Prepositions
Prepositions of time and place (in, on, at), preposition collocations that go with particular verbs and adjectives, telling a preposition from a conjunction or an adverb particle, and the fixed pairs the exams test again and again.
What you will be able to do
- Use in, on and at correctly for time and for place.
- Recall the standard preposition that follows common verbs and adjectives.
- Distinguish a preposition from a subordinating conjunction and from a phrasal-verb particle.
- Fix the fixed-pair errors that recur in error detection (different from, comply with, and so on).
What is inside this lesson
- 1What a preposition does
- 2In, on, at for time
- 3In, on, at for place
- 4Verbs and adjectives with fixed prepositions
- 5Preposition, conjunction or particle?
- 6Worked example: choosing the preposition
- 7Common mistakes
- 8Quick revision
- 9Practice
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What a preposition does
A preposition links a noun or pronoun to the rest of the sentence and shows a relation: place, time, direction, cause, manner. The noun after it is its object: in the drawer, after the audit, because of the delay.
Most preposition errors are not about meaning; they are about the fixed word that a particular verb, adjective or noun expects. English fixes these by convention, so they have to be learned as pairs.
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