Prepositions of place in, on, at

AT

at home, at work, at the office, at school/university, at a party

at certain points: at the bridge, at the junction/crossroads, at the corner

Stations, airport, destinations

The train arrived at Paddington 25min late.

We landed at Heathrow airport 15min ahead of schedule.

Outside and inside of buildings as a meeting point

Be at the cinema at 6 o’clock!

I’ll meet you at the train station in the morning.

The plane is boarding at the gate 6.

Activity in a type of building

There is no good film at the Odeon cinema this weekend.

We were at the Opera last night.

Name of companies

I used to work at M&S.

My mother works at MoD (Ministry of Defence).

He got his dream job at Jaguar.

At sea (sailing), at the seaside

We had a pleasant cruise at the sea.

They’re looking forward to their holiday at the seaside.

Top, bottom

There’s a restaurant at the top of the hill.

The wreck is at the bottom of the sea.

IN

in bed, in hospital, in prison, in the army, in the street(s), in the city centre, in the corner(inside), in the book, in the newspapers

in the sea (in the water) : I swam in the sea on my holiday.

In the sky, in the rain, in a tent, in a hat

Inside buildings and large areas

There are six of us in the office.

There are 3 bedrooms in our flat.

It’s hard to find water in the desert.

Last night he slept on a bench in a park.

When talking about places

She lives in Prague.

They visited a famous gallery called Louvre in Paris.

Small or private means of transport

They will come in a taxi.

She picked me up at my home in her car.

We want to go sailing in a boat.

Countries

Most people in the USA don’t know where Europe is.

Beer in England is completely different to Europeans lagers.

People in Australia like having a BBQ very often.

When describing pictures

You can see two obscure figures in the picture.

The woman depicted in the picture is the artist’s mother.

Four corners of the world

in the south, in the east

in the north, in the west

ON

on the hill, on the roof, on the corner, on foot

On a surface

There are two cups on the table.

Picture is hanging on the wall.

Public transport.

“I’m on a bus, can you call me back later, please?“

She doesn’t like travelling on a train.

I wish I could sleep on a plane to kill some time.

Personal 2-wheel vehicles

on a bicycle

on a motorbike

Place on a line from A to B

Stratford is on the river Avon.

We stopped at Reading on our train journey to Oxford.

Hammersmith station is on Piccadilly line.

When giving directions

Take the second street on the right.

Turn left on the corner.

It’s on your left/right.

Go straight on (keep walking straight ahead).

On TV

What’s on, tonight?

I watched some rubbish on TV last night because I was bored.

Cyberspace

on the Internet, on the website

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