English Preposition QUIZ: Do you know these 15 prepositions?

Hi, I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.

Are you ready to test your preposition skills?

Let's talk about it.

Do you feel like prepositions are tricky?

Should it be I'm in the store, or I'm at the store?

I talk to him, or I talked with him?

These small words, in, at, with, to, these are called prepositions.

The reason why prepositions are so tricky is because we can't translate them from your

native language.

For example, in Spanish the words “para” and “por” both mean for when you translate

it into English but those two words can be used in a lot of different situations where

in English, we would say for, by, during, along.

How are Spanish speakers and you supposed to know which is the correct English preposition?

It's tricky.

Today, we're not going to cover all the rules for all prepositions but instead we're going

to do something a little fun, a quiz.

Over the next 15 questions, you're going to review 15 different prepositions, of course

we can't talk about every rule for every preposition, but we're going to talk about some of the

common uses.

Before we get started, I want you to get guess how many questions do you think you'll guess

correctly.

Think about a number one through 15 or maybe zero through 15, how many questions do you

think you'll get correct?

I want you to think about this number because I have a feeling, I guess that you probably

know more about prepositions than you think you do, so I hope that this lesson will help

you to realize, I do know something about prepositions and now I know a little bit more

as well.

All right, let's get started with question number one.

Preposition sentence number one.

Today is beautiful, let's go for a walk the park.

Let's go for a walk in the park, let's go for a walk at the park, which one of these

is the most common?

I'll give you three seconds to guess.

Three, two, one.

The correct answer is, it's beautiful today, let's go for a walk in the park.

You should use the word in because we're talking about being inside or surrounded by the park.

If you say, let's go for a walk at the park, we're just talking a specific point.

You might say, let's meet at the entrance to the park, but here we're talking about

going for a walk in the park, we're surrounded by the park.

All right, let's go to question number two.

Question number two, basketball is enjoyable but all I like baseball.

But about all I like baseball, but above all I like baseball, which preposition is correct?

You have three seconds, two, one.

Basketball is enjoyable but above all, I like baseball.

Here we have a fixed expression.

You might call this in grammatical terms a collocation.

Above all.

Here we can imagine physically above, you're interests more important, more interesting.

Baseball above all is the best, so you could say, I like learning English all the time

but above all, Vanessa's lessons are my favorite.

Sentence number three, I'm teaching my son to walk the sidewalk.

I'm teaching my son to walk by the sidewalk, or I'm teaching my son to walk on the sidewalk,

which one is correct?

This is true, my son is one and half and I'm trying to teach him to walk the sidewalk.

It's dangerous if you walk the road.

All right, let's think about this in three seconds, two, one.

The answer is, I'm teaching my son to walk on the sidewalk.

With the word on, we can imagine a flat surface.

On the sidewalk, don't walk on the road, walk on the sidewalk.

Sentence number four, walk that tall building and you'll find downtown.

This is directions, walk to that tall building and you'll find downtown, or walk towards

that tall building and you'll find downtown.

Here we can kind of imagine that in the distance there's a tall building and you're trying

to tell your friend how to get to downtown.

So, let's think about which preposition is correct.

Three, two, one.

Walk towards that tall building and you'll find downtown.

We use the preposition towards to talk about moving in a direction towards something, to

something but you're not exactly going to that spot.

If you want to walk to downtown from my house, you don't need to get to that tall building,

you just need to move in the direction of that tall building.

Sentence number five, all see you the party six o'clock.

I'll see you by the party by six o'clock, I'll see you at the party at six o'clock.

Here we're going to use the same preposition for both blanks.

Think about it, three, two, one.

I'll see you at the party at six o'clock.

Here we're talking about a specific point in time.

Remember question number one, we talked about meeting at the entrance to the park, that's

the same thing here.

We're going to meet you at the party at six o'clock, a specific point.

Preposition sentence number six, I don't understand what Vanessa is talking.

I don't understand what Vanessa is talking with, I don't understand what Vanessa is talking

about, which one is correct?

Three, two, one.

We have a key here to help us know what the correct answer is.

The key word is the word what.

I don't understand what Vanessa is talking about.

If you know this fixed expression, to talk about something, you know that we talk about

something.

We're not talking about a person, I'm talking about prepositions.

I'm talking about the moon, I'm talking about English.

What if we wanted to say, I'm talking with?

Here we need to use a person, but in my sentence I'm talking about something because I used

the word what.

I'm talking with you about prepositions, do you see that difference here?

Sentence number seven, this one's a little tricky.

We'll try to be home 10PM but probably earlier.

You can imagine telling a babysitter this, maybe if you're going out and the babysitter

is staying home and watching your kids, you might say, we'll try to be home by 10PM but

probably earlier, or we'll try to be home at 10PM but probably earlier, which one is

correct?

Three, two, one.

Well, technically both of these are correct but the best answer here is, I'll try to be

home by 10PM.

Why did I choose by?

