Why do we live in a town but on a street? Is something different from or different to? And did Churchill really say “this is the sort of nonsense up with which I shall not put”?

Prepositions (those little words like ‘on’, ‘in’, ‘at’ and ‘to’ that describe the position or movement on the noun) aren’t just confusing to non-native English speakers. They’re often misused by those of us born and bred in Bracknell. (Or any other UK town that doesn’t create such a nice alliteration.)

Never end a sentence with a preposition

There was a time when it was considered poor grammar to end a sentence with a preposition.

Sentences like ‘he wondered where it had come from’ and ‘there is nothing to be frightened of’ would have been frowned upon and rewritten as ‘he wondered from where it had come’ and ‘there is nothing of which to be frightened’.

But as the apocryphal Winston Churchill quote suggests, the alternative to prepositions at the ends of sentences makes them sound formal, stilted and, at times, just plain stupid.

So unless you want to sound as if you’re living in the 21^st century, go ahead and ask ‘who should I speak to’, ‘what did you talk about’ and ‘where did you get it from’.

In, on, at

Little words. Big headaches.

‘We’ll meet up again in a month.’ ‘We’re meeting them on Tuesday.’ ‘I’m staying at the Dorchester on Park Lane in London’

Use ‘in’ for unspecific times or locations.

• I go for a run in the morning.

• I run in the park when it’s quiet.

Use ‘on’ for specific times or locations.

• I go for a run on Friday mornings.

• I run on the path rather than the grass.

Use ‘at’ for actual times or locations.

• I go for a run at 7.00am every morning.

• I run at the gym if it’s too wet outside.

Different from, to, than

While pedants will tell you differently, ‘different from’, ‘different to’ and ‘different than’ are all acceptable and often interchangeable.

• Glasgow is different to Edinburgh in many ways.

• Glasgow is different from Edinburgh in many ways.

• Glasgow is different than Edinburgh in many ways.

If you want to be on the safe side, stick to ‘different to’ or ‘different from’ in British English and ‘different from’ and ‘different than’ in American English.

‘Different than’ is considered wrong by some because we tend to use ‘than’ in comparisons such as ‘more than’, ‘less than’ and ‘colder than’.

The general rule is if a noun follows ‘different’ use ‘from’ or ‘to’ and if a subject follows ‘different’ use ‘than’.

• Glasgow is different to/from Edinburgh in many ways.

• Glasgow is different than I expected.

• Glasgow is different to what I expected.

Into, in to, onto, on to

‘Into’ is the preposition so use it when you are going somewhere.

• Get into the car now.

• I’m going into town after lunch.

Use ‘in to’ when you follow ‘to’ with a verb.

• I’m going in to eat, sleep then work – in that order.

• Log in to register for a free place on our seminar.

‘Onto’ is the preposition so use it like ‘on’ when placing something on something.

• The crowd climbed onto the stage.

• The crown climbed on the stage.

• She gasped when she stepped onto the scales.

• She gasped when she stepped on the scales.

Use ‘on to’ when you mean moving onwards or when followed by a verb.

• He went on to university after school.

• He went on to sing and play the guitar for a living.

• Let’s move on to the restaurant.

• They moved on to the next point on the agenda.

And there’s more!

There are so many other problems associated with (we haven’t even started on ‘with’) prepositions, I’m not going to attempt them all in one blog post.

So if you’d like to learn more about prepositions or other common wordy problems, follow my grammar tips regularly on Facebook or sign up for my monthly newsletter.