The use of prepositions is one of the most difficult-to-understand elements of English. Don’t feel bad! Even Americans have trouble with prepositions!
ASK YOURSELF: Why do we ride “in a car,” “in a taxi,” and “in a truck” ……BUT, on the other hand, we ride “on a bus,” “on an airplane,” and “on a bus”? A person is born “at 8 o’clock in the evening.” He can say that he was born “on January 1, 1980,” but he can also say that he was born “in January 1980.” You can have a regular monthly meeting with someone “at 3 p.m. on Fridays in October .” You go to school every day. You study at school every day, but, when someone asks you if you are a student, you can reply, “Yes, I’m in school now (meaning these days)” — even if you are sitting in a cafe on a Sunday morning when you say it!
Here are some weblinks to Internet sites that teach various things about prepositions. (Sorry. If the weblink does not have hyperlink, you will have to copy and paste the link into your URL above.):
An animated explanation of prepositions of location and direction: http://www.elihinkel.org/tips/prepositions.htm
List of prepositions: http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/prepositions-list.htm
Examples of prepositions “of,” “to,” and “for”: http://www.talkenglish.com/Grammar/prepositions-of-to-for.aspx
Examples of prepositions “to,” and “for”: http://www.talkenglish.com/Grammar/prepositions-of-to-for.aspx
Prepositions “between,” “to” and “for”: http://www.espressoenglish.net/difference-between-to-and-for/
Prepositions of place and direction: http://esl.about.com/library/grammar/blgr_prep9.htm
Prepositions for Time, Place, and Introducing Objects: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/594/01/
An interactive, on-line quiz about prepositions: http://a4esl.org/q/h/0101/es-prepositions.html
—————— Rick Robinson —————— ESL Doctor and Coach 