourselves.

Good luck!

Enjoy learning prepositions!

Here are 2 exercises to practice more prepositions:

Ex.1

Ex.2

Mother's Day

This holiday may have come from a custom of mother worship in ancient Greece. People of ancient Greece kept a festival to Cybele, a great mother of Greek gods. The ancient Romans also had a holiday that was dedicated to Juno - ancient Roman goddess, and mothers were usually given gifts on this day. In 1912, Anna Jarvis trademarked the phrases "second Sunday in May" and "Mother's Day", and created the Mother's Day International Association.So in the United States it is celebrated on the second Sunday in May. We celebrate Mother's day to honor the hard work that our mother does in our lives, to show our appreciation to them. In the United States, Mother's Day did not become an official holiday until 1915.

     Mother's Day is an annual holiday that recognizes mothers, motherhood and maternal bonds in general, as well the positive contributions that they make to society. Carnations have come to represent Mother's Day. Many religious services held later copied the custom of giving away carnations. This also started the custom of wearing a carnation on Mother's Day. The founder, Anna Jarvis, chose the carnation because it was the favorite flower of her mother. In part due to the shortage of white carnations, and in part due to the efforts to expand the sales of more types of flowers in Mother's Day, the florists promoted wearing a red carnation if your mother was living, or a white one if she was dead; this was tirelessly promoted until it made its way into the popular observations at churches. 

     

 

     Mother's Day is a holiday to honor and give thanks to our mothers. People celebrate the day all over the world. In France, a flower-shaped cake is part of the family meal. In the U.S., most restaurants claim this day as their busiest all year. Although the holiday is very commercial, it's not a Hallmark holiday.  In other words, it's not a holiday created by businesses to make money.

Mother's Eyes

What are the songs the mother sings?

Of birds and flowers and pretty things;

Baby lies in her arms and spies

All his world in the mother's eyes.

What are the tales the mother tells?

Of gems and jewels and silver bells;

Baby lies in her arms and spies

All his wealth in the mother's eyes.

What are the thoughts in the mother's mind?

Of the gentle Saviour, loving and kind;

Baby lies in her arms and spies

All his heaven in the mother's eyes.

By Mary D.B.Hull

"No influence is so powerful as that of the mother."

- Sarah Josepha Hale -

     Mothers connect us to life. Our first ounce of nourishment passed from them and into us. As a result, feelings of being safe, warm and secure are rooted somewhere deep in our consciousness and are forever associated with our mothers. This is nature’s way of establishing the mother-child bond, no matter what happens next.

     And it’s because of this bond we often feel closer to our mothers than we do our fathers. As children, we are more aware of their presence; their approval is more important; we are more desperate for their love; and when they let us down, we are more willing to forgive. The lessons our mothers teach shape who we are and how we see the world. The lessons from our mothers stay with us for a lifetime.

Dear students,

After reading this post, I'd like you to think about mothers. Are they important to the children? Why? What role do they play in raising children? How do they affect the lives of the children?

You can think about your mothers. You can think about what you have learned from her. You can think about any other mother you know or read about. You can think of any interesting story about mothers. Think about your feelings and thoughts. Please, write 2-3 paragraphs about mothers. You can even write a poem about mothers if you want.

Good luck to all of you,

Irena

At the end, here is a funny video for Mother's Day. 

These two guys are taking a picture to send it to their mom for Mother's Day.

Correcting writing mistakes

     You have finished writing three articles (including one report) about Helen Keller, Christopher Columbus and garlic. So here are some useful tips and suggestions about how to correct your mistakes and make your writing better.

     ESL students, who wish to write well, need some help in understanding and avoiding mistakes in their writing. There are 4 main types of mistakes in written language:
 - spelling
 - punctuation
 - grammar
 - usage

Spelling mistakes:
     English spelling is irregular and even native speakers have difficulties with it. Spelling mistakes do not usually prevent the reader from understanding what the writer is trying to say, but they can create a negative impression. So it is recommended to remove mistakes from important pieces of writing. The best way to do this is using a spell check. You can also use a dictionary.

Remember: Extensive reading in English helps ESL students to learn English spelling patterns, so if you want to improve your spelling, read more!

Punctuation mistakes:
     ESL students need to have basic ideas about punctuations and learn certain aspects of the English punctuation system, such as the way to punctuate direct speech. In general, however, the most serious of punctuation mistakes are made not only by ESL students, but by native speakers too. These mistakes occur when there is no clear understanding of what a sentence is, and when students use fragments (incomplete sentences) or run-ons (sentences that do not end when they should). Punctuation mistakes can often be spotted if the students read the writing aloud.

     Remember: Extensive reading both in English and the mother tongue, will help you understand the concept of the sentence, its structure and basics of good writing.

