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Friday, February 12, 2010

in, at, on


in / at / on - prepositions of place

IN

Use 'in' with spaces:

· in a room / in a building

· in a garden / in a park

Use 'in' with bodies of water:

· in the water

· in the sea

· in a river

Use 'in' with lines:

· in a row / in a line

· in a queue

AT

Use 'at' with places:

· at the bus-stop

· at the door

· at the cinema

· at the end of the street

Use 'at' with places on a page:

· at the top of the page

· at the bottom of the page

Use 'at' in groups of people:

· at the back of the class

· at the front of the class

ON

Use 'on' with surfaces:

· on the ceiling / on the wall / on the floor

· on the table

Use 'on' with small islands:

· I stayed on Maui.

Use 'on' with directions:

· on the left

· on the right

· straight on

IMPORTANT NOTES

In / at / on the corner

We say 'in the corner of a room', but 'at the corner (or 'on the corner') of a street'

In / at / on the front

· We say 'in the front / in the back' of a car

· We say 'at the front / at the back' of buildings / groups of people

· We say 'on the front / on the back' of a piece of paper

Real English pronunciation

7 Informal Contractions

WANNA know what GONNA means? LEMME show you.

Have you seen words like "gonna" or "wanna" and wondered
what they mean? Perhaps you have looked in a dictionary and
been unable to find them. That's because these words are
"informal contractions" or short forms of other words that
people use when speaking informally. They are not exactly
slang, but they are a little like slang. In fact, if you
look in a good (big) dictionary, you will usually find them.

Here are the 7 most common informal contractions, with
example sentences:

1. GIMME = give me
Gimme your money.
Don't gimme that rubbish.
Can you gimme a hand?

2. GONNA = going to
Nothing's gonna change my love for you.
I'm not gonna tell you.
What are you gonna do?

3a. GOTTA = (have) got a
I've gotta gun.
I gotta gun.
She hasn't gotta penny
Have you gotta car?

3b. GOTTA = (have) got to
I've gotta go now.
I gotta go now.
We haven't gotta do that.
Have they gotta work?

4. INIT = isn't it
That's smart, init?
Init strange?

5. KINDA = kind of
She's kinda cute.
Are you kinda mad at me?

6. LEMME = let me
Lemme go!
He didn't lemme see it.

7a. WANNA = want to
I wanna go home.
I don't wanna go.
Do you wanna watch TV?

7b. WANNA = want a
I wanna coffee.
I don't wanna thing from you.
Do you wanna beer?

Please remember that these are *informal* contractions.
That means that we do not use them in "correct" speech, and
we almost never use them in writing. We use them only when
speaking fast and informally, for example with friends. Also,
the sentences above may be a little artificial because when
we use a contraction like "wanna", we probably also use
other contractions in the same sentence, as follows:

Do you want a beer?
Do you wanna beer?
D'you wanna beer?
D'ya wanna beer?
Ya wanna beer?
Wanna beer?