When NOT to use prepositions in English!

Hi. I'm Rebecca from engVid. In this lesson, you'll learn when not to use prepositions.

That might sound a little strange, because most of your English learning life, you probably

spent learning prepositions. But it's equally important to know when we don't use prepositions,

especially prepositions of time. So, I'm going to explain to you which are the situations

when you don't use them.

But before we do that, let me just do a very short review of the three basic words we use

when we use prepositions. Those are "at", "on", and "in". Okay? "At" is very specific,

like: "At 12:30"; "on" is for a day or date, like: "On Thursday" or "On January 25th";

and "in" is for anything wider than a day, like: "In the summer", "In 1965", and so on.

Okay? So, now we're going to look at when not to use prepositions.

So, you will see that I've sort of divided them up, because they tend to go in pairs.

You'll see more, as we go along. Let's look at the first example.

"I have an interview this week." So, you don't say:

"on this week", "in this week", "at this week". Nothing. You

say nothing. No preposition necessary. So you just say: "I have an interview this week."

Or: "We met that night." Okay? Again, no preposition necessary before the words "this" or "that"

when we're talking about time. These are all when you talk about time.

Next: "They moved last September." Or: "She's returning next year." So, again, with "last"

and "next", you use no preposition. Okay?

Next one: "He passes my house every day." Or: "Each time we meet, he wants money."

So, with the words "every" and "each", you need to use no preposition.

"Call me any time." Or: "I was waiting for you all day."

So before the words "any" or "all", you need no preposition.

"The deadline was today at 5:00." Or: "She left for Mexico yesterday." Or:

"Can I call you tomorrow?" So you see with these words: "today", "yesterday", "tomorrow",

you don't need to use any preposition. All right? So they kind of tend to go in pairs.

"This", "that"; "last", "next"; "every", "each"; "any", "all"; "today", "yesterday", "tomorrow".

That's just to help you to kind of group them in your mind. Next, we'll do a short quiz to

see how well you have understood this.

Okay, here we go. Number one: "Did you work in last week?" Is that right or wrong?

What do you think? Okay? Well, that one is

wrong. The problem is here. You should just say:

"Did you work last week?" So that was one of those words

where we don't need to use a preposition.

Number two: "See you on Friday." Is that okay?

Yes, that's fine. Okay? Remember we said:

"at", "on", "in" we can use for specific things, like: "At 3:00", "On Friday", "In the summer",

"In September", like... And so on.

Next, number three: "I get up every morning at 6:00. I get up every morning at 6:00."

Is that correct?

Yes, it is correct. Okay? Because here, we need no preposition, and

here we need a preposition, which is "at", so this is also fine.

Number four: "The meeting lasted all evening." Is that correct?

Do we need a preposition before "all"?

No. So this one is also fine.

Next one: "Can you meet me on tomorrow?" Is that okay? Well, I hope you said:

"No", because we need no preposition before the word "tomorrow".

Next one: "The flight leaves at 9pm." Is that correct?

I hope you said: "Yes", because it is.

Again, before a specific time, we use the word "at", the preposition "at".

Next: "We have to finish the project in this week." Is that correct?

That is wrong, because we have the word "this",

so we don't need any preposition before this.

Last one: "On next winter, we'll be in France!" Is that correct? What do you think?

It's wrong. We should just say:

"Next winter, we will be in France!" Okay?

So, as important as learning when to use prepositions is to learn when not to use prepositions.

And if you are not sure, review the lesson, or better still, go to our website: www.engvid.com

where you can do a quiz on this, and really learn these... These 8 or 10 words very, very

well so that you'll know when not to use prepositions. Okay? So,

good luck with your English. Bye for now.