Short as they are, prepositions are many people's nightmares

because they have different usages and meanings when collocating with different words

Such flirty players

Then what should we do? How to learn prepositions?

First of all, let's get clear on the definition of prepositions

Prepositions describe relationships

After a preposition we'll put a noun, namely the object of the preposition

The whole unit is called a prepositional phrase

such as on the floor, in the room, beside the chair

on, in, beside are prepositions

the floor, the room, and the chair are the objects of the prepositions

If we put these prepositional phrases in a sentence

they'll have different functions according to different positions

If it's after a noun, it's used as an adjective to modify the noun

the puppy on the floor

If it's after a be verb, it's used as a complement to modify the noun

The puppy is on the floor

If it's after a verb, it's used as an adverb to modify the verb

The puppy sat on the floor

Wherever the prepositional phrase is

it always describes the relationship of the words it modifies

the puppy on the floor, the puppy is on the floor, the puppy sat on the floor

Besides nouns, things that can "be used as nouns"

like pronouns, gerunds and noun clauses, can be put after a preposition

and be used as the object of the preposition to form a prepositional phrase

such as "against me"

a preposition and a pronoun, me

"without stopping"

a preposition and a gerund, stopping

"for what he has done"

a preposition and a noun clause, what he has done

There are many common prepositions including at, on, in, from

...

by...with...

........

to…...(Go on, not over yet, not over yet)

...........

from.....?

(You already said it!) Hahaha really?

at, on, in, from, to, for, of, with, by, etc.

Prepositions have many different meanings when collocating with different words

Today's video is mainly the basic introduction to prepositions

so we won't explain in detail what different meanings there are under different circumstances

As for more detailed lessons, in the future

.....

Will we do it? (May...Maybe?)

Today we're gonna talk about top 3 commonly seen prepositions: at, on, in

and how they describe positions and time

These 3 are usually used to describe different kinds of places and time

Although you can memorize their collocations one by one

if you get the hang of prepositions, you can still infer some usages

Technically, at, on, in respectively indicates points, surfaces, and spaces

Now let's see how to use at, on, in to describe positions and time

When these 3 are used to describe positions, "at" is for a point, "on" for a surface, and "in" for a space

"At somewhere" indicates an exact point

such as at the table, at the bus stop, at the store

"On somewhere" indicates a surface

such as on the second floor or on the street

"In somewhere" indicates a space

It can be big as a universe or small as a cup

such as in the world, in the river, in the room

But some places can be modified by different prepositions

In such cases the meanings are a little different

For example

Beach 海灘, at or on?

If it's "at the beach," it means the exact location, the beach

If it's "on the beach," it means the surface of the beach

Office 辦公室, at or in?

If it's "at the office," it means the exact location, the office

If it's "in the office," it means inside the office

Water 水, on or in?

If it's "on the water," it means upon the surface of the water

If it's "in the water," it means inside the water

You still with me?

All right?

Is it too boring for you?

The following are simpler anyway

When we use these 3 prepositions to describe time

"At" indicates precise points in time

"On" indicates certain days or dates

"In" indicates long periods

"At a certain time" emphasizes the moment when something happens

such as at noon, at 6 o'clock

"On a certain time" indicates specific dates

such as on Friday, on April 1st, on Halloween

"In a certain time" describes a longer period of time

such as in the morning, in September, in spring, in 2015

Is that simpler?

Here we have an interesting point in time, weekend

Some say "at the weekend," "on the weekend," while others say "in the weekend"

When you're not sure which preposition to use

I recommend you go to Google Ngram and check how most people use it

In Google Ngram, you can use commas to separate the collocations you want to compare

The search engine will tell you which usage is more common

Here we can tell "on the weekend" is the most common one

Alright! After all that explanation, do you have a better understanding of prepositions?

Please say yes

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