Are you struggling with prepositions? Do you often find yourself asking questions like “Is it during or while?” or “Should I use at or on?” If so, you’re not alone. Prepositions can be a tricky area of grammar, so it’s important to understand the different uses, contexts and rules.
Prepositions are words used to show relationships between two parts of a sentence. These words typically come before a noun, or after a verb or adjective. There are many prepositions, but the ones we’re focusing on today are at, on, in, since, for, during, and while.
At is used to describe a specific moment in time or place. For example, you can say “We met at 8:00 PM.” On is used to express more of a time span or a surface. You can say, “We met on Monday evening.” In is used to discuss a particualr place or location, such as “We ate lunch in the park.” Since expresses a point in time, it is often used to talk about something that happened or started at a particular moment in the past, such as “We’ve been together since 2018.”
For and during express that something took place over a part of time. For example, “We talked for an hour” and “We talked during the meeting.” While is more of a comparison, expressing that something took place during the same time frame as something else. For example, “I ate dinner while watching television.”
Though this might seem confusing at first, with practice and careful consideration, prepositions can become a piece of cake. Good luck mastering these grammar challenges!
