Prepositions are tricky words, especially if you speak English as a second language. They’re common and mostly very short (e.g. ‘at’ or ‘on’), so they’re easy to mix up. Many have several uses, too, which makes it even more difficult to know which one to use sometimes.
We won’t try to give a full explanation of English prepositions here (that would take a small book). But to help you know what to look for, here are six common preposition errors.
1. From Morning to Night (In vs. At)
It’s easy to confuse ‘in’ and ‘at’ in some cases, because the correct term depends on what time of day you’re talking about! For example, in English it’s common to use ‘in the’ with ‘morning’, ‘afternoon’ and ‘evening’. But we usually use ‘at’ when talking about the night:
Helen goes out in the morning.
Tim goes out in the afternoon.
Shirley goes out in the evening.
Bob goes out at night.
You could go for a run ‘in the night’, but that sounds like something a sporty vampire would do. So make sure to use ‘at’ with ‘night’ in your writing.
2. Arrivals (In and At vs. To)
The preposition ‘to’ can be used for discussing journeys (e.g. ‘I’m going to Tasmania’). But when we’re using the word ‘arrive’, we use ‘in’ or ‘at’ to describe reaching a destination.
She arrived in Tasmania just after lunch.
He arrived at the restaurant five minutes late.
We use ‘in’ when the destination is a city, country or another large area. ‘At’, meanwhile, is used when the destination is a specific place (e.g. a library, a pub or someone’s house).
3. Time, Days, Months and Years (At, On and In)
When referring to a specific time or date, we use different prepositions depending on the situation. If you’re talking about a particular time, the correct term is ‘at’:
The party starts at 9pm.
For a specific day or date, meanwhile, we use ‘on’:
The party is on Saturday.
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And for a month or year, the correct preposition is ‘in’:
We’re having a party in April.
4. Of vs. Have
It’s common to see the preposition ‘of’ used alongside helper verbs like ‘should’ or ‘must’:
I should of gone to bed earlier. ✗
However, this is incorrect. The word we need here isn’t even a preposition: it should be the verb ‘have’, which sounds a bit like ‘of’ when spoken (hence the confusion). It should say:
I should have gone to bed earlier. ✓
5. For vs. Since
When talking about how long something has happened, we use ‘for’ with periods of time:
I’ve been writing for six hours.
But if we’re using a specific time as a point of reference, we use ‘since’:
I’ve been writing since breakfast.
6. Talking About and Discussing
Since ‘talking’ and ‘discussing’ are similar activities, people often treat them the same way in writing. However, only ‘talking’ should be followed by the preposition ‘about’:
We’re talking about extreme sports.
We’re discussing extreme sports.
Hopefully this has clarified a few things about prepositions. But if you want to get your work checked to make sure you’ve used the right terms in the right places, get in touch today.