Hello, it's Crown. Today I'll help you understand English prepositions
Short as they are, prepositions are many people's nightmares
because they have different usages and meanings when collocating with different words
Such flirty players
Then what should we do? How to learn prepositions?
First of all, let's get clear on the definition of prepositions
Prepositions describe relationships
After a preposition we'll put a noun, namely the object of the preposition
The whole unit is called a prepositional phrase
such as on the floor, in the room, beside the chair
on, in, beside are prepositions
the floor, the room, and the chair are the objects of the prepositions
If we put these prepositional phrases in a sentence
they'll have different functions according to different positions
If it's after a noun, it's used as an adjective to modify the noun
the puppy on the floor
If it's after a be verb, it's used as a complement to modify the noun
The puppy is on the floor
If it's after a verb, it's used as an adverb to modify the verb
The puppy sat on the floor
Wherever the prepositional phrase is
it always describes the relationship of the words it modifies
the puppy on the floor, the puppy is on the floor, the puppy sat on the floor
Besides nouns, things that can "be used as nouns"
like pronouns, gerunds and noun clauses, can be put after a preposition
and be used as the object of the preposition to form a prepositional phrase
such as "against me"
a preposition and a pronoun, me
"without stopping"
a preposition and a gerund, stopping
"for what he has done"
a preposition and a noun clause, what he has done
There are many common prepositions including at, on, in, from
...
by...with...
........
to…...(Go on, not over yet, not over yet)
...........
from.....?
(You already said it!) Hahaha really?
at, on, in, from, to, for, of, with, by, etc.
Prepositions have many different meanings when collocating with different words
Today's video is mainly the basic introduction to prepositions
so we won't explain in detail what different meanings there are under different circumstances
As for more detailed lessons, in the future
.....
Will we do it? (May...Maybe?)
Today we're gonna talk about top 3 commonly seen prepositions: at, on, in
and how they describe positions and time
These 3 are usually used to describe different kinds of places and time
Although you can memorize their collocations one by one
if you get the hang of prepositions, you can still infer some usages
Technically, at, on, in respectively indicates points, surfaces, and spaces
Now let's see how to use at, on, in to describe positions and time
When these 3 are used to describe positions, "at" is for a point, "on" for a surface, and "in" for a space
"At somewhere" indicates an exact point
such as at the table, at the bus stop, at the store
"On somewhere" indicates a surface
such as on the second floor or on the street
"In somewhere" indicates a space
It can be big as a universe or small as a cup
such as in the world, in the river, in the room
But some places can be modified by different prepositions
In such cases the meanings are a little different
For example
Beach 海灘, at or on?
If it's "at the beach," it means the exact location, the beach
If it's "on the beach," it means the surface of the beach
Office 辦公室, at or in?
If it's "at the office," it means the exact location, the office
If it's "in the office," it means inside the office
Water 水, on or in?
If it's "on the water," it means upon the surface of the water
If it's "in the water," it means inside the water
You still with me?
All right?
Is it too boring for you?
The following are simpler anyway
When we use these 3 prepositions to describe time
"At" indicates precise points in time
"On" indicates certain days or dates
"In" indicates long periods
"At a certain time" emphasizes the moment when something happens
such as at noon, at 6 o'clock
"On a certain time" indicates specific dates
such as on Friday, on April 1st, on Halloween
"In a certain time" describes a longer period of time
such as in the morning, in September, in spring, in 2015
Is that simpler?
Here we have an interesting point in time, weekend
Some say "at the weekend," "on the weekend," while others say "in the weekend"
When you're not sure which preposition to use
I recommend you go to Google Ngram and check how most people use it
In Google Ngram, you can use commas to separate the collocations you want to compare
The search engine will tell you which usage is more common
Here we can tell "on the weekend" is the most common one
Alright! After all that explanation, do you have a better understanding of prepositions?
Please say yes
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And that is a wrap, thank you guys for watching as always
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