7 common mistakes when using prepositions in the English language and how to avoid them

In English, prepositions are used to link people, objects, time, and places within a sentence. Usually these are short words like at, for, in, on and to, which, despite their size, play an important role, and using them correctly is not always easy.

I found an interesting post with the analysis of common mistakes when using prepositions, and prepared its adapted translation.
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1. Arrive at vs. Arrive in vs Arrive to

If in the proposal someone arrives somewhere - for example, in a city, country or some other place - then you need to use the phrase "arrive at".

Examples:

Bad : When we arrived to the stadium, the game had already started.
Good : When we arrived at the stadium, the game had already started.

2. Use with days and dates

In the case of a date, the preposition on is used in English.

Example:

It's my birthday on June 2nd.

However, if we are not talking about a specific date, and you want to highlight, for example, the month in which you have a birthday, then it will be correct to use the preposition in .

Examples

:

Bad : My birthday is on July!
Good : My birthday is in July!

3. Depends on

Many people for whom English is not native, make mistakes when using the construction of "depends on". When you need to describe a dependency, the preposition on is used .

Examples:

Bad : It depends on it.

Good : It depends on it.

4. at night

When something happens in the morning, in the afternoon or in the evening, in English the construction is used in the morning / afternoon / afternoon. But when describing nightly events, the preposition at is always used.

Examples:

Bad : Claire often goes out in the night.

Good : Claire often goes out at night.

5. for + time period

For descriptions of time periods, the preposition for is used :

Examples:

Bad : I've been working for this company since three years.
Good : I've been working for this company for three years.

At the same time, to describe a specific time use since :

Examples:

I have lived in Boston since March.
We have not talked since our last meeting.

6. married to

In the case when we want to describe a person’s marital status, it is correct to use the phrase is married to - with the preposition to .

Examples:

Bad : John is married with Katy.
Good : John is married to Katy.

If we are talking about plans to get married, then the preposition to is also used here:

Peter friend is getting married for next month.

At the same time, people can get married and in general without any pretexts.

Good: Wendy is marrying her fitness coach.

7. Ask + preposition

Another difficult point is the use of prepositions with the word ask in cases where there is also a mention of a person or an object to which the verb action is directed.

Examples:

Bad : I asked to get this done.
Good : I asked Tom to get this done.

Important: “to” is used before the verb, not after the “ask.”