One of the most common English Grammar mistakes which I often commit is preposition. A preposition links nouns, pronouns and phrases to other words in a sentence. The word or phrase that the preposition introduces is called the object of the preposition. It is used to express used to express position, direction or time. For example,
(a) I am sitting on the stool. (Position) (b) I am walking to her. (Direction)
(c) I do my homework at night. (Time)
Even though it might sound easy, sometimes it will be quite confusing because certain groups of preposition can be used in the same category. For example, “in”, “at”, and “on” can be used to indicate time. However, there are some differences of usage between them.
(a) At is used for times of the day
Examples:At half past 7, At breakfast time, at midnight
(b) On is used for days and dates
Examples:ON 5th of June, On Tuesday
(c) In is used for longer time of period
Examples: In April, In 1987
(d) No preposition is used for some “ time” words
Examples:Yesterday, next, tomorrow
Sometimes, “on” and “upon” can be quite confusing as well. Actually, ‘On’ is used to show position. For example: She sat on a chair. In the other hand, ‘Upon’ is used to indicate motion. For example: The cat sprang upon the cat.
Besides that, there is a difference between ‘at’ and ‘in’ when we use them to express places. ‘At ‘is used with small places like “At Hill Town” or “At Gaya Street”. On the other hand, ‘in’ is used with large towns or countries, such as “In Singapore” or “In Hong Kong”.
A part from that, there are certain words followed by certain prepositions in a fixed way. It is important to identify the suitable preposition when it is used with a word. Otherwise, it will be inappropriate since it will give a different meaning.For instances, 'I seldom talk to him anymore' is different with' Do not talk about sensitive issues in the public'. The preposition 'to' used in the first example , is used to direct the reader to some , while the preposition 'about' used in second sentence is used to describe or discuss a matter.Other examples are as the followings: ‘parted from’ and ‘parted with’, ‘known to’ and ‘know for ’, ‘glance at’ and ‘glance for’.
All in all, it is important that we aware of preposition usage so that confusion can be avoided and the message can be presented clearly.
Exercise1
Complete the sentences with ‘in’, ‘on’, or ‘at’.
1 I start work _9.00.
2 My birthday is_ December.
3 He goes shopping_ lunchtime.
4 My holiday starts _the 2nd of August.
5 In Canada it's very cold the _winter.
6 I don't work _Sundays.
Answers: 1. at 2.in 3.at 4.on 5.in 6.on
Exercise 2
1. My mother was fond _ children
2. He was born _ India_ poor parents
3. In order to find the solution for this question, we must look _ the matter more closely.
4. It depends how do u look_ this issue.
5. He is known_ his great contribution to the poor
6. He is made known _ her by his grandparents.
7. We shall fight_ terrorism by cooperating with government
8. Who shall we fight_?
9. Even though both of them are twins, they are different_ each other just by looking_ their physical appearance.
10. Most pianists are different_ their playing style
Answers: 1. Of 2.In, to 3.into 4.at 5.for 6.to 7.against 8. For 9.from 10.in
References:
1. http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammarchallenge/pdfs/gc_16_timepreps_%20explanation.pdf
2. http://www.uottawa.ca/academic/arts/writcent/hypergrammar/preposit.html
3. Practical English Usage, English as a Second Language, Book 3, English Language Research Service, T.S. Kon
4. http://www.oup.com/elt/global/products/englishfile/elementary/a_grammar/file03/grammar03_d02/
3 comments:
Hi, Justin. Your work is really quite good. It is quite clear and shows us lots of details. It helps me a lot to use these preposition correctly. I was confused about these prepositions. It's good that you give us some practices to do. Although I've read the article, I still made some mistakes. That's why we must pay lots of attention to prepositions. In this article, you talked about "in", "at" and "on" when used to indicate time. However, there are some irregular situations, like "at weekend" and “at weekends”. There is a small mistake in your first paragraph, “It is used to express used to express position, direction or time”. Be more careful and do not make such simple mistakes.
It is a good piece of work! You put a lot of effort to this article. In the begining, you set some links towards some other website to explain those words. It is a good idea. Then you do not need to do so because it is not your thesis to explain these words. Then the differrent usage of preposition is also quite important. Then, the most important part is those fixed uses of prepositions. We may forget these uses after learning them. It may bring some unconvenience when using a wrong preposition. There is a slight error in your passage. You type "used to express" twice in one sentece in the first paragragh. I think it is little carelessness.
You showed us how to use the prepositions correctly. Moreover, you also mention about the confusing part which most of the people would commit the mistakes. the exercises also quite useful. But i think there is typo error for question 5. " In Canada it's very cold the _winter." i think it should be "In Canada it's very cold _ the winter."
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