English Prepositions – why are they so difficult?
Learning a language has many challenges. Being able to remember words, being able to understand grammar structures, getting your tongue around the strange sound of that new word.
But it can be frustrating when we still have doubts about some of the smallest and simplest words in the language.
You may feel a bit silly if you are unsure whether to say depend on or of (the correct preposition is on) or whether to say in or at April (it is in) but do not worry – you are in good company. Most students agree that prepositions are the last thing you really master when learning a language.
So why is this?
Prepositions can be used in different ways – they can refer to time, movement or place – and in general these types of propositions cause fewer problems because the meaning is easier to visualise - a cat sitting under the table for example. Or because we can look at rules which tell us which preposition should be used. (always use on when referring to a specific day “I will meet you on Monday”).
In this podcast I won’t have time to go through these rules but I will have time to give you some tips about how you can remember and use prepositions more effectively.
The biggest problem for most students is what I refer to as “dependent” prepositions. Take the example of to depend ON something- is there any logical reason we use ON here? No. It has just become the word we associate with this verb. Why do we say that you are good AT learning languages and not good IN? It is a dependent preposition which depends on the preceding word – in this case the adjective good.
Many students continue to make mistakes with these words because they clearly know and understand the words depend and good- but learn them as individual words and not part of a longer expression – To depend on something, or to be good at something. In that way you fix the complete expression in your head and it will come to mind more quickly when you need it.
In order to make this podcast a successful one for you let’s look at some key prepositional phrases that you can memorise and use again.
The two we have mentioned again – depend on and to be good at plus 3 new phrases.
On the whole – out of curiosity – and – at the drop of a hat.
Now let’s choose a random topic and imagine I need to talk about it for 1 minute. The topic is “Should parents allow children under 10 to use a smartphone?”
This is a difficult question to answer as it depends on many things. For example, does the child need a phone for practical reasons- or just for playing games.
On the whole, at this age most children are easily distracted and even if they don’t intend to they often start playing a new game at the drop of a hat.
Many people are very good at criticising others without understanding how difficult it would be to be in their situation. Out of curiosity- I would like to see you looking after 5 children aged under 10 for you to see how hard it can be.
Great – I did it.