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Prepositions |
Time | Place / position / motion | Travel and movement | |
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At |
· Is used with villages and small towns He lived at village Kalaran. · Used with a particular house He lived at a house no . 101 · We can be at home, at work, at office, at school/university, any address, at a certain point e.g. at a bridge, at the bus stop. | At and in are Used with arrive. We arrive at a village or any other destination. We arrive at the hotel late. | ||
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Get In |
Means arrive at a destination It is chiefly of trains What time does the train get in? | |||
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On |
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By |
(Before or at certain time )end of the work Not later than The train leaves at 7:10 am; therefore you must reach the station by 7:00 I’ll quit smoking by the summer. | |||
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By the time |
Means before the verb The thief was gone by the time I called the police. | |||
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Before |
Earlier than You must reach there before 7 o’clock | |||
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Behind |
Late ( not in time ) The train is running behind time. | On the back side of He is sitting behind me. | ||
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From |
For a point of time, preceded by a verb He began English from the age of twenty Used with to or till Most people work from 9 am to 5 pm. | We travel from our starting place to our destination. They flew from Delhi to Mumbai. We walked from Agra to Delhi. | ||
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Since |
Used for a point of time Often Used with present/past perfect He has been here since morning. He has been working in this factory since 1999. It can also be used as a conjunction of time It is two years since I last saw him. | |||
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For |
Is used to denote a period of time He can work here for two hours. It can be used with present/past perfect They have been working here for two hours . | |||
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During |
Is used to express an idea that a thing continues to throughout the specified period He worked hard during holidays. Is also used to express an idea that an event took place or is taking place with in a specified period of time He came to my house during my absence. I shall go to Agra during the summer vocation. | |||
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To |
Can be used with time with from They play from 10 to 12 | |||
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Till / Until |
Used for situation or events Means up to ( end ) We waited for them till/until 5 o’clock. As a conjunction Wait here till/until I come back. | Still, yet | ||
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After |
Means later than He usually comes to the office after 10. Must be followed by a noun, pronoun or gerund Don’t take bath after a meal . Don’t take bath after eating. | Look after, look for ,search for ,in search of | ||
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Afterwards |
Means after that or then We bathed and afterwards played games. Can be modified by soon immediately, not long etc. Soon afterwards we left the place. We received his message not long after-wards. | |||
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In |
Denotes the end of the period of time in the future. I shall return in a week ( i.e. at the end of the week) | With the names of big cities, states, countries, continents. He lives in Mumbai. You live in Punjab. They live in America. In and at can be used for a building/sea/river/lake. In means inside only. At means just outside. Children are swimming in the river. Who is standing at the gate? At the sea means beside the sea but at sea means on a ship. | At and in are Used with arrive. We arrive in a town or country. They arrived in England. | |
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Within |
Denotes before the end of the period of time in the future. He will return within a week. ( i.e. before the end of the week ) | |||
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Through / Throughout |
Means from the beginning to the end I work all through the night. He kept awake throughout the night. | |||
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Between |
Is used for separating two things or two persons. Distribute this money between Surjit and Ravi | |||
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Among |
Used for more than two people or things Distribute the candies among all the children |
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