Common Preposition Mistakes in English

Common Preposition Mistakes in English

English is one of the easiest languages to learn. However, like all languages, it too is not immune to inconsistencies and idiosyncrasies that all too often baffle learners and fluent speakers alike. In this article, we explore some of the most common mistakes that people make in speech or in writing, in various contexts:

1. Marriage Sometimes we hear people say “I am married with her”/“I am divorced with him”. But, the correct way to say it is “I am married to her” and “I am divorced from him”.

2. Anger Another context that often confuses speakers when finding a preposition is that of anger. The correct way to say it is “I am angry about” a topic, but “I am angry at/with” a person.For example, “I am angry about his careless attitude towards health” and “I am angry at him for being late.”

3. Discussions We often use ‘talking’ and ‘discussing’ interchangeably. However, we talk about a topic, but discuss the same topic. “We were talking about spacecraft” and “We were discussing spacecraft.”

4. In spite/Despite ‘In spite’ is said with of, but ‘despite’ is used without it. If your friend does not heed your advice, you can say “In spite of being warned, he went ahead with his plan”, or “Despite being warned, he went ahead with his plan.”

5. Time / Day / Day of the Month / Month / Year One of the most common mistakes committed by speakers is to use wrong prepositions while talking about time. Make sure to use “at” before fixed time like “at 5 o’ clock” and “on” before “day” or “day of the month” like “on Friday” and “on 15th August”. Use “in” before month and year, for example, “in June” and “in 2009”.

6. Waiting Very often the usages of ‘await’ and ‘I wait’ get confused. If you are expecting a reply from someone, you can say “I wait/I am waiting for his reply” or “I await his reply.”

7. Day and Time It is often heard from people that they will call you “at morning” or “in morning”. The correct way to say it is “I will call you in the morning”, but the only exception is night, in which case it will be “I will call you at night.”

8. ‘For’ and ‘Since’ The word ‘for’ denotes the duration of time, while ‘since’ refers to the time when an activity began. So, if you want to express your displeasure at being kept waiting, you can either say “I’ve been waiting since noon” or “I’ve been waiting for five hours.”

9. Enter Generally, “Enter” without preposition is used to talk about entering parts of buildings or physical structures like “The miscreants entered the building at night” whereas we use “Enter into” to talk about starting or joining a course, discussion etc like “The interviewers entered into the discussion with the applicant”

10. ‘Arrive’ and ‘Reach’ Though with a very slight difference in meaning, ‘arrive’ and ‘reach’ are often used interchangeably. However, we use ‘at / in’ with ‘arrive’ and ‘reach without any preposition. For example, “We finally arrived at the venue around 10” or “We finally reached the venue around 10”.