PREPOSITIONS OF TIME AND PLACE

Χρονικές και Τοπικές προθέσεις

TIME

– When does he go to work?

– In the evening.

– When will he go away?

– At Easter.

– When did they come back?

– On Monday.

Τρεις διαφορετικές προθέσεις, τρεις διαφορετικές χρήσεις.

Look at the following table. If you can, memorise it.

________________________________________________

IN : Years / Seasons / Months / Parts of the day

ON : Days / Dates

AT : Hours / Feast Days

________________________________________

Exercise.

Ask and answer the following questions as indicated, supplying the necessary prepositions.

e.g.

Question:

When-Tom-return-Paris? Friday.

Answer:

When will Tom return from Paris?

He will return from Paris on Friday.

(Verbs may be in Simple Past, Present or Future.)

1. When-your exams-begin? 8th June

When do your exams begin? On the 8th of June

2. When-Columbus-discover America? 1542

When did Columbus discover America? In 1542

3. When-your-mother-do-shopping? The morning

When does your mother go shopping? In the morning

4. When-Tom-play football? Saturday morning

When does Tom play fooball? On Saturday morning

5. When-trees-lose-leaves? Autumn

When do trees lose (their) leaves? In autumn

Exercise.

Add one or more time words or phrases at the beginning or end of these sentences.

1. __________ school starts __________ .

2. __________ it seldom snows __________ .

3. I was born __________.

4. __________ the war ended __________ .

5. __________ we arrived home ___________ .

PLACE

– Where is he going? He’s going into the room.

– Where are they driving to? They are driving to Athens.

– Where is he staying? He’s staying at a small hotel.

Υπάρχουν κι άλλες Τοπικές προθέσεις αλλά αυτές οι τρεις είναι εκείνες που μας δημιουργούν προβλήματα συνήθως.

Here, a table will help. Memorise it if you can.

________________________________________________

MOTION : to / into / from / out of

REST: in (inside) at / outside

________________________________________________

This table shows that before you use a preposition of Place it is necessary to decide whether the sentence contains the idea of movement in a certain direction or not. If it does, then we must use a preposition of Motion:

INTO / A boy suddenly ran into the room.

FROM / Can you swim from this island to the shore?

OUT OF / The angry teacher sent the boy out of the room.

If it does not contain this idea of motion in a certain direction, then we must use a preposition of Rest:

IN / The train was still waiting in the station.

INSIDE / Nobody knew what was inside the box.

OUTSIDE / He usually parks his car outside the cinema.

AT / Let’s meet at the park.

NOTE: There is an important difference between IN and AT:

• Some words need special care:

HOME : after verbs of Rest the preposition is AT.

e.g.

• He spent the day at home.

After verbs of Motion no preposition is used.

e.g.

He hurried home.

NOTE: ENTER and REACH do not need a preposition.

ARRIVE is followed by either IN for large places or AT for small places.

e.g.

• He soon reached the top.
• Nobody entered the theatre that morning.
• We soon arrived at the traffic lights.

Exercise: Ask and answer the following questions as indicated, supplying the preposition where necessary:

e.g. Question: Where – Mr. – Hill – fly – last week? Tokyo.

Answer: Where did Mr. Hill fly to last week?

He flew to Tokyo last week. (or: Last week he flew to Tokyo)

1. Where – Mr. Hill – stay? the King George Hotel?

_____________________________________________

2. Where – Mary – jump? the water

____________________________________________

3. Where – Frank – arrive – on the third day?

_____________________________________________

4. Where – Miranda – travel to? the West Coast of America.

_____________________________________________

5. Where – Jimmy – climb? the top of the tree.

_____________________________________________

Exercise.

Read out the following sentences, supplying the missing prepositions.

1. Since then the wreck has been lying ____________ the bottom of the sea.

2. Slowly the ship sank ________________________the bottom of the sea.

3. Thousands of tourists come _______ Greece _______ all over the world.

4. My brother is working ________________________ America at present.

5. How often do you go _____________________________ the cinema?

________________________________________________