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Brunces Posted 17 years ago
Grammar
How to use prepositions
Friends,
I'm an English teacher and I would like to know from you, experts, whether I am teaching prepositions correctly or not, for this is a very difficult subject for students to learn, here in Brazil.
Could you please correct me or add some more pieces of information? I appreciate it.
This is how I am teaching.
PREPOSITIONS OF PLACE
IN
- to say something or somebody is inside a place:
The car is in the garage. (inside the garage)
The student is in the classroom. (inside the classroom)
- with regions (cardinal points, continents, countries, states, cities and suburbs/districts):
in the North / in North America / in the US / in New York / in New York City / in Manhattan
AT
- to talk about a place as a reference (not specific):
I am at the mall. (I can be anywhere at the mall: inside it; at the parking lot; on the street, in front of it. I'm using the word "mall" as a reference point.)
- when we use objects, refering to a place:
I am at the table. (tabel is not a place)
I am at the computer. (computer is not a place)
Someone is at the door. (door is not a place)
- when we use events, refering to a place:
I am at the party. (party is not a place)
I am at the meeting. (meeting is not a place)
- when we use people, refering to a place:
I am at the dentist. (dentist is not a place)
My car is at the mechanic. (mechanic is not a place)
- with the name of a place:
We are at McDonald's.
- with addresses (street and number):
I live at 351 First Avenue.
ON
- when the place can be figured as a line formart:
on the river / on the street / on the road / on the beach (the shoreline)
- when the place can be figured as a surface:
The book is on the table.
The picture is on the wall.
I am writing on the paper.
We are on the beach. (the surface of the beach, the sand)
FROM
- to talk about origin:
I am from the UK.
This text is from that book.
I drink water from the tap.
NEXT TO, BESIDE
- only when two or more places share borders:
Walking down the street, there are three houses - house A, house B and house C - one after another.
House A is next to / beside house B. (Here we can also use NEAR.)
House B is next to / beside house C. (Here we can also use NEAR.)
House A is near house C. (Here we can not use NEXT TO / BESIDE. We use NEAR only.)
We use NEAR whether two or more places share borders or not.
PREPOSITIONS OF TIME
IN
- with ages, millenniums, centuries, decades, years, seasons, months, parts of the day and future:
in the Middle Ages / in the 1st millennium / in the 21st century / in the '90s / in 1998 / in Summer / in December / in the morning / in ten minutes
AT
- with specific time, special dates without the word DAY, time expressions:
at five o'clock / at Easter / at Christmas / at the age / at that time / at the beginning / at the end / at the moment
ON
- with a specific date, weekdays, with the word DAY, special dates with the word DAY:
on July 4th / on Monday / on the weekend / on the day I was born / on Mother's day
Thank you for your attention.
brunces
I'm an English teacher and I would like to know from you, experts, whether I am teaching prepositions correctly or not, for this is a very difficult subject for students to learn, here in Brazil.
Could you please correct me or add some more pieces of information? I appreciate it.
This is how I am teaching.
PREPOSITIONS OF PLACE
IN
- to say something or somebody is inside a place:
The car is in the garage. (inside the garage)
The student is in the classroom. (inside the classroom)
- with regions (cardinal points, continents, countries, states, cities and suburbs/districts):
in the North / in North America / in the US / in New York / in New York City / in Manhattan
AT
- to talk about a place as a reference (not specific):
I am at the mall. (I can be anywhere at the mall: inside it; at the parking lot; on the street, in front of it. I'm using the word "mall" as a reference point.)
- when we use objects, refering to a place:
I am at the table. (tabel is not a place)
I am at the computer. (computer is not a place)
Someone is at the door. (door is not a place)
- when we use events, refering to a place:
I am at the party. (party is not a place)
I am at the meeting. (meeting is not a place)
- when we use people, refering to a place:
I am at the dentist. (dentist is not a place)
My car is at the mechanic. (mechanic is not a place)
- with the name of a place:
We are at McDonald's.
- with addresses (street and number):
I live at 351 First Avenue.
ON
- when the place can be figured as a line formart:
on the river / on the street / on the road / on the beach (the shoreline)
- when the place can be figured as a surface:
The book is on the table.
The picture is on the wall.
I am writing on the paper.
We are on the beach. (the surface of the beach, the sand)
FROM
- to talk about origin:
I am from the UK.
This text is from that book.
I drink water from the tap.
NEXT TO, BESIDE
- only when two or more places share borders:
Walking down the street, there are three houses - house A, house B and house C - one after another.
House A is next to / beside house B. (Here we can also use NEAR.)
House B is next to / beside house C. (Here we can also use NEAR.)
House A is near house C. (Here we can not use NEXT TO / BESIDE. We use NEAR only.)
We use NEAR whether two or more places share borders or not.
PREPOSITIONS OF TIME
IN
- with ages, millenniums, centuries, decades, years, seasons, months, parts of the day and future:
in the Middle Ages / in the 1st millennium / in the 21st century / in the '90s / in 1998 / in Summer / in December / in the morning / in ten minutes
AT
- with specific time, special dates without the word DAY, time expressions:
at five o'clock / at Easter / at Christmas / at the age / at that time / at the beginning / at the end / at the moment
ON
- with a specific date, weekdays, with the word DAY, special dates with the word DAY:
on July 4th / on Monday / on the weekend / on the day I was born / on Mother's day
Thank you for your attention.
brunces
Top answer
). I'm a British English speaker. There may be some differences here between American English and British English usage.
- ).
- I'm a British English speaker.
- There may be some differences here between American English and British English usage.
- It looks largely OK to me.
- A few comments: I am at the dentist.
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4 Answers
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Sorry, I haven't checked this for completeness -- in other words, I haven't tried to think of uses that you haven't mentioned (that's quite a bit more difficult!).
I'm a British English speaker. There may be some differences here between American English and British English usage.
It looks largely OK to me. A few comments:
I am at the dentist. -- More properly, I would
I'm a British English speaker. There may be some differences here between American English and British English usage.
It looks largely OK to me. A few comments:
I am at the dentist. -- More properly, I would
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Mr Wordyon the weekend -- this is not natural to me; I'd say "at the weekend". However, there are vast numbers of Google hits for "on the weekend", and possibly it's prevalent with other categories of English speakers (American English?)I can confirm that it's "on the weekend", never "at the weekend", for almost all Am
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This is just for what i have been looking.
It has given me the clear picture and i just love it.
This will definitely gonna solves my problem.
Torrance dentist
It has given me the clear picture and i just love it.
This will definitely gonna solves my problem.
Torrance dentist
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