Prepositions of Time, Place and Movement: Complete Grammar Guide with Exercises — 1st Year Secondary School — English

📘 Introduction

Prepositions are small but essential words that show relationships between nouns/pronouns and other words in a sentence. They indicate time (when something happens), place (where something is), and movement (direction or motion). Mastering prepositions is crucial for speaking and writing correct English.

🎯 Learning Objectives

• Use prepositions of time (at, in, on, by, until, during) correctly
• Distinguish between prepositions of place (at, in, on, under, between, next to)
• Use prepositions of movement (to, towards, into, onto, through, across, along)
• Apply prepositions correctly in sentences and exercises

📚 Prepositions of Time

Preposition	Use	Examples
AT	Specific times, holidays, night	at 5 o’clock, at midnight, at night, at the weekend
IN	Months, years, seasons, parts of day	in May, in 2024, in summer, in the morning
ON	Days, dates	on Monday, on June 15th, on my birthday
BY	Deadline (not later than)	by Friday, by next week
UNTIL	Continuation to a point	until 6 pm, until tomorrow

📍 Prepositions of Place

Preposition	Use	Examples
AT	Specific point or location	at the bus stop, at school, at the door
IN	Enclosed space, area	in the room, in Algeria, in the box
ON	Surface	on the table, on the wall, on the floor
UNDER	Below something	under the bed, under the tree
BETWEEN	Two things/people	between the two chairs
NEXT TO	Beside / adjacent to	next to the supermarket

🏃 Prepositions of Movement

Preposition	Use	Examples
TO	Direction towards	go to school, walk to the park
INTO	Entering	jump into the pool, go into the house
ONTO	Moving onto surface	climb onto the roof
THROUGH	From inside to outside	walk through the tunnel
ACROSS	From one side to another	swim across the river
ALONG	Following a line	walk along the beach

✏️ Practice Exercises

Exercise 1: Fill in the blanks

1. I usually wake up ___ 7 o’clock ___ the morning.
2. The cat is sleeping ___ the sofa.
3. She walked ___ the bridge to cross the river.
4. We have a meeting ___ Friday ___ 3 pm.
5. He put the book ___ his bag and went ___ school.

Answers: 1. at / in  2. on  3. across  4. on / at  5. into / to

Exercise 2: Choose the correct preposition

1. The restaurant is (in / at / on) the corner of the street.
2. I’ve been working here (since / for / at) 2020.
3. The plane flew (over / under / into) the mountains.
4. She lives (in / at / on) a small village (in / at / on) the north of Algeria.

Answers: 1. at  2. since  3. over  4. in / in

📋 Summary

• AT = specific point (time, place); IN = enclosed/area; ON = surface
• TO = direction; INTO = entering; THROUGH = from inside to outside
• Many prepositions have multiple uses – context is key!
• Practice with real-life sentences to master prepositions

📍 Similar Lessons

• Articles (A, An, The): Indefinite and Definite Articles
• Countable and Uncountable Nouns: Quantifiers