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  • I'm having a hard time reading on the train right now.

  • Unh. Hold on. I'll start the lesson.

  • Hi. James from engVid. Sorry, I was on the train.

  • I want to teach you a lesson about

  • four basic prepositions that we use in English that sometimes get confused, and I understand

  • why, so I'll keep it basic. But because it's basic, it's going to be 80% correct. That's

  • a good thing, that means you can go to the website and learn more from other lessons

  • we have. But just know that sometimes there'll be exceptions, and I may not cover it here

  • today. I'll even give you two exceptions to help you, but why waste time?

  • Let's go to the board.

  • Here's Mr. E. You'll notice he has a calendar, he has a clock, and:

  • "You are here"?

  • Oh, here.

  • "Here" is a location. We're here right now, doing a lesson. That's the location: engVid.

  • Let's go to the board and do the rest of the lesson, shall we?

  • Here's: "at", "on", "in", and "by".

  • "At". I love it because it's very specific, so you

  • always know where you are, exactly. Problem: For transportation, "at" doesn't have anything.

  • Hmm. So let's go to the next one. Let's go to "on". On.

  • "On" is used for, let's say,

  • large vehicles or large ways of travelling, such as buses... Sorry. Trains, buses, planes,

  • and boats. I'll come back to boat in a second; it's an exception. On the train, on the bus,

  • and on the plane, unless you're Bill Gates, Donald Trump, or me-I'm not in that list-you

  • don't have your own train, plane, or bus, so you usually share it with a bunch of people

  • or a few people. It's large. So we say:

  • "You're on the bus", because it covers a big area,

  • so there are many people sitting in that area. When I get to location, you'll see what I mean.

  • Boat is a small exception. For many people in the world, they have their own boats because

  • maybe they do fishing, or rowing, which is a type of boat that you go by yourself. In

  • that situation, you can use "in". So, if the boat is small enough, say: "in":

  • "I'm in a boat right now." But if it's a big boat, you have to say: "I'm on a boat." Another exception

  • for the "on" rule is bicycle. You're always "on" a bicycle. I know, I said big vehicles,

  • but remember: a bicycle is small, and it doesn't really have a motor or an engine, so we kind

  • of give it its own thing, because you have to sit on the bicycle, and you can never really

  • be in a bicycle. Is that good?

  • Now, let's go to "in". "In" is funny because there are only two things for "in".

  • "In" we use for car and taxi.

  • The easy way to think about it is usually you own your own car;

  • it doesn't belong to a group of people. People just don't get on your car every time you

  • stop it, they go in and say: "Take me somewhere."

  • And a taxi, well, when you're in a taxi, it

  • is kind of your car. You pay the driver and you keep the car. So, this is one of those

  • few cases where, because it belongs to me, I am in my car or I am in the taxi, because

  • the taxi belongs to me as long as I pay the money. It's one of these funny exceptions.

  • I don't know why, because you can put more people in a car, but I guess because you can

  • actually own this transportation, it's yours. Think of it like the small boat. The small

  • boat, one person is in it, you can be inside of it. All right? Cool.

  • The last one we're going to do is "by". This is how you get there. So, "by" is different.

  • When we talk about "in" and "on", you are... We are talking about how you are in the vehicle.

  • Are you sitting on the bicycle? I can see you on it? You know, a boat is on water. But

  • "by" just means: How did you get here? So, when someone responds to you with: "By car",

  • "by plane", they're telling you how they got here. Not if they're in the plane, or on the

  • plane. They are just... That's how they got there. So, how did I get here to do this video?

  • Wouldn't you like to know. I'm kidding. I came here by car. So, yes, I was in my car

  • and drove here, but I would tell somebody: "I got here by car, not by bus", and that

  • would tell them the difference in the transportation I took. "How did you get here?" You like that?

  • Good, so that's "by", this is how you did it; and the way you travelled is here, "in"

  • and "on". Remember there is a small exception for small vehicles, so a small boat you can

  • be in. Remember small. And a bicycle, you're always on the bicycle, because people see

  • you sitting on it. We good? Excellent. Now, that is the lesson for transportation.

  • Let's look at location. You'll notice that the same rules or ideas apply.

  • Remember I said I liked "at" because it's specific? Notice the dot, it's very specific.

  • "Meet me at my house." That does not mean down the street,

  • that does not mean in another city. It means:

  • My house, you. Meet me at my house, specific location. Or I'll give you an address:

  • "Meet me at 51 Eglington."

  • Not: "In 51 Eglington", no. "At", that means right there.

  • You can see the number and the place. Like it? I do, too.

  • "On". If you notice, this is a dot, and this is like a carpet or an area. This is why I

  • said on the bus, the train, and the plane - they are big, they have an area. And because

  • of that, we say "on" because you stand in an area.

  • So, "on". We put things on a table.

