prepositions made easy

8/12/2019 Prepositions Made Easy

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Prepositions Made Easy: In, On, and At (with Video!)

by JUSTIN on FEBRUARY 12, 2014

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Are prepositions really so difficultWhat if I told you that IN JUST 5 MINUTES I could help yosolve some of your most confusing preposition problems?English learners everywhere are confused about prepositions, andEnglish learners every always say itsone of their biggestdifficulties.But with the right strategies, prepositions DO NOT need to be

so complicated. If you take a few minutes to learn a few tricks,andvisualizethe problem in a new way, your experiencelearning prepositions will be a lot easier. This is gonna be fun!Ready?

FREE e-book: 101 Words You Wont Learn in SchoolToday, were going to explore how the prepositions AT, ON, andIN are used with TIME and PLACE, and use a formula that worksin around 90% of cases. Its not perfect, but it gives youa greatfoundationto learn the exceptions.Given the fact that most people are visual learners, and mostprepositions are best taught in a visual way, well also usegraphic organizers and a video lesson to teach this.

The Inverted Pyramid
https://reallifeenglish.leadpages.net/101-words-you-never-learn-school/https://reallifeenglish.leadpages.net/101-words-you-never-learn-school/https://reallifeenglish.leadpages.net/101-words-you-never-learn-school/http://reallifebh.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/In-On-At-Thumb.pnghttps://reallifeenglish.leadpages.net/101-words-you-never-learn-school/


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Before we explain a bit more, lets take agood look at the pictureone more time below. Try to get a general idea ofthe organizationand proportion.The first thing I want you to recognize, and try your best to

visualize as you learn these, there is a general flow with both time

and location from general to specific. Were going to explain it inthe following way, first with time, then with location:

1.The TOP, which is BIGGER and more GENERAL2.The MIDDLE, which is SMALLER and MORE SPECIFIC (ON)3.The BOTTOM, which is SMALLEST and the MOST SPECIFIC

(AT)The image used is a modification of the The Atonin TimePyramid from Marcelo Montecinos atphrazzleme.com

Prepositions of TimeIN-The pyramidsTOP (wider), which is BIGGER and more

GENERAL:
http://phrazzleme.com/http://phrazzleme.com/http://phrazzleme.com/http://reallifebh.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/in-on-at.pnghttp://phrazzleme.com/http://phrazzleme.com/


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Description:Bigger periods of time: Centuries, Decades,Years, Months

Examples: inthe 20thcentury, inthe 1980s,inMarch, inthethird week of April, in the future

Exceptions: in the morning, inthe evening, in the afternoon

ON-The pyramids MIDDLE part, which is SMALLER andMORE SPECIFIC: Description:Days, or periods of time shorter than three days

Examples: onmy birthday, on Saturday, on the weekend(United States), on June 8th

Exceptions: on my lunch break, on timeAT-The pyramids BOTTOM (pointed), the SMALLEST, and the

MOST SPECIFIC: Description:Specific times or small time periods.

Examples: at9:00 PM, at lunch,at dinner, atthe start of theparty, at sunrise, at the start of the movie, at the moment

Exceptions: at night, atthe weekend (England)Prepositions of Location

IN -The TOP (wider), which is BIGGER and more GENERAL:

Description:In larger areas (countries, states, cities,neighborhoods)

Examples: in the United States, in Miami, in myneighborhood

Exceptions: in downtown (I workin downtown)ON -The MIDDLE, which is SMALLER and MORE SPECIFIC:

Description:a longer area, street, beach, river Examples: on Broadway Street, on the beach, on my streetAT The pyramids BOTTOM (pointed), the SMALLEST, and th

MOST SPECIFIC: Description:the address or specific location, specific points. Examples:at 345 broadway street, at the store, at my house

Prepositions of Placement


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The mind map pyramidbelowexplains TIME in the same way wdid above (only this one is not inverted), but it also introduces

prepositions PLACE/PLACEMENT, which we will focus on here.

IN for enclosed spacesandpersonal modes of transportation

Enclosed Space:in the kitchen, in the house, the wateis in the glass

Personal Modes of Transportation:get in the car, mfriend is in the taxi

ON for surfaces andpublicmodes oftransportation

Surfaces:on the floor, on the wall, the book is on thtable, ona page, I put on my clothes (my clothes are onm

body) Public Modes of Transportation:on the bus, onth

plane, ona boat, ona ship, Exceptions: on my motorcycle, on my bike (these are persona

modes of transportation, but we use on)
http://reallifebh.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/prepositions-in-on-at.jpg


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AT for specific point (the same asprepositions of location)

at the bus stop, at the cinema, at the corner, at the top of thehill, at the mall

Becoming Friends With PrepositionsAgain, these rules are not an exact science, but they will help youget past 90% of the preposition confusion that most peoplencounter with IN, ON, and AT.

After you learn these techniques, you will not only speak a lobetter, and with a lot more confidence, but the final 5 to 10% oprepositions wont seem too hard. It will probably take som

study time and some memorization of collocations (in thkitchen, at the mall, but you will see that its a lot mormanageable. The point is that you dont want to be thinking abouthe rules too much when youre communicating.

This will help make most of the process unconscious anautomatic, which is exactly what fluency is.

You can useAnki,a really effective vocabulary study tool, or othefree study resources that can make your process a lot easier tlearn using these prepositions. Another thing that will naturallhelp is reading andmaking English a part of your life.These are all very important parts of the Real Life Englishmethodology. You can get our popular e-book,101 Words Yo

Wont Learn at School for FREE here, or check out the5 BesTools for Learning English Onlineby yourself.- See more at: http://reallifebh.com/prepositions-made-easy-in-on-and-at#sthash.FkCXXy2S.dpuf
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