7 common mistakes when using prepositions in English and how to avoid them

Original author: Brett Johnson
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In English, prepositions are used to connect people, objects, time and places within a sentence. Usually these are short words like at, for, in, on and to, which, despite their size, play a crucial role, and it is not always easy to use them correctly.

I found an interesting post analyzing common mistakes when using prepositions, and prepared an adapted translation of it.

1. Arrive at vs. Arrive in vs Arrive to


If in a sentence someone arrives somewhere - for example, in a city, country or some other place - then you need to use the phrase “arrive at”.

Examples:


Bad : When we arrived to the stadium, the game had already started.
Good : When we arrived at the stadium, the game had already started.

2. Using on with days and dates


In the case of a date, the preposition on is used in English .

Example:


It's my birthday on June 2nd.

However, if we are not talking about a specific date, and you want to highlight, for example, the month in which you have a birthday, then the preposition in will correctly be used .

Examples

:
Bad : My birthday is on July!
Good : My birthday is in July!

3. Depends on


Many people for whom English is not their native language make mistakes when using the “depends on” construct. When you need to describe a dependency, the preposition on is used .

Examples:


Bad : It depends of when you'd like it to be done.

Good : It depends on when you'd like it to be done.



4. at night


When something happens in the morning, afternoon or evening, the English construct in the morning / afternoon / evening is used. But when describing nightly events, the preposition at is always used .

Examples:


Bad : Claire often goes out in the night.

Good : Claire often goes out at night.


5. for + time period


For the description of time periods the preposition for is used :

Examples:


Bad : I've been working for this company since three years.
Good : I've been working for this company for three years.



At the same time, since :

Examples:


I have lived in Boston since March.
We have not talked since our last meeting.

6. married to


In the case when we want to describe the marital status of a person, it is correct to use the phrase is married to - with the pretext to .

Examples:


Bad : John is married with Katy.
Good : John is married to Katy.



If we are talking about plans to get married, then the pretext to is also used here :

My friend Peter is getting married to Jane next month.

At the same time, people can get married without any pretexts at all.

Good: Wendy is marrying her fitness coach.

7. Ask + preposition


Another difficult moment is the use of prepositions with the word ask in cases where there is also a mention of a person or object to which the action of the verb is addressed.

Examples:


Bad : I asked to Tom to get this done.
Good : I asked Tom to get this done.

Important: “to” is used before the verb, and not after “ask.”

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