Prepositions of Time

Preposition	Use	Example
on	days of the week	on Monday
in	months / seasons time of day year after a certain period of time (when?)	in August / in winter in the morning in 2006 in an hour
at	for night for weekend a certain point of time (when?)	at night at the weekend at half past nine
since	from a certain point of time (past till now)	since 1980
for	over a certain period of time (past till now)	for 2 years
ago	a certain time in the past	2 years ago
before	earlier than a certain point of time	before 2004
to	telling the time	ten to six (5:50)
past	telling the time	ten past six (6:10)
to / till / until	marking the beginning and end of a period of time	from Monday to/till Friday
till / until	in the sense of how long something is going to last	He is on holiday until Friday.
by	in the sense of at the latest up to a certain time	I will be back by 6 o’clock. By 11 o’clock, I had read five pages.

Prepositions of Place

A preposition is a word that shows the relationship between its object and some other word in a sentence.

Example: The birds flew through the air.

In this example, the word “through” is a preposition because it is used to show the  relationship between word “flew” and its object “the air”.

• The mouse ran across the room.
• The chair is beside the table.
• I am at the University of North Carolina.
• The crocodile is under the water.
• We are in English class.
• The stoplight hangs above the street.
• The children are running around the room as fast as they can.
• My cat jumped onto the table.
• When you sing, sound comes out of your mouth.
• The river runs over the rocks.

Prepositions of Place (IN/AT/ON)

IN

Use ‘in’ with spaces:

• in a room / in a building
• in a garden / in a park

Use ‘in’ with bodies of water:

• in the water
• in the sea
• in a river

Use ‘in’ with lines:

• in a row / in a line
• in a queue

AT

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

Use ‘at’ in groups of people:

• at the back of the class
• at the front of the class

ON

Use ‘on’ with surfaces:

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

Use ‘on’ with small islands:

• I stayed on Maui.

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.

Preposition	Use	Examples
above	higher than sth.	The picture hangs above my bed.
across	from one side to the other side	You mustn’t go across this road here. There isn’t a bridge across the river.
after	one follows the other	The cat ran after the dog. After you.
against	directed towards sth.	The bird flew against the window.
along	in a line; from one point to another	They’re walking along the beach.
among	in a group	I like being among people.
around	in a circular way	We’re sitting around the campfire.
behind	at the back of	Our house is behind the supermarket.
below	lower than sth.	Death Valley is 86 meters below sea level.
beside	next to	Our house is beside the supermarket.
between	sth./sb. is on each side	Our house is between the supermarket and the school.
by	near	He lives in the house by the river.
close to	near	Our house is close to the supermarket.
down	from high to low	He came down the hill.
from	the place where it starts	Do you come from Tokyo?
in front of	the part that is in the direction it faces	Our house is in front of the supermarket.
inside	opposite of outside	You shouldn’t stay inside the castle.
into	entering sth.	You shouldn’t go into the castle.
near	close to	Our house is near the supermarket.
next to	beside	Our house is next to the supermarket.
off	away from sth.	The cat jumped off the roof.
onto	moving to a place	The cat jumped onto the roof.
opposite	on the other side	Our house is opposite the supermarket.
out of	leaving sth.	The cat jumped out of the window.
outside	opposite of inside	Can you wait outside?
over	above sth./sb.	The cat jumped over the wall.
past	going near sth./sb.	Go past the post office.
round	in a circle	We’re sitting round the campfire.
through	going from one point to the other point	You shouldn’t walk through the forest.
to	towards sth./sb.	I like going to Australia. Can you come to me? I’ve never been to Africa.
towards	in the direction of sth.	We ran towards the castle.
under	below sth.	The cat is under the table.
up	from low to high	He went up the hill.