I'm having a hard time reading
on the train right now. Unh. Hold on. I'll
start the lesson. Hi. James from engVid.
Sorry, I was on the train. I want to teach you
a lesson about four basic prepositions that we use in English
that sometimes get confused, and I understand why, so I'll keep it basic. But because it's
basic, it's going to be 80% correct. That's a good thing, that means you can go to the
website and learn more from other lessons we have. But just know that sometimes there'll
be exceptions, and I may not cover it here today. I'll even give you two exceptions
to help you, but why waste time? Let's go to the board. Here's Mr. E. You'll notice he has
a calendar, he has a clock, and: "You are here"? Oh, here. "Here" is a location. We're here right now,
doing a lesson. That's the location: engVid. Let's go to the board and do the
rest of the lesson, shall we? Here's: "at", "on",
"in", and "by". "At". I love it because
it's very specific, so you always know where you are, exactly. Problem: For
transportation, "at" doesn't have anything. Hmm. So let's go to the next one.
Let's go to "on". On. "On" is used for, let's say, large vehicles or large ways of travelling,
such as buses... Sorry. Trains, buses, planes, and boats. I'll come back to boat in a second;
it's an exception. On the train, on the bus, and on the plane, unless you're Bill Gates,
Donald Trump, or me-I'm not in that list-you don't have your own train, plane, or bus, so
you usually share it with a bunch of people or a few people. It's large.
So we say: "You're on the bus", because
it covers a big area, so there are many people sitting in that area.
When I get to location, you'll see what I mean. Boat is a small exception. For many people in
the world, they have their own boats because maybe they do fishing, or rowing, which is
a type of boat that you go by yourself. In that situation, you can use "in". So,
if the boat is small enough, say: "in": "I'm in a boat right now." But if it's a big boat,
you have to say: "I'm on a boat." Another exception for the "on" rule is bicycle. You're always
"on" a bicycle. I know, I said big vehicles, but remember: a bicycle is small, and it doesn't
really have a motor or an engine, so we kind of give it its own thing, because you have to
sit on the bicycle, and you can never really be in a bicycle. Is that good? Now, let's go to "in". "In" is funny because
there are only two things for "in". "In" we use for car and taxi. The easy way to think about it
is usually you own your own car; it doesn't belong to a group of people. People
just don't get on your car every time you stop it, they go in and
say: "Take me somewhere." And a taxi, well, when
you're in a taxi, it is kind of your car. You pay the driver and
you keep the car. So, this is one of those few cases where, because it belongs to me, I
am in my car or I am in the taxi, because the taxi belongs to me as long as I pay the
money. It's one of these funny exceptions. I don't know why, because you can put more
people in a car, but I guess because you can actually own this transportation, it's yours.
Think of it like the small boat. The small boat, one person is in it, you can
be inside of it. All right? Cool. The last one we're going to do is "by". This
is how you get there. So, "by" is different. When we talk about "in" and "on", you are... We
are talking about how you are in the vehicle. Are you sitting on the bicycle? I can see you
on it? You know, a boat is on water. But "by" just means: How did you get here? So,
when someone responds to you with: "By car", "by plane", they're telling you how they got
here. Not if they're in the plane, or on the plane. They are just... That's how they got
there. So, how did I get here to do this video? Wouldn't you like to know. I'm kidding. I
came here by car. So, yes, I was in my car and drove here, but I would tell somebody:
"I got here by car, not by bus", and that would tell them the difference in the transportation
I took. "How did you get here?" You like that? Good, so that's "by", this is how you did
it; and the way you travelled is here, "in" and "on". Remember there is a small exception
for small vehicles, so a small boat you can be in. Remember small. And a bicycle, you're
always on the bicycle, because people see you sitting on it. We good? Excellent. Now,
that is the lesson for transportation. Let's look at location. You'll notice
that the same rules or ideas apply. Remember I said I liked "at" because it's
specific? Notice the dot, it's very specific. "Meet me at my house." That
does not mean down the street, that does not mean in another city.
It means: My house, you. Meet me at my house, specific
location. Or I'll give you an address: "Meet me at 51 Eglington." Not: "In 51 Eglington", no.
"At", that means right there. You can see the number and the place.
Like it? I do, too. "On". If you notice, this is a dot, and this
is like a carpet or an area. This is why I said on the bus, the train, and the plane -
they are big, they have an area. And because of that, we say "on" because you stand in
an area. So, "on". We put things on a table. Imagine... Nope. How about this? This is a better
table. I'm going to put something on the table. You can see it on, and here is an area.
