27 PREPOSITIONS

225 Prepositions of place

1 Basic meanings

There are some people There's a television There's a picture overt

in/inside the cafe. on the table. There's above the door. There's
The man is waiting a photo on top of the a small table under/
outside the cafe. television. There's below the window.
a dog under(neath)
the table.

She's going up the The road goes through She's taking the food off
steps, and he's a tunnel. The car is the trolley and putting
coming down the steps. going in/into the it on/onto the shelves.
tunnel. The lorry is
coming out of the tunnel.

The bus is at the bus The lorry is travelling The man is sitting next
stop. It's going away from York and to/by/beside the woman.
from the city centre towards Hull. Their table is close to/
to the university. near the door.
 225 Prepositions of place

The bus is in front The woman is walking The man is on the

of the car. The lorry along the pavement pavement opposite the
is behind the car. past the supermarket. bank. The bank is across
The car is between the road.
the bus and the lorry.

The President is There's a hill beyond The man is leaning

standing among his the church. against the wall.
bodyguards. They are (=on the other side of)
all round/around him.

a We use of only with on top of, out of and in front of. NOT inside of NOT off of and NOT behind of,
although outside of is possible,
b Two other prepositions of place are throughout and within. They are a little formal.
The epidemic spread throughout the country/all over the country. (= to all parts of)
Delivery is free within a ten-mile radius. (= inside)
c Beneath is rather literary.
From the balloon we could see the town far below/beneath us.
d Around and about mean 'in different directions' or 'in different places'.
We're going to drive around/about the country visiting different places.
There were piles of old magazines lying around/about the flat.
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78 Prepositions of place and movement o!

1 In, on and at are used to talk about places: There is a woman in the phone box.
Prepositions

There are people outside the cinema.

a We use in with enclosed spaces
The people are on the pavement.
(e.g. rooms, buildings) and limited areas
There is a clock above the cinema entrance.
(e.g. towns, parks, countries, continents):
The cinema entrance is under the clock.
in my pocket in her car in Germany
The bank is next to/beside the cinema.
a We use on with surfaces (e.g. walls, The phone box is opposite the cinema.
floors, shelves) and lines (e.g. paths, The bank is between the cinema and
coasts, the equator): the café.
on the grass on the sea There is a hill behind the town.
on the line on the third floor The car is in front of the bank.
a We use at with a point (e.g. at the bus
3 Into, onto and to are used to talk about
stop), and at with a building, when we
movement:
mean either inside or outside:
We moved the chairs into my bedroom.
A: Let’s meet at the cinema.
The actor ran onto the stage.
B: OK. Shall we meet in the cinema
They walked to the next town.
itself or on the pavement outside?
The opposites are out of, off and from:
2 Look at the illustration and read the sentences: We moved the chairs out of my bedroom.
The actor ran off the stage.
We drove from London to Edinburgh.
Here are other prepositions of movement:
They ran across the field to the road.
Jim cycled along the road to the next town.
I walked up the hill and ran down the other
side.
The bus went past the bus stop without
stopping.
The train goes through three tunnels.

Practice
A The sentences below describe the picture. Look at the picture and change the
underlined words which are wrong. Tick () the underlined words which are correct.
a There is a TV under on the table.
a There is a dog on  the floor.
1 The dog is behind the table.
2 The cat is next to the flowers.
3 The keys are next to the flowers.
4 The flowers are in the vase.
5 There is a big book in front of the flowers.
6 There is a picture under the table.
7 The cat is above the table.
8 There is a bird on a cage.

PAGE 170 • PREPOSITIONS

Oxford Practice Grammar Basic PHOTOCOPIABLE © Oxford University Press

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B Put in, on or at in the gaps.
a Peter lives in Turkey.
1 There were some beautiful pictures the walls of their sitting room.
2 The children are playing the grass the park.
3 Does this bus stop the railway station?
4 I live in a flat the fifth floor.
5 Ecuador is South America; it lies the equator.
6 There is a queue of people the bus stop.

C Put the words in the box in the gaps.

into (x3) onto (x2) to out of off

a The march started in the park. From there we marched to the Town Hall.
1 The tiger escaped from its cage and jumped the lake. It took a long time to
get it the lake and back its cage.
2 Stupidly, Simon drove his car the beach and then he couldn’t move it,
because the wheels sank the sand. In the end he needed eight people to
push it the beach and back the road.

D Look at this picture of a town showing the route for a race.

Now fill the gaps using the words in the box.

across along at down in front of past from under through up

The race starts (a) at at the Town Hall. The runners go (1) the Town
Hall and they run (2) the main square, to the river. Then they run over New
Bridge and they go (3) the road beside the river for about 200 yards. They go
(4) the theatre and (5) Castle Hill. They turn right (6)
the castle, and they go (7) Steep Hill. Then they go (8) the tunnel
(9) the river, and they finish at the station.

