Prepositions Of Place

Introduction

Prepositions of place are parts of speech that give information about the location of a person, thing, animal, action, event, etc. A preposition always comes before the noun that it modifies.

Uses of prepositions of place: at, in, and on

The table below shows the cases in which each preposition is used.

At	In	On
A point	An enclosed space	A surface
at the corner	in the garden	on the ceiling
at the bus stop	in France	on the door
at the door	in a box	on the cover
at the top of the page	in my pocket	on the floor
at the end of the road	in my wallet	on the carpet
at the entrance	in a building	on the menu
at the crossroads	in a car	on a page
at the front desk	in a taxi	on the wall
at home	in a boat	on a bus
at work	in a lift (elevator)	on a train
at school	in the newspaper	on a plane
at university	in the sky	on a ship
at college	in a row	on a bicycle
at the top	in Oxford Street	on a motorbike
at the bottom	in a helicopter	on a horse
at the side		on an elephant
at reception		on the radio/TV
in the garden		on the way

Meanings of prepositions of place

The following table gives the approximate meaning of each preposition of place, in addition to examples that illustrate that meaning.

Preposition	Meaning	Example
above	higher than sth.	The picture hangs above my bed.
across	from one side to the other side	You mustn’t go across this road.
after	one follows the other	The cat ran after the dog.
against	directed towards sth.	The bird flew against the window.
along	in a line; from one point to another	They’re walking along the beach.
among	in a group	I like being among people.
around	in a circular way	We’re sitting around the campfire.
behind	at the back of	Our house is behind the supermarket.
below	lower than sth.	Death Valley is 86 meters below sea level.
beside	next to	Our house is beside the supermarket.
between	sth./sb. is on each side	Our house is between the supermarket and the school.
by	near	He lives in the house by the river.
close to	near	Our house is close to the supermarket.
down	from high to low	He came down the hill.
from	the place where it starts	Do you come from Tokyo?
in front of	the part that is in the direction it faces	Our house is in front of the supermarket.
inside	opposite of outside	You shouldn’t stay inside the castle.
into	entering sth.	You shouldn’t go into the castle.
near	close to	Our house is near the supermarket.
next to	beside	Our house is next to the supermarket.
off	away from sth.	The cat jumped off the roof.
onto	moving to a place	The cat jumped onto the roof.
opposite	on the other side	Our house is opposite the supermarket.
out of	leaving sth.	The cat jumped out of the window.
the outside	opposite of inside	Can you wait outside?
over	above sth./sb.	The cat jumped over the wall.
past	going near sth./sb.	Go past the post office.
round	in a circle	We’re sitting around the campfire.
to	towards sth./sb.	I like going to Australia.
towards	in the direction of sth.	We ran towards the castle.
under	below sth.	The cat is under the table.
up	from low to high	He went up the hill.

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