Prepositions On, At and In

A preposition is a word that links a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase to some other part of the sentence.

Prepositions can be tricky for English learners. There is no definite rule or formula for choosing a preposition. In the beginning stage of learning the language, you should try to identify a preposition when reading or listening in English and recognize its usage.

• to the office
• at the desk
• on the table
• in an hour
• about myself

A preposition is used to show direction, location, or time, or to introduce an object.

Here are a few common prepositions and examples.

How to write a story

What should contain a good story for FCE

• A good plot
• A good ending: fun, dramatic, shocking…
• The paragraphs must be well linked and should convey an atmosphere with adjectives and verbs (you can visualize what is happening)
• The narrative tenses should be used correctly.

Most prepositions

Prepositions are short words (on, in, to) that usually stand in front of nouns (sometimes also in front of gerund verbs).

Even advanced learners of English find prepositions difficult, as a 1:1 translation is usually not possible. One preposition in your native language might have several translations depending on the situation.

There are hardly any rules as to when to use which preposition. The only way to learn prepositions is looking them up in a dictionary, reading a lot in English (literature) and learning useful phrases off by heart (study tips).

The following table contains rules for some of the most frequently used prepositions in English:

Idioms

Nothing to write home about – nada del otro jueves

Just in case – por si las moscas

To call a spade a spade – llamar al pan, pan y al vino, vino

My name’s John Blunt – a mí me gustan las cosas claras y el chocolate espeso

Miles from anywhere/at the back of beyond – en el quinto pino/donde Cristo dio las tres voces/perdió la gorra

Someone’s better half – la media naranja de alguien

The straw that broke the camel’s back – la gota que colma el vaso

To play second fiddle – ser plato de segunda mesa

Pronunciation of past simple regular verbs

Simple Past Tense Regular Verbs - ed Pronunciation

              / t /                           / d /                         / id /

stop = stopped	learn = learned	decide = decided
look = looked	listen = listened	want = wanted
wash = washed	play = played	start = started
watch = watched	enjoy = enjoyed	wait = waited
like = liked	live = lived	visit = visited
walk = walked	stay = stayed	invite = invited
help = helped	open = opened
work = worked	love = loved
change = changed	learn = learned
miss = missed	call = called
relax = relaxed	arrive = arrived
	smile = smiled
	clean = cleaned

• We pronounce / t / after voiceless sounds: / p /, / k /, / s /, / f / and voiceless / th / sound
• We pronounce / d / after voiced sounds: / b / , / g /, / v /, / z/ , / m/ , /n /, / l /, / r / , voiced / th / sound and all vowels.
• We pronounce / id / after / d / and / t / sounds.

Nationalities

COUNTRY	ADJECTIVE	NOUN
Africa	Arican	an African
America	American	an American
Argentina	Argentinian	an Argentinian
Austria	Austrian	an Austrian
Australia	Australian	an Australian
Bangladesh	Bangladeshi	a Blangladeshi
Belgium	Belgian	a Belgian
Brazil	Brazilian	a Brazilian
Britain	British	a Briton
Cambodia	Cambodian	a Cambodian
Chile	Chilean	a Chilean
China	Chinese	a Chinese
Colombia	Colombian	a Colombian
Croatia	Croatian	a Croat
the Czech Republic	Czech	a Czech
Denmark	Danish	a Dane
Egypt	Egyptian	an Egyptian
England	English	an Englishman  an Englishwoman
Finland	Finnish	a Finn
France	French	a Frenchman  a Frenchwoman
Germany	German	a German
Greece	Greek	a Greek
Holland	Dutch	a Dutchman  a Dutchwoman
Hungary	Hungarian	an Hungarian
Iceland	Icelandic	an Icelander
India	Indian	an Indian
Indonesia	Indonesian	an Indonesian
Iran	Iranian	an Iranian
Iraq	Iraqi	an Iraqi
Ireland	Irish	an Irishman  an Irishwoman
Israel	Israeli	an Israeli
Italy	Italian	an Italian
Jamaica	Jamaican	a Jamaican
Japan	Japanese	a Japanese
Korea	Korean	a Korean
Mexico	Mexican	a Mexican
Morocco	Moroccan	a Moroccan
Norway	Norwegian	a Norwegian
Peru	Peruvian	a Peruvian
the Philippines	Philippine	a Filipino
Poland	Polish	a Pole
Portugal	Portuguese	a Portuguese
Rumania	Rumanian	a Rumanian
Russia	Russian	a Russian
Saudi Arabia	Saudi,  Saudi Arabian	a Saudi,  a Saudi Arabian
Scotland	Scottish	a Scot
Serbia	Serbian	a Serb
the Slovak Republic	Slovak	a Slovak
Spain	Spanish	a Spaniard
Sweden	Swedish	a Swede
Switzerland	Swiss	a Swiss
Thailand	Thai	a Thai
the USA	American	an American
Turnisia	Turnisian	a Turnisian
Turkey	Turkish	a Turk
Vietnam	Vietnamese	a Vietnamese
Wales	Welsh	a Welshman  a Welshwoman
Yugoslavia	Yugoslav	a Yugoslav

How to write a short story

Your story will be better and will get more marks if you include…

1. Three different tenses. You want to show the examiner that you know the story telling tenses, which are:

a) Simple Past

b) Past Continuous

c) Past Perfect.

Here’s an example:  It was raining. (Past continuous)

                             Billy hadn’t eaten for two days. (Past perfect)

                             He saw some apples. He decided to steal them. (Simple past).

Of course, in order to use these tenses you absolutely MUST know all your irregular verbs!

2. Adjectives: It was raining. Billy hadn’t eaten for two days, so he was wet, hungry and miserable. He saw some delicious, red apples. He decided to steal them.

3. Adverbs: It was raining hard. Billy hadn’t eaten for two days, so he was wet, hungry and miserable. He saw some delicious red apples and quickly decided to steal them.

4. Direct speech: “Hey, you!” shouted the shopkeeper, “I know you, Billy Brown! I’ll tell your mum!”

5. Rich vocabulary, good grammar, detail and idiomatic expressions: Examples: Quick as a flash – soaking wet – starving hungry – to grab – to pass away – an idea popped into his head – to go straight (to hospital) (home) – to have a little chat