Lesson 8: Little words

A preposition is a small word that shows where or when. “In”, “on” and “at” are the most common ones. They are small, but they are hard to remember. Here is a simple way to keep them in your head.

Places

• In is for a space with edges. Think of a box: “in the room”, “in Paris”, “in France”.
• On is for a surface. Think of a table: “on the table”, “on the wall”, “on the bus”.
• At is for a point. Think of a dot on a map: “at home”, “at school”, “at the door”.

Times

The same idea works for time. In is big, on is medium and at is small.

• In is for long times: “in July”, “in 2024”, “in summer”, “in the morning”.
• On is for days and dates: “on Monday”, “on 5 May”, “on my birthday”.
• At is for exact times: “at 6 o’clock”, “at noon”, “at night”.

One exception: we say “in the morning”, but “at night”.

To and from

Use “to” for moving towards a place: “I go to school.” Use “from” for the starting point: “I am from Spain.” “The train goes from Paris to Lyon.”

Try it

Which word fits?

• I wake up ___ 7 o’clock.
• We meet ___ Friday.
• She lives ___ London.

The answers are: at, on, in.

Next time, we will learn how to describe things and compare them.