Lesson 24. Prepositions

Prepositions.

1.Prepositions of time.

 

She takes her daughter to the park on Sundays.

They decorate a tree at Christmas.

  In summer,they go to the beach.

We use prepositions of time to say when something happens, happened or will happen. The most common ones are at,in and on.

He goes to school at eight o'clock in the morning. 

 We use at:

the time :                   at 7 o'clock

holidays :                   at Easter / at Christmas 

in the expressions:    at the weekend / at present / at noon / at night / at midnight / at dawn

      We use in:

months :                      in May / in September / in July

seasons :                      in the winter / spring / autumn / summer

years:                          in 1996 / in 1877

centuries:                    in the 20th century

in the expressions:     in an hour / in a minute / in a week, in a few days, in a month, in a year    

           

 We use on:

days :                                 on Monday / on Friday;  on New Year's Day

dates :                                on May 6th / on September 1st

part of a particular day:     on Monday morning / on Tuesday afternoon

adjective + day:                 on a hot day

 We don't use prepositions of time:

 with the words today, tomorrow, tonight, yesterday

before the words this, last, next, all, some, each, one, any

Come to my house tomorrow morning.

Let's go to the cinema next Sunday.  

2.Prepositions of place.

 We use prepositions of place to say where somebody or something is. These include: on, under, in front of, behind, beside/next to, near, at, in, between and among.

 
The vase is on the table. 



The cat is under the table.


Nancy is in front of Paul.
Paul is behind Nancy.



The pencils are in the pencil case. 


The man is at the door. 




The fireplace is between the chairs.
We use between to say that somebody or something is in the middle of two other things or people.


The teacher is sitting among the students.
We use among to say that somebody or something is in the  middle of three or  more things or people.


The boy is next to the girl.


The chair is near the desk. 

We use at:

• with addresses when we mention the house number:

at 15, King Street,    (but in King Street)

• in the expressions:

at school / university / college, at work, at home, at the top of..... , at the bottom of.....

We use in:

• with names of cities, countries and continents:

in Moscow, in London, in Russia, in England, in Australia, in Europe

• in the expressions:

in the air, in the sky, in hospital, in prison, in bed, in a picture, in a newspaper/ magazine, in the middle

We use on:

• in the expressions: 

on the first / second floor , on the right, on the left


3.Prepositions of movement. 
We use prepositions of movement to show the direction in which somebody or something is moving. These include: over, along, across, up, down, into, out of, onto, round,  through and from... to... .


 
They are walking across the street. 


The plane is flying over the city.



The car is going along the street. 


The boys are climbing up the hill.



They are skiing down the hill.


The woman is getting into the taxi.


The woman is getting out of the taxi. 
 
They are jumping onto the truck. 




 The train is going through a tunnel.


The bus is going from London to Oxford. 


Note:
When we talk about a means of transport, we use the preposition by.
by car / bus / train / taxi / boat / plane
BUT:
on foot

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