Prepositions related to transportation
English prepositions are a nightmare for English learners.
What is a preposition?
If you break the word down into two, "Pre" means "before", and "position" means "place" - so you would place it before another word, like a noun or a noun phrase, for example. There are two kinds of prepositions: one-word, or simple prepositions, and complex prepositions (containing two or more words).
When referring to means of transport, you’ll use the prepositions “In” and “On”. Here you can find a chart with everything organized according to its preposition.
IN
- Car
- Taxi / Cab
- Truck
- RV / Motor home / Caravan
ON
- Boat
- Bus
- Bike / Bicycle
- Plane / Airplane / Aeroplane
- Train
- Motorcycle
- Scooter
- Subway / Metro
- Tram
*As you can see, the majority of these use the preposition “On”. Why is that?
Can I stand up while using it? If you can, then you’re “on” it, but there are some exceptions:
- RV / Motor home / Camper uses the preposition “in” although you can stand up inside.
- Motorcycles and bicycles, although you are normally sitting down, we use the preposition "on".
11 febbraio 2020
