I chose this subject, because mistakes are often committed concerning
the use of prepositions of place and movement..
In :
" In " is used to indicate closed or limited spaces.
Indeed we say :
· There's no one in the room/ in the building/ in the garden/
in the park
Moreover " in " is also used when talking about bodies
of water. We usually say :
· Look at the people swimming in the pool/ in the sea/
in the river.
" In " can also be employed to refer to lines : For
example, we say :
· in a row / in a line
· Jack is in the queue.
We also use " in " when we talk about a precise geographical
place :
· When we were in Northern Ireland, we spent a few days
in Ballymena.
· I have a friend who lives in a small village in the Mourne
mountains.
· Mum is in town to go shopping
At :
As for " at ", it is used when talking about precise
places: We say :
· Who is that woman standing at the bus-stop/ at the door/
at the windows ?
· We were at the cinema, yesterday.
But at is also used to indicate closeness. For instance, we say
· Dean's house is the white one at the end of the street
· He is at the door.
" At " is employed for expressions of places on a page:
For instance, we say :
· Write your name at the top of the page/ at the bottom
of the page.
" At " is used about groups of people. It is usual to
say :
· at the back of the class
· at the front of the class
We also have to observe the difference of meaning between the
expressions : at the end and in the end.
At the end means " at the moment where something comes to
an end " : He will come at the end of January.
Whereas in the end means " finally or eventually" :
He didn't want to lend us the money but in the end he agreed.
On :
" On " is commonly used when talking about surfaces.
So, we say :
· There is a big spider on the ceiling / on the wall /
on the floor.
· My book is on the table.
· Have you seen the time of meeting on the rugby notice
board ?
· You will find details of his career on page seven of
the magazine.
Besides, we also employ " on " for expressions concerning
small islands:
· I stayed on Maui.
What's more, 'on' is used to indicate directions. We say :
· When you arrive at the university of Ulster, in Coleraine,
the playing fields are on your left/on your right.
· Just go straight on.
Some comments :
Yet, sometimes it is necessary to be careful, when using in /at
and on. In some cases, it is possible to confuse their meanings.
In / at / on the corner
So, we say 'in the corner of a room', but 'at the corner (or 'on
the corner') of a street'
· The television is in the corner of the room.
· There is a payphone at/on the corner of the street
In / at / on the front
We say 'in the frontseat / in the backseat' of a car. I was sitting
in the back of the car when we crashed.
But we say 'at the front / at the back' of buildings / groups
of people. I was standing at the back, so I could not see very
well.
We say 'on the front / on the back' of a piece of paper. Write
your name on the back of this envelope.
To :
In French, we both use prepositions " en " or "
à " to intoduce a complement of place that refers
to the place where we are going or the place where we are.
In English, we make a difference between the place and the event
to which we are going and the place and the event where we are.
The preposition " to " expresses movement, whereas at
and in are used to indicate position.
So we say :He often goes to London. But he lives in London.
Can you come to the party ? But I'll see you at the party.
The preposition " to " is used after verbs expressing
movements like to go/come/or to travel.
For example : He went to America. She drives me to the airport.
We will go to a concert. The killer was sent to prison.
In the same way, we say : on my way to/ a journey to/a trip to/welcome
to…
We also usually say " I've been to a place "
I've been to Dublin twice, but I've never been to Cork.
We say " to get to a place ".
What time did they get to the rugby training/ get to work ?
We have to be careful with the verb to arrive. So, it is accompanied
with the preposition in when it is followed by the name of a city
or a country.
We say : They arrived in Scotland
But the verb to arrive can also be followed by the preposition
at when talking about any other place : Indeed, we say : we arrived
at the hotel.
Into :
In French, we use the preposition " dans " either to
indicate the place where we are, or to indicate the place we are
entering.
In English, we have two different prepositions. In is used when
discussing the place where we are, and into is used to indicate
the place where we enter.
For instance : He is in the kitchen but he came into the kitchen.
A bird flew into the kitchen
Note that we say " enter a building/ enter a room and so
on and not enter into a room.
We sometimes use " in " instead of " into ".
For example : Don't wait outside. Come in the house or come into
the house.
Home :
One does not say " to home " 'but go home, come home,
get home, etc…
Ex : I'm tired let's go home, I met Caroline on my way home.
Enter at/in/on where necessary.
1. The label is …the bottle.
2. I live … Portrush road.
3. I live … seventy-five Portrush road.
4. Jack is waiting …the bottom of the stairs.
5. Our seats are …the third row.
6. Turn left …the lights.
7. He is sitting …the chair next to the piano.
8. I met Jack …the street.
9. He has a lot of beautiful pictures … the wall.
10. I live on the fifth floor …my appartment building.
11. We waited for an hour … the bus stop.
12. Who is that woman …that photograph ?
13. You will find an explanation … page 18.
14. Coleraine is … the river Bann.
15. The instructions are … the back of the box.
Translate into english :
1. Trois personnes furent emmenées à l'hôpital
après l'accident :
2. J'ai dû le perdre sur le chemin de la maison.
3. Je dois aller à la banqur aujourd'hui pour changer de
l'argent
4. Dès que j'arrive à la maison, j'irai au lit./
As soon as i get home, I'm going to bed
5. Nous avons déjeuné à l'aéroport
en attendant l'avion.
6. Iras tu à la fête de Lisa la semaine prochaine
?
7. Le Rhin se jette dans la mer du Nord.
8. Il vit toujours à New York.
9. Carl est né à Chicago mais sa famille a déménagé
à Los Angeles.
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