“In? On? At? To? What do they mean, and how do I use them?”

Do you have trouble with the prepositions “in”, “at”, “on”, and “to” in English?

Here is a mini-lesson — and a very artful drawing — that I made that may help!

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“At” denotes a general location:

- I am at school.
- I am at the beach.
- She is at work.

Whereas “In” denotes more specifically an interior location.

For example:

- I am in a house.
- She is in the car.
- We placed an apple in the box.

Now, the two words can be used in similar situations, but they signify different conclusions:

- I am at the house.
- I am in the house.

If someone says “I am at the house”, they could either be in the house (the interior) or out of the house (the exterior). The general location is learned, but not the particular location.

If someone says “I am in the house”, then it is clear that you are in the interior of the house, and not the exterior.

“On” denotes an external location, specifically the top of an object.

- I sit on a chair.
- The apple is on the table.

“To” denotes the direction of an object in movement or motion.

- I am going to school.
- He is walking to work.
- She goes to the doctor’s office.
- I gave an apple to my teacher.