Prepositions of Place in English With Examples

Propositions of place are grammatical words that are used to talk about a place where something is located. Prepositions of place can take different forms, but we can distinguish three main prepositions of place:

At – There is musical festival at the mall tonight.
In – My grandmother grows delicious fruits in her garden.
On – Please put the plates on the dinner table.

It’s worth mentioning that prepositions of place are helpful in terms of storytelling or when discussing about things that requires important details for communication purposes.

Examples of Prepositions of Place

In – usually used when talking about inside a location or a place:

I do my Zoom meeting in the living-room.
I meet her in New York.
Read that story in the library.
They look at elephant in the zoo.
Jack is in the car with my family.
I really look bad in that photo.
This is my favorite team in Africa.

At – this preposition is used to show an exact place or a particular position, such as a table or events, as well as places where do you usually do typical things.

I met her at the gradian gate, at the bus stop.
She sat at the table.
She likes to be at a musical concert.
We had a great time at the party.
She suggested to spend the evening at the movies.
We always meet at University of South Florida.
We had a tough time at work.

On – this preposition is used when you want to describe something that is attached to something else, for example a wall or the ceiling. We can also use it to talk about something that is next to something else, left, right or along the side of something.

I like that painting on that wall.
Cambridge is on the River Cam.
My schoolbook is on her desk.
Last night I saw a smile on his face.
The supermarket is on the left.
My apartment is on the first floor.
I love traveling on trains /on the bus / on a plane.
I always listen to my favorite program on the radio.
Quick, come and see my father is on TV.

The table below contains more prepositions of place, along with examples for each:

Preposition of time	When to use	Example
Between	in or into the space which separates two places, people or objects	Jack sits between me and the window.
By, next to, beside, near	not far away in distance	The picture that is by / next to / beside the wall.
Behind	at the back of	The cat hides behind the tree.
In front of	further forward than someone or something else	She started talking to the man in front of her
Under	lower than (or covered by) something else	I found my pen under the table.
Below	lower than something else.	There are circles below my eyes.
Over	above or higher than something else, sometimes so that one thing covers the other.	She held the umbrella over both of us.
	more than.	Most of these items are overpriced.
	across from one side to the other.	I walked over the bridge.
	overcoming an obstacle	She jumped over the gate.
Above	higher than something else, but not directly over it	There is a path above the bridge.
Across	getting to the other side.	He sailed across the Atlantic.
Towards	in the direction of, or moving closer to someone or something.	She stood up and walked towards him.

• Among other prepositions, there are prepositions of time that allow you to talk about a certain period of time. They are often used in situations where it is important to indicate that something took place at a specific time.
Learn more about prepositions of time...

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