Prepositions: Fix 8 Common Errors with the F.U.N. method!

Hi.

I'm Rebecca from engVid.

In this lesson, you're going to learn prepositions with "fun".

Why "fun"?

Because "f" stands for "find out what's wrong", "u" stands for "understand how to correct

it", and "n" stands for "nail it" or "master it with practice".

Okay?

In this lesson, I'll show you how to do all of those things for prepositions of time and

place.

So, this is a special kind of lesson.

This is what we call a "diagnostic lesson".

It helps you to diagnose or to know what's right and what's wrong, because sometimes

you're using different prepositions, but you're not really sure if it's right or wrong, and

other times you're using it and you're sure it's right, but it's actually wrong, and you

don't want to find out in an exam or some other important situation that it's actually

the wrong preposition.

So, it's a good idea to find out right here.

Okay?

All right.

So, let's get started.

So, what we have here is I have eight sentences, and you have to choose between different prepositions.

Now, these are not just eight sentences, these are also links to separate lessons on each

and every one of these points, so that in case you get it wrong, I will refer you to

the lesson that I have, a full lesson on that particular point.

Okay?

So, let's get started and see how you're doing.

Number one.

"When did you arrive _____ London?"

So, here, you have to choose between "in" or "on".

"When did you arrive _____ London?"

Okay.

That's the right answer.

When did you arrive in London?

Okay?

That's the correct answer.

All right?

Got it?

When did you arrive in London?

Why in London?

Okay?

Again, if you watch my lesson on this subject about arriving, you'll see that we talk about

three areas.

I'm going to show you here, just quickly.

We use "arrive in" to talk about cities and countries, so we say "Arrive in London", "Arrive

in England", okay?

"Arrive in France", "Arrive in Los Angeles", okay?

Cities, countries.

We say "arrive at" when we're talking about specific places.

For example, "Arrive at the Hilton Hotel", "Arrive at Heathrow Airport", okay?

When we have the name of the particular place, okay, or even "at the hotel", "at the airport",

okay?

And "on" we don't really use so much, it's more as expressions.

So, "Arrive on time", "Arrive on schedule", okay?

So here, we were talking about London, which is a city, so we needed "Arrive in London".

Okay?

Got it?

But again, if you've got it wrong, not a problem.

Watch that lesson, okay?

There will be links underneath, and you can go to that lesson and really watch it in full,

master it so you don't have to keep making the same mistake again and again, okay?

Watch it once carefully, master it, understand it, and then do the quiz, do whatever you

need to do so that after that, you won't have an issue with that kind of preposition again,

okay?

That's the way to master it, and that's the way to have fun with prepositions.

Okay.

Number two, "I'll call her _______ next week."

Now, your choice is between the preposition "in" or no preposition.

So, which is it?

"I'll call her _______ next week."

Okay?

So, the correct answer is "I'll call her next week", so we need no preposition.

So, there are some times, believe it or not, when we don't need a preposition, and these

are four of those words, okay?

When we're talking about something like next week, next month, next year, okay?

Next season, next semester, or last, or every week, or each week, okay?

So, anything that has "next", "last", "every", or "each", before that, you need no preposition.

Sometimes you don't have to work hard to figure out which preposition, you just have to remember

that you need no preposition, okay?

Alright.

Number three, "My exam is _______ Monday."

Now, your choice is between "at" or "on", okay?

"My exam is _______ Monday."

So, what's the right answer?

"My exam is _______ on Monday."

Okay?

Why?

Alright.

Let's look over here for a quick review, but again, there is a complete lesson on this

subject, and this is like, I think, the most common question when it comes to prepositions.

This particular one of "at", "on", and "in", okay?

So, as a quick review, "at" we use for very specific times.

At 7 o'clock, at noon, at midnight, at 7.30, okay?

Very specific.

"On" is a little bit wider for one day or one date.

So, on Sunday, on January 1st, on New Year's Day, okay?

Like that.

And "in" is the widest, so here we can include in October, in 1975, in the summer, things

like that, okay?

So, that's the basic rule here.

So, again, here we were talking about Monday, so we're saying "My exam is on Monday."

Alright?

Good.

Number four, "They live _______ Main Street", so do we say "at" or "on"?

"They live _______ Main Street."

"They live", okay, stay with me, "on Main Street", okay?

On Main Street.

So, why?

Let's look.

If...

If you had a number, okay, if you had the actual address, then we would say, "I live

at 14 Main Street."

But if you don't have the number and you only have the name of the street, or the road,

or the avenue, or the boulevard, or whatever, then you say "on", okay?

On Main Street.

So, "at 14 Main Street", "on Main Street", or if you just had the city, as I explained

here, then you say "in Chicago", or "in America", okay?

Or "in Japan", and so on.

Alright?

So, that's what you choose when you're talking about addresses and places, so there's a special

lesson where I really focus on those, like when you're describing where you live, because

a lot of people get confused, you know, "in this street", "on this street", "floor", "on

this floor", "in this floor", so all of that I explain in the lesson about prepositions

to do with where you live, okay?