  • Imagine... Nope. How about this? This is a better table. I'm going to put something on the table. You

  • can see it on, and here is an area. Cool? That's for "on".

  • "In" I can use the same thing. That's the next one. "In", there is a surface, but you

  • have to go over and in something. Remember I said "on" here? This is now "in". You can't

  • see it anymore, can you? Because it's inside with a bunch of markers. It's inside. But

  • when it's on the surface, you'll notice "on", you can see it. "In", like magic, it disappears.

  • Okay? So, "in", usually you have walls or something surrounding you that you can look

  • up and see the walls. You'll see there's the board here, and there are three other walls,

  • so I'm in a room. But I'm on the floor because I'm standing on the floor. Okay? So if the

  • floor was here, this would be me. Ta-da. But I would go in the room, and now you need a

  • door to see me. Okay? So, "in" and "on".

  • "By". Many of you know "close" and "near". So, if you think of two things... Okay? Here's

  • one thing, here's two things. We can say:

  • "This is by the red marker."

  • Similar to saying "close" or "near". We just say "by".

  • There's 8% of this marker. I said 80% lesson, but

  • it seems it's gone down. [Laughs] Well, "by" is similar to "close" or "near". And you notice

  • the arrows, here, show you, if I say I'm close to your house or by your house, it's similar

  • to saying "by" or "near". Okay? Cool.

  • Now I'm going to deal with time. When we deal with time, we'll start at "at". "At". Remember

  • I said very specific, that's why I like it? This is when you say things like: "At 9:15",

  • "At 12:00". It says very specific time when we deal with hour and minute.

  • -"What time will I meet you?" -"At 10:30." Specific. That doesn't mean 12:00. That's not "at". Okay?

  • Day... Sorry. "On". When we talk about "on", we talk about days. "On Monday", "On Tuesday".

  • And if you're confused, think of it this way: A day has 24 hours. It's kind of got a surface

  • to it. It's not just one specific time; it's got a little bit of time on it. So, on that

  • day-okay?-anything can happen on that day on the surface. We stand on it, and we walk

  • across it. You wake up, then you go to sleep. So, on that day. Funny enough, you can say

  • things like: "On Christmas day", "On Monday", "On my birthday". So if you have a word that

  • has a day in it, you can use "on". Told you I'd make it easy. It's 80% true, there'll

  • be exceptions. I know, someone will say one. But just think: "Did I say 'day' in there?

  • 'On' the holiday." Right? You can say it, because it's got "day". Make it easy.

  • Okay, now we've talked about specific time with "at",

  • and on the day with "on", but let's look at "in".

  • When I say something like: "In September", what I'm talking about are long

  • periods of time. We can say that for years, months, and weeks. So, for instance, I can

  • even go back in the past and say: "In 1992, I came to Canada."

  • Or: "In September, I will buy a hat."

  • Now, we're talking about specific time, as we did in "on" and "at", but this

  • time we're talking about longer periods of time, and we're being very specific.

  • Now, I'm going to go to one more for you and we're going to go by "by". "By" is fantastic

  • because it's the end of a specific time. If I say: "I need it done by tonight",

  • that is the time, it's specific, and that's the end time or your limit.

  • And funny enough, that's the end of my lesson. I'm at the limit.

  • I hope you've enjoyed it. E has been helpful,

  • bringing out the calendar and the clock, and giving us a location.

  • Quick recap: You can use "at", "on", "in", and "by"

  • for transportation, location, and time.

  • When we deal with transportation, there are a couple of exceptions you want to remember.

  • "On" is used for large groups of people travelling by train, bus, plane, or boat. But sometimes

  • a boat can be for one person, and you can say "in". We also use bicycle for "on", and

  • that's because you sit on the bicycle. When we talk about "in", we use it for car and taxi,

  • because that's usually your private vehicle. Even though you say taxi's public,

  • when you're in it, it's yours as long as you pay for it, and it's also small. Okay?

  • "By" is how you get there; by car, plane, or train.

  • When we went for location, we talked about specific with "at". On the surface or in an

  • area for "on", like a carpet, think like carpet. "In", think like a box, you go in a box. And

  • "by" is similar to "close" or "near" or "close to" when you used it.

  • And finally, for time, we talked about specific time-okay?-using these prepositions.

  • "At" is one time only; "on" is for days: "On Monday", "On Christmas day";

  • "in" is used for longer periods of time, like: "In September", or we can go back into the past:

  • "In 1992";

  • and finally, end time when we use "by". Okay? And we say that's the end.

  • And that's the end of this particular lesson.

  • So, I'd like to thank you, once again, for coming to engVid.

  • And what did I say? I need you to go to www.eng as in engVid... English.

  • V, as in video.com

  • (www.engvid.com) where you can go do the quiz and see how well you learned your lesson.

  • Okay? And by now, I think you've got 80% of it correct.

  • Okay? See ya later.

I'm having a hard time reading on the train right now.

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