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by Justin on June 17, 2013 Are prepositions really so difficult? What if I told you that IN JUST 5 MINUTES I could help you solve some of your most confusing preposition problems? English learners everywhere are confused about prepositions, and members of the Real Life English International Community always say its one of their biggest difficulties. But with the right strategies, prepositions DO NOT need to be so complicated. If you take a few minutes to learn a few tricks, and visualize the problem in a new way, your experience learning prepositions will be a lot easier. This is gonna be fun! Ready? Today, were going to explore how the prepositions AT, ON, and IN are used with TIME and PLACE, and use a formula that works in around 90% of cases. Its not perfect, but it gives you a great foundation to learn the exceptions. Given the fact that most people are visual learners, and most prepositions are best taught in a visual way, well also use graphic organizers and a video lesson to teach this.
Prepositions of Time
IN- The pyramids TOP (wider), which is BIGGER and more GENERAL:
Description: Bigger periods of time: Centuries, Decades, Years, Months Examples: in the 20th century, in the 1980s, in March, in the third week of April, in the future Exceptions: in the morning, in the evening, in the afternoon
ON- The pyramids MIDDLE part, which is SMALLER and MORE SPECIFIC:
Description: Days, or periods of time shorter than three days Examples: on my birthday, on Saturday, on the weekend (United States), on June 8th Exceptions: on my lunch break, on time
AT- The pyramids BOTTOM (pointed), the SMALLEST, and the MOST SPECIFIC:
Description: Specific times or small time periods. Examples: at 9:00 PM, at lunch, at dinner, at the start of the party, at sunrise, at the start of the movie, at the moment Exceptions: at night, at the weekend (England)
Prepositions of Location
IN - The TOP (wider), which is BIGGER and more GENERAL:
Description: In larger areas (countries, states, cities, neighborhoods) Examples: in the United States, in Miami, in my neighborhood Exceptions: in downtown (I work in downtown)
Description: a longer area, street, beach, river Examples: on Broadway Street, on the beach, on my street
AT The pyramids BOTTOM (pointed), the SMALLEST, and the MOST SPECIFIC:
Description: the address or specific location, specific points. Examples: at 345 broadway street, at the store, at my house
Prepositions of Placement
The mind map pyramid below explains TIME in the same way we did above (only this one is not inverted), but it also introduces prepositions PLACE/PLACEMENT, which we will focus on here.
Enclosed Space: in the kitchen, in the house, the water is in the glass Personal Modes of Transportation: get in the car, my friend is in the taxi
Surfaces: on the floor, on the wall, the book is on the table, on a page, I put on my clothes (my clothes are on my body) Public Modes of Transportation: on the bus, on the plane, on a boat, on a ship, Exceptions: on my motorcycle, on my bike (these are personal modes of transportation, but we use on)
at the bus stop, at the cinema, at the corner, at the top of the hill, at the mall
Now that weve simplified the use of prepositions IN, ON, and AT with mind maps and simple explanations, heres a short and simple video lesson from English For Brazilians creator, John Clites. (Note: this video was made for Brazilians, but everything in it is applicable to English learners from ALL countries)