One of the most common grammar mistakes I commit is the use of prepositions. Prepositions are used in sentences to describe relationship between other words. The general categories of words commonly used together with prepositions are time, location, objects and events. It is difficult to use the correct preposition all the time as most of the prepositions can be used with specific words or sentences. For example, the word “proud” can only be used with the preposition “of”. However, words such as “hope” can be used with more than one preposition such as “for” and “in”. If the incorrect preposition is used, the meaning of the word or sentence might change and this might cause the readers to misinterpret what you are trying to portray. It also makes you’re the ideas in the sentences appear illogical. I tend to get mixed up with what preposition to use in a particular sentence. The incorrect preposition used may sometimes appear correct to me as I am accustomed to my way of using it. This is usually when I want to relate people with location, objects and events or objects with location. In the writing assignment, the usage of the preposition “on” is wrong in the following sentence: “develop a keen interest on IT”. Instead, the corrected sentence should be “keen interest in IT”. I also tend to use preposition unnecessary. This is because I have the bad habit of using unnecessary preposition in my daily speech. Hence, it influences the way I write my essay. One common example would be “I am meeting up with her later”. Instead, it should just be “I am meeting her later”. From preposition exercise I had attempted, I found out that if I did not fully understand what the sentence meant, I would use the wrong preposition. This is especially true for long sentences that use multiple prepositions such as questions 1 and 3 in the preposition exercise. The exercise I have done below helps me to correct as well as to reinforce my understanding of using prepositions correctly.
The preposition exercise I did below was retrieved from the following internet address:
http://www.lrc.centennialcollege.ca/tutorserv/English/Worksheets/Preposition%20Exercise2.htm
Preposition Exercise
- In order to get school, I have to drive the shopping mall that is located the corner Dundas and McQuay.
- I was leaning the car when it started to move.
- The train is leaving Toronto 6:30 and is going east Oshawa.
- My car is parked a motorcycle and a van.
- The banana is the fruit bowl that is the counter.
- I found my earring the dirty clothes laying the washer.
- The drinking glasses are stored the plates in the cupboard.
- The dog jumped the car when he realized his owner was leaving.
- The hospital is the corner from the high school.
- The child hid the couch a game of hide-and-seek.
- The child sat Santa Clause knee.
Answer Key
- to, past, at, of
- against/on
- from, at, past/through, toward
- between
- inside, on
- among/beside/near/in, by/on
- above/below
- into
- around
- behind/beside, during
- on
4 comments:
Prepositions are important 'links' in sentences. Definitely agree that with wrong 'links', wrong meanings are conveyed. I too encounter the same problem as you where my daily conversation manner affects the way i write and convey meanings. It's great that you are able to list many examples and certainly, the only way to correct our usage of prepositions is through more writing practice.
A lot of our conversation in daily life causes the mistakes in our writing. I too make a lot of mistake with the preposition 'in' and 'on'. The phrases such as "in the year", i would write as "on the year" as well as "on friday", I also make a mistake writing as "in friday". There is about 150 prepostitions in english and many people will have difficulty to use the right one for the write meaning.
Not many locals speak good English and this has a spillover effect on our writing. I guess the only way to improve on the correct use of prepositions is to read more articles. At the same time, we need to converse in good English. I never knew that the sentence "I am meeting up with her" is wrong, until you pointed it out in your essay. We used that phrase "meeting up" all the time.
Actually, it IS correct to say "develop a keen interest in IT". The word "interest" is paired with "in". Examples include "I have an interest in literature"; "The company has shown interest in the new technology"; "He is interested in Jane".
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