Cool? That's for "on". "In" I can use the same thing. That's the
next one. "In", there is a surface, but you have to go over and in something. Remember I
said "on" here? This is now "in". You can't see it anymore, can you? Because it's inside
with a bunch of markers. It's inside. But when it's on the surface, you'll notice "on", you
can see it. "In", like magic, it disappears. Okay? So, "in", usually you have walls or
something surrounding you that you can look up and see the walls. You'll see there's the
board here, and there are three other walls, so I'm in a room. But I'm on the floor because
I'm standing on the floor. Okay? So if the floor was here, this would be me. Ta-da. But
I would go in the room, and now you need a door to see me. Okay?
So, "in" and "on". "By". Many of you know "close" and "near". So,
if you think of two things... Okay? Here's one thing, here's two things.
We can say: "This is by the red marker." Similar to saying "close" or "near".
We just say "by". There's 8% of this marker.
I said 80% lesson, but it seems it's gone down. [Laughs] Well, "by" is
similar to "close" or "near". And you notice the arrows, here, show you, if I say I'm close
to your house or by your house, it's similar to saying "by" or "near".
Okay? Cool. Now I'm going to deal with time. When we deal
with time, we'll start at "at". "At". Remember I said very specific, that's why I like it?
This is when you say things like: "At 9:15", "At 12:00". It says very specific time
when we deal with hour and minute. -"What time will I meet you?" -"At 10:30." Specific.
That doesn't mean 12:00. That's not "at". Okay? Day... Sorry. "On". When we talk about "on",
we talk about days. "On Monday", "On Tuesday". And if you're confused, think of it this way: A
day has 24 hours. It's kind of got a surface to it. It's not just one specific time; it's
got a little bit of time on it. So, on that day-okay?-anything can happen on that day
on the surface. We stand on it, and we walk across it. You wake up, then you go to sleep.
So, on that day. Funny enough, you can say things like: "On Christmas day", "On Monday",
"On my birthday". So if you have a word that has a day in it, you can use "on". Told you
I'd make it easy. It's 80% true, there'll be exceptions. I know, someone will say one.
But just think: "Did I say 'day' in there? 'On' the holiday." Right? You can say it,
because it's got "day". Make it easy. Okay, now we've talked about
specific time with "at", and on the day with "on",
but let's look at "in". When I say something like: "In September",
what I'm talking about are long periods of time. We can say that for years,
months, and weeks. So, for instance, I can even go back in the past and say:
"In 1992, I came to Canada." Or: "In September,
I will buy a hat." Now, we're talking about specific time,
as we did in "on" and "at", but this time we're talking about longer periods
of time, and we're being very specific. Now, I'm going to go to one more for you and
we're going to go by "by". "By" is fantastic because it's the end of a specific time.
If I say: "I need it done by tonight", that is the time, it's specific, and
that's the end time or your limit. And funny enough, that's the end
of my lesson. I'm at the limit. I hope you've enjoyed it.
E has been helpful, bringing out the calendar and the
clock, and giving us a location. Quick recap: You can use
"at", "on", "in", and "by" for transportation,
location, and time. When we deal with transportation, there are a
couple of exceptions you want to remember. "On" is used for large groups of people travelling
by train, bus, plane, or boat. But sometimes a boat can be for one person, and you can
say "in". We also use bicycle for "on", and that's because you sit on the bicycle. When we
talk about "in", we use it for car and taxi, because that's usually your private
vehicle. Even though you say taxi's public, when you're in it, it's yours as long as
you pay for it, and it's also small. Okay? "By" is how you get there;
by car, plane, or train. When we went for location, we talked about
specific with "at". On the surface or in an area for "on", like a carpet, think like carpet.
"In", think like a box, you go in a box. And "by" is similar to "close" or "near"
or "close to" when you used it. And finally, for time, we talked about
specific time-okay?-using these prepositions. "At" is one time only; "on" is for
days: "On Monday", "On Christmas day"; "in" is used for longer periods of time, like:
"In September", or we can go back into the past: "In 1992"; and finally, end time when we use "by".
Okay? And we say that's the end. And that's the end of
this particular lesson. So, I'd like to thank you, once
again, for coming to engVid. And what did I say? I need you to go
to www.eng as in engVid... English. V, as in video.com (www.engvid.com) where you can go do the quiz
and see how well you learned your lesson. Okay? And by now, I think
you've got 80% of it correct. Okay? See ya later.