How to Use Prepositions of Place: in, at, on | English Grammar

prepositions of place these are among the most enjoyable things for english students to learn no of course not i don't think anybody really enjoys learning how to use prepositions but if you want to express yourself clearly then you need to know how to use them correctly do we say for example on the lake in the lake or at the lake actually all of those are correct but they mean different things i've already made a video on prepositions of time you'll find the link in the description and this video is on prepositions of place there are lots of prepositions of place but in this video we're just going to look at the three main ones the three most common ones in at and on just a couple of reminders before we begin if you'd like to improve your vocabulary remember to sign up for my free advanced english email lessons you'll find the link in the description and if you want to stop making so many mistakes in english remember that i also have a course on udemy which looks at common mistakes made by english learners to receive my special discount for that you just need to click the link in the description okay now prepositions of place there are some general rules for these but unfortunately sometimes you just need to remember fixed phrases let's first look at in generally speaking we use in if the thing or the person is surrounded by something else for example there is something in this box there is water in this glass there is a small animal in his pocket most people keep their underwear in a drawer most people also use it for bigger things for example i am in a room this room is in a house we can actually use in for all types of homes and buildings in a building in an apartment in a castle in a warehouse you can use at for buildings as well but the meaning changes a bit we'll look at that later in the video we also use in for some outdoor places for example i saw frank peeing in the garden well he is a koala there are lots of shops in the city center even though these places are outside there's still this idea of being surrounded by something we use in for geographical locations as well like towns regions states countries etc i used to live in paris i now live in new south wales new south wales is a state in australia some people like to holiday in the mountains they used to live in the city but now they live in the country you can say in the countryside but most of the time we just say in the country it's also used for north south east and west tasmania is in the south i don't want to live there because it's very cold newcastle is in the north of england apparently it's very cold there as well another thing we use it for is to talk about the contents of food and liquids there is a lot of fat in donuts but i eat them anyway are there raw onions in that salad there isn't much alcohol in like beer another general rule for in is that we usually use it for flat printed things for example how many people are in that picture i know it's true because i read it in a book we also say in a photo in a newspaper in a magazine and in a letter but be careful we say on a page and on the internet i know it's true because i saw it on the internet and on that note now it's time to look at on generally speaking we use on for surfaces i am sitting on a couch the lamp is on that table you have a stain on your t-shirt there is a picture on the wall george likes to sleep on the floor we also say on the ground on the ceiling on the door on the roof etc although we say in a building we use on for the different floors in a building for example when i lived in paris i lived on the sixth floor with no lift i had very strong thighs when i lived in paris on the topic of places we say on an island for example frank doesn't really like people and would prefer to live alone on an island another example there aren't many people living on hamilton island however if the name of the island doesn't have the word island in it we usually use the preposition in for example she always holidays in bali we also use on for coasts he lives on the coast because he loves the beach sydney is on the east coast of australia and we say on a farm ethel does not want to live on a farm another thing that you need to remember is that we use on for the nouns right left and side in australia we drive on the left in other words we drive on the right side of the road the driver's seat is on the right hand side now i know i said we usually use in for printed things like pictures and letters but there are some exceptions we say on a map on a menu on a list and on a page if we're talking about a specific page in a book or a newspaper we say on page the number for example the picture is on page 10. when we're talking about paper well it depends if we're talking about something like a newspaper or a research paper we use in i know it's true because i read it in the newspaper if we're talking about a physical piece or sheet of paper we use on for example there are marks on this paper and now it's time for at to be honest there isn't really a general rule for at some people say it's used to indicate a point in space um that is kind of true but i don't know how helpful that is i think it might be more useful if you think of act as quite a general preposition that is usually less specific than in or on it's often used to indicate a general location and it's similar to very close to for example if this is the thing and this is you you could say i am at the thing imagine this is a fence you could say i am at the fence you're not on the fence or on the fence uh you're certainly not in the fence i don't think that's even possible um you are at the fence some more examples frank waited at the bus stop there is somebody at the door now you can say on the door as well but it means something else so for example this is the door if there's