English Preposition QUIZ Do you know these 15 prepositions
Hi, I’m Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.
Are you ready to test your preposition skills?
Let’s talk about it.
Do you feel like prepositions are tricky?
Should it be I’m in the store, or I’m at the
store?
I talk to him, or I talked with him?
These small words, in, at, with, to, these
are called prepositions.
The reason why prepositions are so tricky
is because we can’t translate them from your
native language.
For example, in Spanish the words “para”
and “por” both mean for when you translate
it into English but those two words can be
used in a lot of different situations where
in English, we would say for, by, during,
along.
How are Spanish speakers and you supposed
to know which is the correct English preposition?
It’s tricky.
Today, we’re not going to cover all the rules
for all prepositions but instead we’re going
to do something a little fun, a quiz.
Over the next 15 questions, you’re going to
review 15 different prepositions, of course
we can’t talk about every rule for every preposition,
but we’re going to talk about some of the
common uses.
Before we get started, I want you to get guess
how many questions do you think you’ll guess
correctly.
Think about a number one through 15 or maybe
zero through 15, how many questions do you
think you’ll get correct?
I want you to think about this number because
I have a feeling, I guess that you probably
know more about prepositions than you think
you do, so I hope that this lesson will help
you to realize, I do know something about
prepositions and now I know a little bit more
as well.
All right, let’s get started with question
number one.
Preposition sentence number one.
Today is beautiful, let’s go for a walk the
park.
Let’s go for a walk in the park, let’s go
for a walk at the park, which one of these
is the most common?
I’ll give you three seconds to guess.
Three, two, one.
The correct answer is, it’s beautiful today,
let’s go for a walk in the park.
You should use the word in because we’re talking
about being inside or surrounded by the park.
If you say, let’s go for a walk at the park,
we’re just talking a specific point.
You might say, let’s meet at the entrance
to the park, but here we’re talking about
going for a walk in the park, we’re surrounded
by the park.
All right, let’s go to question number two.
Question number two, basketball is enjoyable
but all I like baseball.
But about all I like baseball, but above all
I like baseball, which preposition is correct?
You have three seconds, two, one.
Basketball is enjoyable but above all, I like
baseball.
Here we have a fixed expression.
You might call this in grammatical terms a
collocation.
Above all.
Here we can imagine physically above, you’re
interests more important, more interesting.
Baseball above all is the best, so you could
say, I like learning English all the time
but above all, Vanessa’s lessons are my favorite.
Sentence number three, I’m teaching my son
to walk the sidewalk.
I’m teaching my son to walk by the sidewalk,
or I’m teaching my son to walk on the sidewalk,
which one is correct?
This is true, my son is one and half and I’m
trying to teach him to walk the sidewalk.
It’s dangerous if you walk the road.
All right, let’s think about this in three
seconds, two, one.
The answer is, I’m teaching my son to walk
on the sidewalk.
With the word on, we can imagine a flat surface.
On the sidewalk, don’t walk on the road, walk
on the sidewalk.
Sentence number four, walk that tall building
and you’ll find downtown.
This is directions, walk to that tall building
and you’ll find downtown, or walk towards
that tall building and you’ll find downtown.
Here we can kind of imagine that in the distance
there’s a tall building and you’re trying
to tell your friend how to get to downtown.
So, let’s think about which preposition is
correct.
Three, two, one.
Walk towards that tall building and you’ll
find downtown.
We use the preposition towards to talk about
moving in a direction towards something, to
something but you’re not exactly going to
that spot.
If you want to walk to downtown from my house,
you don’t need to get to that tall building,
you just need to move in the direction of
that tall building.
Sentence number five, all see you the party
six o’clock.
I’ll see you by the party by six o’clock,
I’ll see you at the party at six o’clock.
Here we’re going to use the same preposition
for both blanks.
Think about it, three, two, one.
I’ll see you at the party at six o’clock.
Here we’re talking about a specific point
in time.
Remember question number one, we talked about
meeting at the entrance to the park, that’s
the same thing here.
We’re going to meet you at the party at six
o’clock, a specific point.
Preposition sentence number six, I don’t understand
what Vanessa is talking.
I don’t understand what Vanessa is talking
with, I don’t understand what Vanessa is talking
about, which one is correct?
Three, two, one.
We have a key here to help us know what the
correct answer is.
The key word is the word what.
I don’t understand what Vanessa is talking
about.
If you know this fixed expression, to talk
about something, you know that we talk about
something.
We’re not talking about a person, I’m talking
about prepositions.
I’m talking about the moon, I’m talking about
English.
What if we wanted to say, I’m talking with?
Here we need to use a person, but in my sentence
I’m talking about something because I used
the word what.
I’m talking with you about prepositions, do
you see that difference here?
Sentence number seven, this one’s a little
tricky.
We’ll try to be home 10PM but probably earlier.
You can imagine telling a babysitter this,
maybe if you’re going out and the babysitter
is staying home and watching your kids, you
might say, we’ll try to be home by 10PM but
probably earlier, or we’ll try to be home
at 10PM but probably earlier, which one is
correct?
