Studying Grammar Like Crazy!

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Part of speech
or grammatical category:

Word, term
or idea:

Other notes on
class or type:

Level of difficulty
1 elementary
5 intermediate
9 advanced

Prepositions

at, by, from, in, on, to, etc.

introduction

2 - 3

Explanation and discussion:

Prepositions are probably one of the biggest problems most non-native speakers have with English. They are those little words that cause big problems. They are words that show the relationship between two words or phrases. The word that comes before is called the antecedent, and the word that follows is its object, sometimes called its subsequent.

It should be noted that the antecedent may be any part of speech, a phrase or there could even be NO antecedent!

Indeed, even infinitive verb forms use the preposition, to, as in to study or to surf.

But, let's start with some simple examples, such as prepositions of location and direction.

after
at
between
by
across from
from
next to
to
in
on
on the left
on the right

Example(s):

If you go down this street, you will see the post office just after the supermarket.

At many stores these days, there are security devices at the front door.

The bookstore is between Sam's Hamburger Heaven and the wedding dress shop.

Our annual picnic is held by Kurokawa (river).

Betty's Bakery is across from the clinic.

It is about 200 meters (yards) from the turn off to the camp entrance.

The men's room is next to the customer service desk.

It takes about five minutes to get to the hotel from here.

You have to pay for the CDs in the electronics department.

Books on Six Sigma are on the shelf over there, while books on naturism are on the shelf over there.

Stan's Restaurant is on the left.

Let's see, I always forget, do family and friends of the bride sit on the left or on the right?

Note(s):

Exercise(s):

Note: Due to a bug in Microsoft Internet Explorer, you must click next question for the first question. This does not happen in Netscape. In any browser, click on the [a], [b] or [c] for the answer and the next question button to see the next question.

Use this map with the first 5 problems:

For this exercise, consider 9 or better "Great", 7 or better "Very Good", 5 or better "Good" and 3 or better "OK". Remember the score is RIGHT minus WRONG. Zero or less, please study some more.

Studying Grammar Like Crazy!

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