from Crown Academy of English

and today we are going to do

a lesson on the prepositions of place.

So we're going to look at

when we use the word "in", "on"

and "at" when we are talking about places.

So let's get started.

So, we will look first at when to use the word "at"

and the first situation is when we want to talk about

a specific point or place.

For example - So here, we have some stairs,

and so we can say this is at the top of the stairs

and this is at the bottom of the stairs...okay?

Another example would be here. We would say the cat is at the window.

Ok? So again, window, this is a specific point or place.

Some other examples would be... we can say

"at the door" - so if somebody is at the door...

or "at the end of the street" for example... et cetera

So the first use is we can use the word "at"

for a specific point or place. Okay?

And we can also use the word "at" to talk about an exact address.

An exact address is when we know the name of the street

and also the number of the street.

For example: He lives at 55 Oxford Street.

So, we know the number of the street - 55,

and we know the name of the street - Oxford Street...

and so we use the word "at". He lives at 55 Oxford Street.

But, if we do not know the exact address.

If we do not know the number of the street, then we do not use the word "at"

Ok, so here, we do not know the number of the street,

so we do not say "at Oxford Street."

We must say: "He lives on Oxford Street"

Ok? He lives on Oxford Street...

and he lives at 55 Oxford Street. That is the exact address.

And another use of "at" is events.

For example, at a party,

at a conference. So this is a photograph of a conference.

So we can say this man, he is at a conference.

at a meeting, or at a concert.

Ok, so all of these are events.

And so, for an event, if you want... if somebody is going to an event,

we say they are at a party or they are at a concert.

And also, when we are discussing the building where

an event happens or an activity takes place, we also used the word "at".

So we can say "at the cinema"

So there's the cinema.

So we can say, for example "Andrew is at the cinema"

or "at the library",

"at the town hall",

"at the police station"... et cetera.

So these are buildings in which there is an event or activity,

and so we used the word "at".

Ok...and we also used the word "at" when somebody is at somebody's house.

So, for example, "He is at Andrew's house."

"She lives at her parents' house" ok?

So, when we are talking about somebody's house, we always use the word "at"

And, we also use the word "at" for a stop on a journey, like a break on a journey ok?

For example "We stopped at a nice village."

"The train to Manchester stops at Birmingham." ok.. "at Birmingham."

So this is the only time when we are talking about towns and cities...

this is the only time that we use the word "at" ok...

and we will see the other preposition that we use for towns and cities later in the lesson.

Ok, so this is the only time we use the word "at" for a city.

And finally for the word "at", we also have some expressions.

So there are no rules for these. You must just learn them ok?

So, "He is at school."

"at home"

"at university"

"at work"

"at reception"

"at church"... and there is obviously a photograph of the church.

And, if you notice, for all of these expressions, we do not use the word "the" ok?

So for example, we do not say "He is at the school."

Ok, so the general rule is that these are expressions,

and we do not use the word "the".

Ok, so for all of these expressions, we use the word "at" to describe where somebody is.

Now let's look at the word "on".

Well the main use is when something is on a surface.

So for example, "on the wall"

And this is an example here. For example, we can say there is some graffiti on the wall.

Or we could say there is a photograph on the wall

and we can also say "on the ceiling",

"on the floor",

"on a blackboard",

"on the table",

"on the page",

et cetera. So you can see all of these examples, they are all surfaces -

Either horizontal surfaces or vertical surfaces.

And we always used the word "on".

Okay and now let's look at number two.

So if something is attached to something else, we use the word "on".

So for example "She is wearing a ring on her finger."

So there we have a photograph. There is her finger.

There is... the ring. The ring is attached to her finger...

and so we say "She is wearing a ring on her finger."

And another example: "There are three apples on the tree."

So the apples are attached to the tree. So we use the word "on"

et cetera

We also used the word "on" when we are talking about something which is...

close to the coast, or a river, or a road.

So for example, "Brighton is a town on the south coast of England."

"London is on the River Thames."

So, for example, here is London. The city of London...

and London is next to a river called the River Thames.

But we do not say "next to the river"

We say "London is on the River Thames." because it is a river.

So a town is on a river... and that means it is next to the river.

And again we can say "He lives on Oxford Street."

Ok, and we saw this earlier in fact. So when we're talking about a road,

or a street, and we do not know the exact address,

we only know the person and the street name, then we use the word "on".

et cetera

And we also have some expressions for the word "on"

"on a farm"

"on the left" or "on the right"

And in a building which has several levels,

the levels are called floors.

And we use the word "on".

So we say ...Mark lives on the ground floor,

Sarah lives on the second ... on the first floor and David lives on the second floor.

"on the radio" - So for example, if there is a song on the radio.

"on television" For example, here we say there is a film on television.

And we also say "on a ship".

There are a few other expressions, but those are the most important ones.

And now, let's look at the word "in".

So "in" we use for an enclosed space or a large place which has boundaries around it.

Example: "in the bag",

"in the bedroom" - You can say "the bed is in the bedroom."

"in the forest" - So this forest is a place which has boundaries

So David is playing in the forest.

"in the garden",

"in the car park" - And so we can say, for example, this car is in the car park.

Ok, so we use the word "in". We do NOT say "at" the car park or "on" the car park.

We say "in" the car park.

"in the desert" ... et cetera

And this is a very important one. This is very common.

So we use the word "in" when we are talking about towns or cities.

So "He lives in Manchester." Ok?

We do NOT say "He lives at Manchester". We say "He lives in Manchester."

"Andrew is in the village."

"They are in London to visit Tower Bridge."

So here is Tower Bridge which is in London.

So this is very important. Towns or cities - we use the word "in".

et cetera.

And finally there are some expressions again for the word "in".

"in the newspaper" - So we say I read an article in the newspaper.

"in bed" - So the girl is in bed.

"in hospital",

"in prison",

"in the sky" - So the aeroplane is in the sky.

"in a photograph". There is a photograph of my parents. My parents are in the photograph.

And if we are talking about an armchair, we say that we "sit in an armchair."

But if it is a normal chair or a stool, we say we "sit on a chair" or we "sit on a stool."

So "in" is an exception for armchair.

Notice that some of these, we do not use the word "the".

So we say "in bed". We do not say "in the bed."

We do not say "in the hospital". We say, for example, "My father is ill. He is in hospital."

We do not say "He is in the hospital."

Again, since these are expressions, you must learn... there is no rule in fact. You must just learn them.

There is no choice!

And "in the water" or "in the sea"

So the children are playing in the water... in the sea. Ok?

So, that is it. That is the end of the lesson.

I hope you enjoyed it.

If you would like to subscribe, then you can click here on the screen.

Here is my Twitter account in the middle...

and at the bottom, here, this is another video which you might be interested in.

This one is a vocabulary lesson of items in the bedroom.

So again, you can click on the screen here if you would like to watch that video.

Okay thank you very much for watching.

My name is Andrew from Crown Academy of English.

Thanks for watching and I will see you very soon. Bye bye!