Three, two, one.
Well, technically both of these are correct
but the best answer here is, I’ll try to be
home by 10PM.
Why did I choose by?
The word by means that we’re talking about
the latest possible time.
Try to be home by 10PM and our key here is
that final part, but probably earlier.
I’m imagining that 10PM is the latest that
I will be home, so here we need to use the
word by.
You might also hear in a classroom the teacher
might say to you, “You need to have your homework
finished by the beginning of class.”
The beginning of class is the latest possible
time.
Don’t finish your homework during the class,
it needs to be finished by the beginning of
class.
Preposition sentence number eight, after watching
the tidying documentary, I went all of my
things.
After watching the tidying documentary, I
went into all my things, or I went through
all my things, which preposition is correct?
Three, two, one.
After watching the Tidying documentary, I
went through all of my things.
You can imagine a tunnel, you’re going through
the tunnel, you’re surrounded by the tunnel.
I’m here in this sentence surrounded by my
things, clothes, kitchen things, office supplies,
I went through my things.
It was thorough.
I went through every single thing.
It also helps if you know the fixed expression
to go through something.
This is one of the best ways to really memorize
prepositions is to memorize those full fixed
phrases, to talk about something.
To go through something.
Sentence number nine, I was in New York two
weeks.
I was in New York since two weeks, I was in
New York for two weeks, which one is the most
correct?
Three, two, one.
I was in New York for two weeks.
I know that the word for in sense can be tricky
together and we use for when we ask the question,
what was the duration of time?
The duration of time was two weeks.
So I was in New York for two weeks.
Sentence number ten, the cat ran the kitchen
when he heard the can open.
This is true for my cats when you open a can
of cat food, they run to the kitchen or they
run into the kitchen.
These are pretty similar, right?
Think about it for just a moment.
Three, two, one.
The cat ran into the kitchen when he heard
the can open.
We use the preposition into to talk about
a room or a building.
If you want to say, the cat ran to something,
we need to use a specific thing.
The cat ran to the bowl, the cat ran to me,
the cat ran into the kitchen to the bowl.
Beautiful sentence.
Number eleven, oh no, that was the last can
of cat food I need to go the store to get
more cat food.
Is it, I need to go to the store to get more
cat food?
Or I need to go about the store to get more
cat food?
Hm, which one’s correct?
Three, two, one.
I need to go to the store to get more cat
food immediately, my cats are going crazy.
We use the preposition to for a specific destination.
Come to my house, I’m going to the US, I need
to go to the store.
Number 12, the museum is full tourists in
July.
The museum is full of tourists in July, or
the museum is full for tourists in July, which
one feels the most correct to you?
Three, two, one.
The museum is full of tourists in July.
It helps if you know this fixed expression,
full of something.
The tree is full of monkey’s.
The museum is full of tourists.
Number 13, I talked the client about the problem.
I talked with the client about the problem,
or I talked to the client about the problem.
Hm, think about this for a moment.
Three, two, one.
I talked with the client about the problem,
or I talked to the client about the problem.
Oh, both of these can be correct grammatically
but they have slightly different meanings
in a business situation.
If you’re talking about a friend, I talked
with my friend, I talked to my friend.
No problem, same meaning, but in a business
situation with a client, they have a slightly
different meaning.
If you say, I talked with a client, it has
a more friendly approachable kind of equal
feeling.
Both people are speaking, I spoke with the
client.
I talked with the client.
If you say I talked to the client, in a business
situation, it kind of feels like one person
is doing more speaking.
You might say, my boss talked to me about
being late.
That means that I was late too much and he
was angry with me.
He talked to me about being late.
So just know that in a business situation,
it’s slightly different but in a casual conversation,
they’re the same.
Number 14, it’s been raining Saturday.
It’s been raining until Saturday, it’s been
raining since Saturday.
Hm, three, two, one.
When is the start date?
When did it start raining?
Saturday, it has been raining since Saturday.
This is a tricky word, we know the start date,
Saturday.
It has been raining since Saturday.
I’ve been learning English since I was eight
years old.
Eight years old is the start time.
I’ve been learning since I was eight years
old.
If you’d like to learn a little bit more about
the difference between until in sense, make
sure you check out this live lesson that I
did quite a while ago so that you can learn
that more deeply.
And our final preposition quiz sentence is,
I fell asleep the movie.
I fell asleep during the movie, or I fell
asleep from the movie, which one of these
feels the most correct?
It’s the last question, you can do it.
Three, two, one.
I fell asleep during the movie.
The word during comes from the word duration.
Duration, which means in the middle of the
movie I fell asleep.
You’ve heard a lot of preposition during this
lesson.
How did you do this quiz?
This was just a quick overview of 15 common
prepositions but I have a feeling that you
got more correct than you thought you would
at the beginning.
Let me know in the comments, what was your
score?
Can you make a sentence using these prepositions?
You can check the description box for the
time stamps so that you can go back and study
the various prepositions.
Thanks so much for learning English with me
and I’ll see you again next Friday for a new
lesson here on my YouTube channel.
Bye.
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Bye.