IN , AT , ON ; Are they confusing?

IN



We use 'in' with spaces:

•in a room / in a building

•in a garden / in a park

We use 'in' with bodies of water:

•in the water

•in the sea

•in a river

We use 'in' with lines:

•in a row / in a line

•in a queue

AT

We use 'at' with places:

•at the bus-stop

•at the door

•at the cinema

•at the end of the street

Use 'at' with places on a page:

•at the top of the page

•at the bottom of the page

We use 'at' in groups of people:

•at the back of the class

•at the front of the class

ON

We use 'on' with surfaces:

•on the ceiling / on the wall / on the floor

•on the table

We use 'on' with small islands:

•I stayed on Maui.

We use 'on' with directions:

•on the left

•on the right

•straight on

IMPORTANT NOTES

In / at / on the corner

We say 'in the corner of a room', but 'at the corner (or 'on the corner') of a street'

In / at / on the front

•We say 'in the front / in the back' of a car

•We say 'at the front / at the back' of buildings / groups of people

•We say 'on the front / on the back' of a piece of paper


Now, try this quiz to check your understanding! CLICK HERE!
 
Or practice with these exercises:
 
Activity one: Put the prepositions (IN,ON,AT) in the right place.
 


Activity Two: Put the prepositions (IN,ON,AT) in the right place.





Activity three: Put the prepositions (IN,ON,AT) in the right place.

PREPOSITIONS OF LOCATION, GRAMMAR + ACTIVITY

Prepositions of Location
These prepositions are used to describe where is something.
(Preposiciones de lugar son palabras para describir donde está algo.

Estas son las más comunes y las que debemos estudiar.)


on - encima de
under - debajo de
in - en
inside - adentro
outside - afuera
in front of - en frente de
behind - atrás
next to - al lado between - entre (dos)
among - entre muchos
across from - del otro lado de la calle (también se dice "opposite")
opposite - del otro lado (de la calle u otra cosa)
above - arriba
below - abajo
around - alrededor
on the right - a la derecha
on the left - a la izquierda


ACTIVITY ONE:

LOOK THE MAP BEHIND AND CHOOSE THE CORRECT PREPOSITION:

Estudie las preposiciones del cuadro abajo y seleccione la preposición correcta en las oraciones según la posición en el mapa.


next to - al lado
between - entre
across from - del otro lado de la calle



1. The police station is _________the bank and the store.
2. The drug store is __________the police station.
3. The school is_________ the restaurant.
4. The train station _________the school.
5. The drug store is _______the movie theater and the post office.

ACTIVITY TWO:
Estudie las preposiciones del cuadro abajo y seleccione la preposición correcta según la posición en la foto. STUDY THE PREPOSITIONS BELOW AND PUT THEM IN THE CORRECT PLACE:

in front of - en frente de
behind - atrás
between - entre
above - arriba
below - abajo
on the right - a la derecha
on the left - a la izquierda


1. The house is -------------the car.
2. The dog is ---------------the sun.
3. The tree is ---------------the house.
4. The car is ----------------the house.
5. The sun is ----------------the dog.
6. The house -------------------the dog and the tree.
7. The dog is ------------------the house.

prepositions (elementary)

In each sentence, choose the best word or phrase to complete the gap from the choices below (a, b, c, or d).

1. I had lots of posters ____ the wall of my bedroom when I was a teenager.
a) to b) on c) in d) at

2. I usually walk _____ work everyday. It keeps me fit.
a) to b) for c) in d) at

3. I think I put the milk _____ the fridge. Can you see it?
a) at b) to c) in d) with

4. If you feel ill, perhaps you should stay _____ home tomorrow.
a) in b) at c) to d) by

5. The train arrived _____ the station twenty minutes late.
a) for b) to c) at d) by

6. The plane had to return _____ the airport because of the storm. It was too dangerous to continue.
a) in b) for c) to d) at

7. Sheila is coming back _____ holiday tomorrow.
a) from b) out of c) in d) to

8. There was an accident last night _____ the end of our street.
a) in b) from c) on d) at

9. When the weather is nice we normally sit _____ the garden.
a) at b) on c) in d) to

10. The rider fell _____ the horse and broke his arm.
a) out of b) down c) for d) off

11. Put the books back _____ the shelf after the class, please.
a) in b) on c) at d) up

12. I lost my money somewhere _____ the hotel and the beach.
a) between b) from c) to d) into

PRINTABLE VERSION FOR TEACHERS

Prepositions of place : at-in-on


We use ‘at’ to talk about a place as a point.
We use ‘in’ to talk about a place as an area.
We use ‘on’ to talk about a place as a surface.

