Rules for Prepositions in, on, at, to

by Rick Shur



Basic Rules for Time

A. at a time

B. on a day

C. in a month (season, year, decade, century)

Basic Rules for Place

D. at an address

E. on a street

F. in an area (neighborhood, town, borough, state,
country, continent, ocean, world, universe)

Special Rules

1. look at and listen to

2. to with verbs of desire, necessity, expectation

love to, like to, hate to, want to, need to, have to,
hope
to, expect to

3. at night

in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening

4. on transportation

on the bus, on the train, on the subway, on a plane,
on a
jet, on a ship, on a bicycle, on a motorcycle, on a
surfboard, on a
skateboard

BUT

in a car, in a taxi, in a small boat, in an elevator,
in a
helicopter

5. at an intersection (where two streets cross)

at Broadway and 42nd Street, at Fifth Avenue and 34th
Street

6. on an island, on a farm, on a college campus, on
earth, on a
planet

7. expressions that mean sometimes use different
prepositions:

from time to time, on occasion, once in a while

8. in a park, in a yard, at a playground

9. on anything flat

on a plate, on the wall, on the floor, on a shelf, on
the
blackboard,

on a table, on a desk, on the door, on the stove, on
your face

10. in a room or anything smaller

in the closet, in a drawer, in a cup, in a bowl, in a
glass,
in your mouth, ideas in your head (BUT a hat on your
head), a look in
your eye

11. to when moving from point A to point B

go to school, drive to work, take a trip to Boston,
take
your kids to school, fly to London, walk to the
library, bring your dog
to the vet

12. on a/an [adjective] morning, afternoon, evening,
night, day

on a cold afternoon, on a sunny morning, on a rainy
evening,

on a Saturday night, on a spring day, on a special
night

13. on vacation, on the weekend, on a trip, on a
picnic, on your
break,

on a leave of absence, on your lunch hour

14. in the water swimming, on the water boating

15. at the beach, on the sand getting a suntan, in the
sand playing

16. on anything like a line

on the coast, stand on line, on the border, on the
side of
the room

17. on forms of communication

on TV, on the radio, on the phone, on the fax machine,
on
the computer, on a disk, on a CD, on a hard drive, on
a channel, on a
screen, a report on/about the economy, an article
on/about the election
campaign

18. on time, on time for something, in time to do
something (Come
on time. Come in time to get a seat.)

                            

[ESLprof.com/ handouts/ Info/preprule. doc]