Alright.

Number five.

"I've worked here _____ three years."

Now your choices are "for" or "since".

"I've worked here _____ three years."

This one is confused by lots of students.

I think in different languages it doesn't always work this way, so a lot of students

get it mixed up.

So, what do you think it is?

"I've lived here", or sorry, "I've worked here for", for three years, okay?

So why is the answer "for three years"?

Because we use "for" followed by a period of time, okay?

For three years, for three months, for three days, okay?

Time period.

But we use "since" plus a point in time, so since November, since 19 - since to the year

2012, okay?

Since the summer.

So, "since" plus a point in time, but "for" plus a period of time, okay?

So here, it's for three years.

It's a period of time, a length of time, right?

But if now, if I want to say since 2014, okay, then it's from the point in time when something

began.

So, that's something that a lot of students get mixed up, so please watch that lesson

if you had that one wrong.

It's not a problem.

This is to tell you what's wrong, okay?

This is to help you to know, and to improve, and to master it with fun, okay?

Alright.

Number six, blank the concert, it started raining.

Now, your choices are "during" or "while", okay?

Blank the concert, it started raining.

So, which is it?

The correct answer is "during", okay?

During the concert, it started raining.

So, why "during" and not "while", do you know why?

Okay, so let's look over here.

We use "during" plus a noun, like here, during the concert, okay?

During the concert, during the show, during the movie, during the class, during the lesson,

during the lecture, okay?

Alright?

Some kind of a noun, okay?

But "while" we use plus a clause, okay, a dependent clause.

So, if I were to change this sentence to use "while", I would have to say something like

"While the concert was going on", while the concert was going on, okay?

Now, you have a subject, you have a verb, but it's not a complete sentence, so it becomes

something called a dependent clause.

Then you would use "while", but if you don't have a subject and a verb, and you just have

a noun, right, like here, then you would say "During the concert, it started raining",

okay?

But again, if you're unsure or you want a little more clarification on that, go watch

that lesson, okay.

Number seven.

"I read it _______ the internet.

I read it in _______" or "on", okay?

Think about it.

"I read it _______ the internet."

So, the correct answer is "I read it on", okay, "on the internet".

Why?

Is there a way to tell?

Are we just guessing here?

Actually, I figured out a way and I made a lesson on it for you to know about that kind

of thing.

So, it's like this, and this is generally true, okay?

So, there's always a viewer who leaves us a comment that says "What about this situation?"

and then that situation is always an exception, but the rule I'm telling you applies most

of the time, okay?

So, it's like this, "in", okay, we use when we're talking about paper.

For example, "I read it in the newspaper", "I read it in a magazine", "I read it in a

book", "I read it in a report", something that's physically paper, made of paper, okay?

But if it's on some kind of electronic device, or like here, on the internet, or we could

say "I read it on my laptop", "I read it on my cell phone", okay?

"I read it on the computer", so when it's something electronic, usually we're saying

"on", and when it's something paper, more traditional technology, we're saying "in",

okay?

So, that's a way for you to differentiate, but again, if you want a full clarification

of that, go watch that lesson, okay?

Alright.

Number eight, "We met _______ the airport."

Now, your choices are "to" or "at".

"We met _______ the airport."

So, what's the right answer?

"We met at the airport.", okay?

"We met at the airport."

What's the difference?

Okay?

Nothing written down here right now.

So, again, I have a lesson about "to" and "at", and what I'm explaining there is that

"to" is talking about movement, okay?

For those of you who watched that lesson, you probably remember me going like this.

"To" is movement, and "at" is that you talking about a location, okay?

So here, are we talking about movement or are we talking about location?

We're talking about location, "at the airport".

But if we said, "We drove _______ the airport", now driving is like a movement, right?

It's a direction.

So, then we would say, "We drove to the airport", and "We arrived at the airport", or "We met

at the airport", okay?

So, again, that's the difference between "to" for movement and "at" for location, alright?

So, how did you do on all of those?

I hope you did well.

And I also hope, if you didn't do well, that you learned a lot, because now you know exactly

what you need to work on and where you're okay.

And also, even when you got it right, if you just guessed, it's good to really understand

it so that you can nail it.

And again, "nail it" is an idiom, which means master it.

Really get it completely right.

And enjoy learning English, because the more you enjoy yourself, the more fun you're going

to have, the more you're going to learn, and the more you're going to improve, okay?

Alright.

So, thanks very much for watching.

Please go to our website at www.engvid.com to do a quiz on these, okay?

And again, there will be links to each one of these lessons.

In case you got them wrong, go check it out.

Spend some time.

You already invested in this, so might as well follow it up with what you really need,

okay?

And subscribe to my channel so I can keep giving you lots of other hints about how to

learn English faster, okay?

Thanks very much for watching.

Bye for now.