Prepositions are used in many different ways in English - perhaps that's why a lot of people have problems with them.
First, they are used with time words:
•on Monday
•in the 20th century
•at night
Second, they are used to show where something or someone is:
•The plate is on the table.
•Julie is in the garden.
•The picture is on the wall.
Third, they are used after some adjectives:
•She is good at tennis.
•Scotland is famous for whisky
•I'm worried about my new job.
Fourth, they are used after some verbs:
•I'm listening to music.
•She is waiting for her friend.
•He borrows money from his sister.
Fifth, they are used after some nouns:
•She has trouble with remembering new vocabulary.
Finally, they are used in certain phrases:
•The bus arrived in the end.
•She arrived just in time for the film.
Prepositions of time - here's a list of the time word that need 'on', 'in', 'at' and some that don't need any preposition. Be careful - many students of English use 'on' with months (it should be 'in'), or put a prepostion before 'next' when we don't need one.
at
•times: at 8pm, at midnight, at 6:30
•holiday periods: at Christmas, at Easter
•at night
•at the weekend
•at lunchtime, at dinnertime, at breakfast time
on
•days: on Monday, on my birthday, on Christmas Day
•days + morning / afternoon / evening / night: on Tuesday morning
•dates: on the 20th of June
in
•years: in 1992, in 2006
•months: in December, in June
•decades: in the sixties, in the 1790s
•centuries: in the 19th century
•seasons: in winter, in summer
•in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening
no
prep
•next week, year, month etc
•last night, year etc
•this morning, month etc
•every day, night, years etc
•today, tomorrow, yesterday
If something is contained inside a box or a wide flat area, we use ‘in’:
in the newspaper
in a house
in a cup
in a drawer
in a bottle
in a bag
in bed
in a car
in London
in England
in a book
in a pub
in a field
in the sea
in my stomach
in a river
If something is on a line or a horizontal or vertical surface, we use ‘on’:
on the table
on the wall
on the floor
on the fridge
on my face
on a plate
on the page
on the sofa
on a chair
on a bag
on the river
on a t-shirt
on the ceiling
on a bottle
on a bike
on his foot
If something is at a point, (it could be a building) we use ‘at’:
at the airport
at the door
at the table
at the bus stop
at the cinema
at at the top
at the bottom
at the pub
at the traffic lights
at the front
at the back
at school
at university
at the window
at the hospital
at the piano
Here are some more common ones that don’t really fit: • on TV • on the bus • on a train • on a plane • on the radio • at home • at work
Adjectives and prepositions. Some adjectives need a preposition before their object. It doesn't seem to be logical - I'm afraid we just need to learn them!
Here are some of the most common ones:
•famous for
France is famous for its food.
•proud of
He is very proud of his new car.
•interested in
Julie is very interested in sport.
•pleased with
John is very pleased with his new suit.
•bad at
They are very bad at maths.
•good at
Einstein was very good at physics.
•married to
My mother has been married to my father for 20 years.
•excited about
I'm very excited about my holiday.
•different from / to
Coffee is different from tea.
•afraid of
I'm afraid of spiders.
Some verbs need a preposition before an object or another verb. The preposition is only grammatical, it doesn't change the meaning of the verb.
Here are some of the most common ones:
•arrive at / in somewhere
We arrived at the airport.
We arrived in London.
•belong to somebody
This book belongs to me.
•borrow something from somebody
I borrow a book from my classmate.
•concentrate on something / doing something
I concentrated on studying at the weekend.
•depend on something / somebody
It depends on the weather.
•explain something to somebody
The teacher explained the exercise to the students.
•listen to something / somebody
I listen to music.
•pay somebody for something
I pay the waiter for the coffee.
•wait for somebody / something
Wait for me!
•worry about somebody / something Don’t worry about a thing!