1. We use ‘at’ when we are thinking of a place as a point in space.

She waited at the bus stop for over twenty minutes.

‘Where were you last night?’ - ‘At Mick's house.’

2. We also use ‘at’ with words such as ‘back’, ‘bottom’, ‘end’, ‘front’, and ‘top’ to talk about the different parts of a place.

Mrs Castle was waiting at the bottom of the stairs.

They escaped by a window at the back of the house.

I saw a taxi at the end of the street.

We use ‘at’ with public places and institutions. Note that we also say ‘at home’ and ‘at work’.

I have to be at the station by ten o'clock.

We landed at a small airport.

A friend of mine is at Training College.

She wanted to stay at home.

We say ‘at the corner’ or ‘on the corner’ when we are talking about streets.

The car was parked at the corner of the street.

There's a telephone box on the corner.

We say ‘in the corner’ when we are talking about a room.

She put the chair in the corner of the room.

3. We use ‘in’ when we are talking about a place as an area. We use ‘in’ with:

a country or geographical region

When I was in Spain, it was terribly cold.

A thousand homes in the east of Scotland suffered power cuts.

a city, town, or village

I've been teaching at a college in London.

a building when you are talking about people or things inside it

They were sitting having dinner in the restaurant.

We also use ‘in’ with containers of any kind when talking about things inside them.

She kept the cards in a little box.

4. Compare the use of ‘at’ and ‘in’ in these examples.

I had a hard day at the office. (‘at’ emphasizes the office as a public place or institution)

I left my coat behind in the office. (‘in’ emphasizes the office as a building)

There's a good film at the cinema. (‘at’ emphasizes the cinema as a public place)

It was very cold in the cinema. (‘in’ emphasizes the cinema as a building.)

5. When talking about addresses, we use ‘at’ when you give the house number, and ‘in’ when we just give the name of the street.

They used to live at 5, Weston Road.

She got a job in Oxford Street.

Note that American English uses ‘on’: ‘He lived on Penn Street.’

We use ‘at’ when we are talking about someone's house.

I'll see you at Fred's house.

6. We use ‘on’ when we are talking about a place as a surface. We can also use ‘on top of’.

I sat down on the sofa.

She put her keys on top of the television.

We also use ‘on’ when we are thinking of a place as a point on a line, such as a road, a railway line, a river, or a coastline.

Scrabster is on the north coast.

Oxford is on the A34 between Birmingham and London.

A list of Common Mistakes in Written English (1) Prepositions

Common mistakes with Prepositions:

wrong use of ‘at’ after ‘come’:

‘They come home’
‘We can follow the evolution of her state of mind through the description of the house’

wrong use of ‘‘with’ instead of ‘to’:

‘Daisy is married to Tom’

wrong use of ‘to’ instead of ‘with’

‘The problem I am confronted with’

wrong use of ‘during’ instead of ‘for’:

‘She has not seen her son for eight years’

wrong use of ‘since’ instead of ‘for’:

‘They have known each other for eight years’

wrong use of ‘in the whole of’ instead of ‘throughout’:

‘throughout the story…’

wrong use of ‘in’ instead of ‘inside’ :

‘She is unaware of the conflict happening inside her’

wrong use of ‘in’ instead of ‘into’:

‘She only wants to get into her son’s room’

wrong use of ‘as’ instead of ‘like’:

‘She felt like a stranger’

wrong use of ‘of’ instead of ‘with’:

‘They cause Mrs Carnavon to be disgusted with herself’

wrong use of ‘of’ instead of ‘by’:

‘In this story by Doris Lessing…’

wrong use of ‘of’ instead of ‘for’:

‘I think there are two reasons for the fact that she decides to clear the room’
‘She feels confused, and the reason for this is to be found in…’

wrong use of ‘that’ instead of ‘as’:

‘The second waiter feels the same as the old man’

wrong use of ‘to’ instead of ‘with’ after ‘confront’:

‘They are confronted with an inextricable situation’

wrong use of ‘to’ instead of ‘at’ after ‘arrive’:

‘She must arrive at a decision’

wrong use of ‘explain’ without ‘to’:

‘This story explains to us how we must look beyond the appearance of things’

wrong use of ‘say’ without ‘to’:

‘He said to him/told him that he liked the house’

wrong use of ‘present’ without ‘with’:

‘John O’Hara presents us with the evolution of a mother’s state of mind’