The word by means that we're talking about the latest possible time.

Try to be home by 10PM and our key here is that final part, but probably earlier.

I'm imagining that 10PM is the latest that I will be home, so here we need to use the

word by.

You might also hear in a classroom the teacher might say to you, "You need to have your homework

finished by the beginning of class."

The beginning of class is the latest possible time.

Don't finish your homework during the class, it needs to be finished by the beginning of

class.

Preposition sentence number eight, after watching the tidying documentary, I went all of my

things.

After watching the tidying documentary, I went into all my things, or I went through

all my things, which preposition is correct?

Three, two, one.

After watching the Tidying documentary, I went through all of my things.

You can imagine a tunnel, you're going through the tunnel, you're surrounded by the tunnel.

I'm here in this sentence surrounded by my things, clothes, kitchen things, office supplies,

I went through my things.

It was thorough.

I went through every single thing.

It also helps if you know the fixed expression to go through something.

This is one of the best ways to really memorize prepositions is to memorize those full fixed

phrases, to talk about something.

To go through something.

Sentence number nine, I was in New York two weeks.

I was in New York since two weeks, I was in New York for two weeks, which one is the most

correct?

Three, two, one.

I was in New York for two weeks.

I know that the word for in sense can be tricky together and we use for when we ask the question,

what was the duration of time?

The duration of time was two weeks.

So I was in New York for two weeks.

Sentence number ten, the cat ran the kitchen when he heard the can open.

This is true for my cats when you open a can of cat food, they run to the kitchen or they

run into the kitchen.

These are pretty similar, right?

Think about it for just a moment.

Three, two, one.

The cat ran into the kitchen when he heard the can open.

We use the preposition into to talk about a room or a building.

If you want to say, the cat ran to something, we need to use a specific thing.

The cat ran to the bowl, the cat ran to me, the cat ran into the kitchen to the bowl.

Beautiful sentence.

Number eleven, oh no, that was the last can of cat food I need to go the store to get

more cat food.

Is it, I need to go to the store to get more cat food?

Or I need to go about the store to get more cat food?

Hm, which one's correct?

Three, two, one.

I need to go to the store to get more cat food immediately, my cats are going crazy.

We use the preposition to for a specific destination.

Come to my house, I'm going to the US, I need to go to the store.

Number 12, the museum is full tourists in July.

The museum is full of tourists in July, or the museum is full for tourists in July, which

one feels the most correct to you?

Three, two, one.

The museum is full of tourists in July.

It helps if you know this fixed expression, full of something.

The tree is full of monkey's.

The museum is full of tourists.

Number 13, I talked the client about the problem.

I talked with the client about the problem, or I talked to the client about the problem.

Hm, think about this for a moment.

Three, two, one.

I talked with the client about the problem, or I talked to the client about the problem.

Oh, both of these can be correct grammatically but they have slightly different meanings

in a business situation.

If you're talking about a friend, I talked with my friend, I talked to my friend.

No problem, same meaning, but in a business situation with a client, they have a slightly

different meaning.

If you say, I talked with a client, it has a more friendly approachable kind of equal

feeling.

Both people are speaking, I spoke with the client.

I talked with the client.

If you say I talked to the client, in a business situation, it kind of feels like one person

is doing more speaking.

You might say, my boss talked to me about being late.

That means that I was late too much and he was angry with me.

He talked to me about being late.

So just know that in a business situation, it's slightly different but in a casual conversation,

they're the same.

Number 14, it's been raining Saturday.

It's been raining until Saturday, it's been raining since Saturday.

Hm, three, two, one.

When is the start date?

When did it start raining?

Saturday, it has been raining since Saturday.

This is a tricky word, we know the start date, Saturday.

It has been raining since Saturday.

I've been learning English since I was eight years old.

Eight years old is the start time.

I've been learning since I was eight years old.

If you'd like to learn a little bit more about the difference between until in sense, make

sure you check out this live lesson that I did quite a while ago so that you can learn

that more deeply.

And our final preposition quiz sentence is, I fell asleep the movie.

I fell asleep during the movie, or I fell asleep from the movie, which one of these

feels the most correct?

It's the last question, you can do it.

Three, two, one.

I fell asleep during the movie.

The word during comes from the word duration.

Duration, which means in the middle of the movie I fell asleep.

You've heard a lot of preposition during this lesson.

How did you do this quiz?

This was just a quick overview of 15 common prepositions but I have a feeling that you

got more correct than you thought you would at the beginning.

Let me know in the comments, what was your score?

Can you make a sentence using these prepositions?

You can check the description box for the time stamps so that you can go back and study

the various prepositions.

Thanks so much for learning English with me and I'll see you again next Friday for a new

lesson here on my YouTube channel.

Bye.

The next step is to download my free eBook, Five Steps to Becoming a Confident English

Speaker.

You'll learn what you need to do to speak confidently and fluently.

Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more free lessons, thanks so much.

Bye.