Preposition

 

Mastering Prepositions: The Little Words That Make a Big Difference

If you’ve ever wondered why English sentences sometimes sound “off” even when all the big words are correct—the culprit is often a tiny one: the preposition.

Prepositions are those small but mighty words like in, on, at, under, over, and between that connect nouns and pronouns to the rest of a sentence. They show relationships of place, time, direction, movement, and even abstract ideas. Leave them out—or use the wrong one—and your meaning flips upside down.

👉 “The cat is on the table” vs. “The cat is under the table.”
Same cat. Totally different dinner experience.

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Why Prepositions Matter

Think of prepositions as the GPS of language. They tell us:

• Where something is (in the room, on the table, at the station)

• When something happens (in the morning, on Sunday, at midnight)

• How something moves (into the box, out of the house, towards the goal)

• By what means something is done (by car, on foot, in my car)

Without them, we’d all be lost in a jumble of nouns and verbs.

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A Quick Tour of Common Prepositions

1. Place Prepositions

• In → inside an enclosed space (I live in India.)

• On → touching a surface (The book is on the table.)

• At → a specific point (We met at the airport.)

2. Movement Prepositions

• Into → moving inside (She went into the kitchen.)

• Out of → moving away (The ball rolled out of the box.)

• Towards → in the direction of (He ran towards the bus.)

3. Time Prepositions

• In → months, years, seasons (in July, in 2025, in summer)

• On → days (on Monday, on my birthday)

• At → exact times (at 6 p.m., at midnight)

4. Transportation Prepositions

• By → general transport (by bus, by car)

• On → surface rides (on foot, on horseback)

• In → specific vehicles (in my car, in a taxi)

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📝 Fill-in-the-Blank Questions

1. (Place – In/On/At)
My sister is ___ home while my brother is ___ the park.
Answer: at, in

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2. (Time – In/On/At)
We always celebrate Diwali ___ October, but this year it falls ___ Monday.
Answer: in, on

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3. (Movement – Into/Out of/Towards)
The children ran ___ the playground and then quickly came ___ the classroom.
Answer: into, out of

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4. (Comparison – Above/Below/Under/Over)
The birds were flying ___ the trees while the cow rested ___ the tree.
Answer: over, under

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5. (Transportation – By/On/In)
She prefers to travel ___ car, but sometimes she goes to office ___ foot.
Answer: by, on

Short Story (200 words)

Ria was excited in the morning because she had to catch a train at 10 a.m. She placed her luggage on the platform and waited patiently. Her friend stood beside her, holding a coffee.

The announcement came, and people started moving quickly. Ria walked through the crowd and climbed onto the train. She kept her suitcase under the seat and sat comfortably. The train started from the station and moved towards the mountains.

During the journey, she looked out of the window and saw children playing in the fields. Birds were flying over the trees, and the sun was shining brightly above them.

The train stopped at the next town, where passengers got down and new ones came into the compartment. Ria planned to get off after two hours.

Finally, the train reached her destination in the evening. She stepped off the train, pulled her luggage along the platform, and walked into the station hall. Her uncle was waiting in front of the exit. Together, they walked towards home, chatting happily.