There are nine very common words in English that, although small, are some of the most difficult words to learn and use correctly. They are the prepositions:

‘with’, ‘at’, ‘by’, ‘to’, ‘in’, ‘for’, ‘from’, ‘of’, ‘on’.

What are prepositions

The English language has over 100 prepositions, words that connect one noun or noun substitute to another. They are tricky because they are used in a variety of situations and can indicate time and place, manner, purpose, state, agent or condition.

Even worse, sometimes they can be used interchangeably, as in “sit on that chair, sit in that chair”, but usually there are rules with regard to how they are used.

One way to help you learn these nine key prepositions is to learn and adapt the following sentences to describe your own life:

• I am from Brazil. I live in Sao Poalo which is west of Rio de Janeiro.
• My child was born at a quarter to three in the morning.
• I went on holiday to Prague with my family.
• She came by train with her sister for a weeks’ holiday last year.
• I like food I can eat with my hands.
• I am on duty later so cannot do a lesson then.
• I drive for twenty kilometres to get to work.

Do you want to learn more? Here is the list of the most common English prepositions.

Prepositions list

Article related: English grammar help: tricky prepositions – in, on, at.