something attached to the door then it is on the door but if somebody has knocked and then they're standing here they are at the door there's a cat at the window she stopped at the traffic lights there are also a few specific rules for at we use at four events frank got drunk at the party there were lots of people at the meeting we also say at a concert at a conference at a wedding at a seminar etc and there are some instances in which we use at immediately before the place for example he's at work now she's studying law at university and we also say at school and at college we say at home as well if you use verbs like to be or to stay the at is optional for example you can say i was at home all weekend or i was home all weekend but if you want to say that you're doing something where you live then you need at for example i used to go to the gym but now i exercise at home because i am a cheapskate yes i know it's a little bit confusing and speaking of confusing now we're going to look at some tricky points remember tricky means a bit difficult if something is tricky normally you need to pay a bit more attention to it so far i've just shown you the quite simple basic rules for in at and on when they're used as prepositions of place now we're going to look at the slightly more complicated rules let's first look at in and at when we're talking about buildings as i said earlier we use in if we are surrounded by something or if we're in an enclosed space that means that you can use in if you are inside a building but we often use at four buildings and outdoor places as well for example you can say in a restaurant or at a restaurant in a supermarket or at a supermarket in a park or at a park normally at is a bit more general for example if you say i am at the restaurant you might be inside or you might be outside and very close to the restaurant you might be in the car park however if you say i'm in the restaurant it definitely means that you're inside we also usually use at if we are talking about where an event takes place so we'd say there are 30 tables in the restaurant but we had dinner at the restaurant that rule also applies if we're talking about somebody's home for example there are lots of cockroaches in john's house i do not want to stay at john's house there are some instances when we use in immediately before the location example in hospital did you know that kate was in hospital and in prison or in jail frank spent a night in jail but if you say in hospital it means that the person is a patient if you say in the hospital or at the hospital the person might be a patient but they could also be a visitor or someone who works there similarly if you say in prison or in jail it means that the person is being held there they're a prisoner in other words if frank worked there i could say frank works at a jail now let's look at streets these rules also apply to words like road and avenue usually we use on here there are lots of pubs on george street some people also use in for streets there are lots of pubs in george street however if there is a number before the street name we use at there is a good pub at 110 george street and now some rules for water and places with water if the thing or the person or the animal is surrounded by water we use in for example i saw frank swimming in our neighbor's pool there are lots of fish in this river there's a small island in the lake however if the person or the thing is on the surface of the water we usually use on there are lots of boats on the lake but some people also say in there there are lots of boats in the lake if the thing or the person is not in the water but is close to the water we usually use at i'm going to have a picnic at the lake you can also use at to be more general for example if someone asked me do you know where george is i could say yes he's at the local pool i don't know if right now as we speak he is in the swimming pool he might be lying next to the swimming pool but i know that he went to the swimming pool and now transport generally speaking we use on four forms of transport i'm on the plane she met her husband on a bus frank got arrested on the train you can use in here in the plane in the bus in the train but we normally only use that if we really want to emphasize that the thing or the person is inside and not outside we also say on a ship and on a boat however if it's a small boat especially if it's something like a canoe or a row boat we usually use in for example when i was on the lake in my boat a bird pooped on my head we also use on for bicycles motorbikes and horses the main exception for forms of transport is cars and things that are similar to cars so we say in a car in a taxi in a van and in a truck on the topic of transport we say at the airport and at the station so at the bus station or the train station the final tricky point we're going to look at today is with the word corner look at these pictures the ball is in the corner again there is this idea of being surrounded by something but we say there is a pub on the corner you can also say at the corner there is a pub at the corner okay guys that is it for today there are a few other tricky points regarding in at and on but i think this video is long enough and i do believe i've covered the most important points remember if you want to watch my video on prepositions of time you'll find the link in the description if you like this video please remember to hit the thumbs up don't forget to subscribe if you don't want to miss any new videos and i'll see you next time bye guys however but we use the sixth fourth sixth floor the sixth floor and on that okay if you'd like to improve remember it's windy outside oh

Channel: English with Max

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Id: 0WEKeHXbn8k

Length: 23min 6sec (1386 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 04 2020