Prepositions have a life of their own. They are also adverbial in meaning because they like adverbs can show time, place, manner and reason. They link words and establish relationships. They are pre-positions. Every text is punctuated with them. This makes it difficult to predict which preposition will appear before a noun. But it is possible to make some generalizations. AT for example can be best compared with IN. Additionally Prepositions AT /IN can be used for time and place. Since AT is a point it takes aim at things and can therefore be aggressive in manner in comparison with IN’s or TO’s friendly behaviour.
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Place Selective, position (meeting point)
| Spatial (room) |
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at the baker’s at the stationer’s at the doctor’s at home Address He is a student at Cambridge (university) He lives at 10 Downing Street. at first at last The sign @ is called “Commercial AT" and not “Commercial IN" because this is the point where you can contact people online Arrive We should arrive at Betty’s in time for lunch. BE vs. AmE At he corner In Albert Street . At school
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In my house In the office In the room In the house He lives in Cambridge (city). He lives in Downing Street In the first place When did you arrive in Bremen? On the corner On Albert Street . In school
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Time Point of Time
| Period of Time |
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at eight O’clock at the moment at midnight At only refers to the point of start /end at the beginning at the end
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In the morning In the afternoon In the evening IN show shows a change/development In the beginning In the end
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Since AT is a point it takes aim at or targets things. No wonder verbs which are aggressive in behaviour like: shout, hit par with AT.
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Manner Aggressive Behaviour (Targeting)
| Friendly or neutral behaviour |
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They threw the ball at me He kicked the ball at her They shot at the enemy She shouted at me He pointed at the man He drove the car straight at the lady. He came at me with a knife. She talked at me. Why are you looking at her like that? She laughed at me
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They threw the ball to me He kicked the ball to her She shot the puck to her team mate She shouted to me. He pointed at people. He drove to the lady. He came to me. She talked with/to me.
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Friendly Targeting |
She smiled at me |
Language Comparisons
Some languages like German are very spatial. English by contrast can be selective, point by point or spatial
German | English |
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good in mathematics bad in mathematics
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good at mathematics bad at mathematics
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Idiomatic Expressions |
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At last At least At any rate
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