Common Mistakes in Learning a Preposition of Place


by Ling Tong - Date: 2008-11-02 - Word Count: 511 Share This!

Prepositions are part of the grammar of every language. In English some of these are used to denote the placement of people and objects. In this case, this is called a preposition of place. Even native English speakers have difficulty with this concept on times, so it should not come as a surprise for students of English as a second language when they have problems depending on their mother tongue. This is due to the fact that there are not many rules for using prepositions in English sentences.



There are rules, however for using some of the prepositions of place, especially the prepositions and  The word refers to an object or person being inside something, such as a room. In this sentence,  sleep in a bedroom the preposition shows that the person sleeps inside a room. If you want to say that there is an object inside a box, you also use the preposition so that a sample sentence could be he gift is in the box?



Refers to the surface of an object and is outside the object. In the sentence the plate is on the table  the preposition you that the plate is laid on the table. It is sometimes problematic for English language learners because it denotes a place in general, such as it a meeting it the airport or it school Sometimes it means that same thing if you substitute in for it in examples.



It is very helpful to use pictures when teaching or learning the concept of prepositions that denote place. When students can see the word printed in the proper location or a sentence in which the object is in the proper place in the picture, it is easier to tell the difference between how the words should be used in speaking and writing. Most online English courses do have pictures along with instruction in this concept to make it easier for students to understand.



The common prepositions used to denote place in English in addition to in it and in are:



- under



- between



- beside



- behind



- in front of



- next to.



When students can see how these words are used by the pictures they see, they will associate the words with the pictures and internalize these prepositions into their vocabulary.



Exercises on the use of these prepositions should include questions in which the students fill in the correct word to make a grammatically correct sentence as well as looking at a picture and filling in the correct preposition for each place. In the early stages of learning, it is helpful to provide students with a list of such prepositions to choose from and later they can fill in the correct words based on what they have learned without the use of the word list.



The online courses in English also offer students the opportunity to receive immediate feedback when they complete the various exercises and quizzes so that they can go back to review the instruction and take the exercises and quizzes as often as they wish until they answer all the questions correctly.


Related Tags: online, english, questions, of, place, prepositions, indirect


For more information on prepositions of place, indirect questions and other aspects of English grammar visit http://www.1-Language.com the best site to learn English online .

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