Grammar mistakes:
     Grammar mistakes are the next type of errors commonly made by ESL students. Good examples of grammar mistakes are choosing the wrong English verb tense for expressing an idea or using it in an incorrect form. For instance, if an ESL student chooses the word "arrangement" instead of the word "appointment" and uses it in the sentence like "I have an arrangement" instead of "I have an appointment", nobody will understand it. Another example of grammar mistake is using the articles (a/an/the) incorrectly. Placing words in the wrong order in a sentence are also grammar mistakes.
     Some grammar mistakes are easy for learners to correct themselves, particularly if they read their writing aloud. Other grammar mistakes are not easy to find; however, because the learner simply does not know the correct way to express an idea in English. Looking in a grammar book will not often help in such situation - the best thing to do is to ask a native speaker to check the writing.

Usage mistakes:
     Usage mistakes are the final type of errors often seen in ESL students' writing. A usage mistake does not break a grammar "rule"; but it is a word or phrase that a native speaker would never use to express the particular meaning. A usage mistake is a word or a phrase that is grammatically possible, but not usual in standard English. Native speakers of English rarely make usage mistakes, but ESL students make them very often.
     In other words, usage mistakes might look and sound like your thought has been translated into English from your native language word by word, which does not make sense in English. Usage mistakes can often be more of a problem to the reader than grammar mistakes.
     You should understand that the type of writing mistakes listed above are not the only problems to worry about in a piece of written work. In fact, there are aspects of writing that are much more important than the presence of small mistakes of spelling, grammar or usage.
 

(these suggestions are from the web site of Frankfurt International School)

Some more suggestions about how to correct your writing

     So, the first thing you do after completing your writing is a spell check. It's very easy. You don't necessary need to use a dictionary. Since you write in your blogs, use a spell check in the blog. It is a small box with a green check mark and letters ABC over it. Simply, click on this box, and a computer will highlight your mistakes with yellow (if it's a draft) or red (if it's a published post).

     The second thing you need to do is to check your writing for capitalization. Don't forget that in English all proper names are spelled with capital letters. Proper names are names of people, countries and continents, nationalities and names of the languages, rivers, sees, and oceans, mountains, sites and towns, and much more. Remember that the first word in the sentence has to be written with a capital letter.

Example: He is a foreign student. He is French. He has a house on the coast of the Pacific ocean.

     The third thing you need is to check your punctuation. Punctuation is a period ( . ), comma ( , ), question  mark ( ? ), exclamation  mark ( ! ), colon ( : ), semi-colon ( ; ), hyphen ( - ), dash
( -- ), parentheses ( ( ) ), brackets ( [ ] ), ellipsis ( ... ), apostrophe ( ' ), quotation ( " " ) mark and
slash ( / ).

     In English there are some special rules for using punctuation correctly. We will learn them later. Now if you have any questions about them or you are not sure which one you need to use in the sentence, ask me for assistance. I will gladly help you.

     The next thing is checking grammar mistakes. Check if your articles (a/an/the) are used correctly. Do not forget when we use article a, article an, and article the. It should help you.
     Check your verb forms. You have to be sure that you are using the correct verb tense, so please, check every single verb in your writing. 

Grammar mistakes are:

a. Run-on sentence or Comma Splice
b. Pronoun mistakes
c. Mistakes in apostrophe usage
d. Lack of subject or Verb agreement
e. Misplaced modifiers



a. Run-on Sentence or Comma Splice

     Do not write a sentence that joins two independent clauses without punctuation or the appropriate conjunction (and, but, for, yet, nor, so). Do not use a comma to join two clauses that have no appropriate conjunction. I will give you an example:

Incorrect: Mary is very smart, she began reading when she was three years old.
Correct: Mary is very smart. She began reading when she was three years old.
Correct: Mary is very smart; she began reading when she was three years old.
Correct: Mary is very smart, and she began reading when she was three years old.


b. Pronoun Errors

     Make sure that your pronouns agree in number with the nouns to which they refer. "Everybody" is singular. For example:

Incorrect: Everybody must bring their own lunch.
Correct: Everybody must bring his or her own lunch.


c. Mistakes in Apostrophe Usage

     Use apostrophe correctly. Remember, apostrophe is used to show possession. Do not use an apostrophe after a possessive pronoun such as my, mine, our, ours, his, hers, its, their, or theirs. For example:

Incorrect: My mothers cabin is next to his' cabin.
Correct: My mother's cabin is next to his cabin.

     The apostrophe is also used to indicate a contraction. You should remember this. We have learned it long ago. For example:

Incorrect: Its a cold day in October.
Correct: It's a cold day in October. (It's = it is)


d. Lack of Subject / Verb Agreement

When we speak or write in the present tense, a sentence must have subjects and verbs that agree in number. If the subject is singular, the verb must be singular. If the subject is plural, the verb must be plural as well. For example:

Incorrect: Reads a lot.
Correct: He / She read a lot.

Incorrect: The recipes is good for beginning chefs.
Correct: The recipes are good for beginning chefs.

Incorrect: He go to school every day.
Correct: He goes to school every day.


e. Misplaced Modifiers

To express your ideas clearly, you must place a modifier directly next to the word it is supposed to modify. The modifier should clearly refer to a specific word in the sentence. For example:

Incorrect: At eight years old, my father gave me a pony for Christmas.
Correct: When I was eight years old, my father gave me a pony for Christmas.



Dear students,

     If you still have some questions about how to correct your mistakes, please, ask me. I will gladly help you.

Irena