Many prepositions can be used both for place and direction

3   Many prepositions can be used both for place and direction.

The bank is just across the High Street. (place)

I walked across the room. (direction)

We live in the house over the road. (place)

I stole his keys and escaped over the wall. (direction)

4   You can also use adverbs and adverb phrases for place and direction.

Sheila was here a moment ago.

Can’t you go upstairs and turn the bedroom light off?

Note that a few noun groups can also be used as adverbials of place or direction.

Steve lives next door at number 23.

I thought we went the other way last time.

5   Many words can be used as prepositions and as adverbs, with no difference in meaning. Remember that prepositions have noun groups as objects, but adverbs do not.

Did he fall down the stairs?

Please do sit down.

I looked underneath the bed. but the box had gone!

Always put a sheet of paper underneath.

¨    You use ‘at’ to talk about a place as a point.

¨    You use ‘in’ to talk about a place as an area.

¨    You use ‘on’ to talk about a place as a surface.

1   You use ‘at’ when you are thinking of a place as a point in space.

She waited at the bus stop for over twenty minutes.

‘Where were you last night?’ – ‘At Mick’s house.’

2   You also use ‘at’ with words such as ‘back’, ‘bottom’, ‘end’, ‘front’, and ‘top’ to talk about the different parts of a place.

Mrs Castle was waiting at the bottom of the stairs.

They escaped by a window at the back of the house.

I saw a taxi at the end of the street.

You use ‘at’ with public places and institutions. Note that you also say ‘at home’ and ‘at work’.

I have to be at the station by ten o’clock.

We landed at a small airport.

A friend of mine is at Training College.

She wanted to stay at home.

You say ‘at the corner’ or ‘on the corner’ when you are talking about streets.

The car was parked at the corner of the street.

There’s a telephone box on the corner.

You say ‘in the corner’ when you are talking about a room.

She put the chair in the corner of the room.

3   You use ‘in’ when you are talking about a place as an area. You use ‘in’ with:

§  a country or geographical region

When I was in Spain, it was terribly cold.

A thousand homes in the east of Scotland suffered power cuts.

§  a city, town, or village

I’ve been teaching at a college in London.

§  a building when you are talking about people or things inside it

They were sitting having dinner in the restaurant.

You also use ‘in’ with containers of any kind when talking about things inside them.

She kept the cards in a little box.

4   Compare the use of ‘at’ and ‘in’ in these examples.

I had a hard day at the office. (‘at’ emphasises the office as a public place or institution)

I left my coat behind in the office. (‘in’ emphasises the office as a building)

There’s a good film at the cinema. (‘at’ emphasises the cinema as a public place)

It was very cold in the cinema. (‘in’ emphasises the cinema as a building.)

5   When talking about addresses, you use ‘at’ when you give the house number, and ‘in’ when you just give the name of the street.

They used to live at 5, Weston Road.

She got a job in Oxford Street.

Note that American English uses ‘on’: ‘He lived on Penn Street.’

You use ‘at’ when you are talking about someone’s house.

I’ll see you at Fred's house.

6   You use ‘on’ when you are talking about a place as a surface. You can also use ‘on top of’.

I sat down on the sofa.

She put her keys on top of the television.

You also use ‘on’ when you are thinking of a place as a point on a line, such as a road, a railway line. a river, or a coastline.

Scrabster is on the north coast.

Oxford is on the A34 between Birmingham and London.

Practice