PREPOSITIONS AT, ON, IN EXERCISE 3 (ESL)
level: Intermediate (B1/B2)
A third exercise on at, on, and in, covering more fixed expressions and idiomatic uses. If you haven’t done exercise 1 yet, start there.
Fill in each blank with at, on, or in.
1. She is always time for her appointments.✓
2. I met him a conference last year.✓
3. He grew up a small town in Texas.✓
4. The keys are the kitchen counter.✓
5. Let's meet the entrance.✓
6. She spent the whole day bed.✓
7. We're a rush. Can we talk later?✓
8. He was least an hour late.✓
9. I saw your name the list.✓
10. The kids were the park all afternoon.✓
Did you know?
English splits one idea into three prepositions; a lot of other languages don't bother.
Spanish and several other Romance languages get by with a single preposition, en, for almost everything English divides between at, on, and in. En la mesa can mean "at the table" or "on the table" depending on context, no separate word needed.
Finnish and Hungarian go the opposite direction: instead of separate preposition words, they attach a case ending directly onto the noun to show location. Finnish has around 15 of these cases, six of them just for expressing different flavors of "in," "into," "out of," and "from inside of" something.
Because there's rarely a consistent logical rule behind which preposition goes where (it's mostly convention, memorized case by case), preposition accuracy is famously one of the last things even very advanced English learners fully nail down, often lagging behind much more complex grammar they've already mastered.
Spanish and several other Romance languages get by with a single preposition, en, for almost everything English divides between at, on, and in. En la mesa can mean "at the table" or "on the table" depending on context, no separate word needed.
Finnish and Hungarian go the opposite direction: instead of separate preposition words, they attach a case ending directly onto the noun to show location. Finnish has around 15 of these cases, six of them just for expressing different flavors of "in," "into," "out of," and "from inside of" something.
Because there's rarely a consistent logical rule behind which preposition goes where (it's mostly convention, memorized case by case), preposition accuracy is famously one of the last things even very advanced English learners fully nail down, often lagging behind much more complex grammar they've already mastered.
CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PREPOSITION EXERCISES:
Prepositions: at, on, in 1 (B1/B2)
Prepositions: at, on, in 2 (B1/B2)
Prepositions of time 1 (A1/A2)
Prepositions of time 2 (A2/B1)
For or since? 1 (B1/B2)
Mixed prepositions 1 (B1/B2)
Mixed prepositions 2 (B1/B2)
Mixed prepositions 3 (A1/A2)
Prepositions after adjectives 1 (B1/B2)
Prepositions after adjectives 2 (B1/B2)
Prepositions: at, on, in 1 (B1/B2)
Prepositions: at, on, in 2 (B1/B2)
Prepositions of time 1 (A1/A2)
Prepositions of time 2 (A2/B1)
For or since? 1 (B1/B2)
Mixed prepositions 1 (B1/B2)
Mixed prepositions 2 (B1/B2)
Mixed prepositions 3 (A1/A2)
Prepositions after adjectives 1 (B1/B2)
Prepositions after adjectives 2 (B1/B2)