PREPOSITIONS • PAGE 171

Oxford Practice Grammar Basic PHOTOCOPIABLE © Oxford University Press

English tenses

Past simple and past continuous tense

Past simple

Form - regular verbs

Positive statement: I watched, He watched

Negative statement: I did not watch (I didn't watch), He did not watch (He didn't watch)
Question: Did you watch?
Neg. question: Did you not watch? (Didn't you watch?)
It is formed by -ed ending. It is the same for all persons, singular and plural.

Spelling

We add -d (not -ed) to the verbs that end with -e: like - liked
If the verb ends with a consonant and -y, we change -y into -i: carry - carried, try - tried.
But: play - played, because this verb ends with a vowel and -y.
If the verb has only one syllable and ends with a vowel and a consonant, we double the consonant
to keep the same pronunciation: stop - stopped. The same rule applies to the verbs that end with -
l: travel - travelled.

Form - irregular verbs

All the irregular verbs have different forms: go - went, buy - bought, cut - cut etc.
The question and negative are made in the same way: I went - Did you go? No, I did not go.

Notes

We do not use the auxiliary verb did with the verb to be and modal verbs.
Were you a student? Was he in London? I was not at home. He was not happy.
Could you sing? Could he come? I could not swim. He could not stay.
The auxiliary verb did is not used in questions beginning with wh- pronouns (who, which) in case
that the pronoun is the subject of the question.
Who met you? (who is the subject)
Which train arrived on time? (which train is the subject)
But: Who did you meet? Which train did you miss? (who and which train are the objects)
The negative question normally shows a surprise.
Didn't you know it?

Use

1. We use the past simple for activities or situations that were completed in the past at a definite time.

a) The time can be given in the sentence:

I came home at 6 o'clock.
When he was a child, he didn't live in a house.

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b) The time is asked about:
When did they get married?

c) The time is not given in the sentence, but it is clear from a context that the action or situation finished in
the past.
He is 20 years old. He was born in Canada.
I've been to Iceland. (present perfect) - Did you enjoy it? (past simple)

2. We use it for repeated actions in the past.

We walked to school every day. - And did you ever go by bus?

3. It is used in stories to describe events that follow each other.

Charles entered the hall and looked around. He took off his coat and put it on a chair. He was at home.

Past continuous
Form

Positive statement: I was watching, You were watching

Negative statement: I was not watching (I wasn't watching), You were not watching (You weren't
watching)
Question: Were you watching? Was he watching?
Neg. question: Were you not watching? (Weren't you watching?) Was he not watching? (Wasn't
he watching?)
The past continuous tense is formed with the past tense of the verb to be and the present
participle (-ing form).

Use

We use the continuous tense for actions or situations in the past that were not completed.
From 10 to 12 I was washing my car. I was in the garage.
(I did not finish my work. It was in progress. I started before 10 and finished after 12.)
The sun was setting. The beach was changing its colours.
(The sun was still in the sky when I was watching it.)

Compare this sentence with the past simple, which is used for completed activities:
From 10 to 12 I washed my car.
(I finished my work. I started at 10 and finished at 12.)
Finally, the sun set. It was dark and we did not see the beach anymore.
(The sun completely disappeared.)

We use it for continuous, uninterrupted activities. If the action is interrupted (something is done in more
intervals or we did more things one after another), we must use the past simple.
Tom was watching TV on Sunday.
Tom watched TV in the morning and in the evening.
Yesterday I was working in the garden.
Yesterday I worked in the garden and on my house.

The past continuous tense is typically used:

1. Combined with the past simple tense to describe the idea that the action in the past continuous started
before the action in the past simple and continued after it.
When she saw me, I was looking at the trees.
(These two activities happened at the same time. I was looking at the trees for some time and she saw me
in the middle of it.)

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Compare with the past simple:
When she saw me, I looked at the trees.
(These two activities happened one after another. First she saw me and then I looked at the trees.)

2. With a point in time to express an action that started before that time and continued after it.
At 8 o'clock Jane was having a bath.
(At 8 o'clock she was in the middle of the activity. She did not finish it.)

Compare with the simple tense:

At 8 o'clock Jane had a bath.
(She started the activity at 8 o'clock and finished it.)

3. To describe a situation, while the past simple is used to tell a story.

The sun was shining. Jack and Jill were lying on the beach. Jack was reading a book and Jill was sleeping.
All of a sudden, Jack raised his head. Jill woke up. Something happened.

4. For incomplete activities in contrast with the past simple, which is used for completed activities.
I was reading a book yesterday. And today I am going to continue.
I read the book yesterday. I can lend it to you now.

5. The past continuous can be used instead of the simple to show a more casual action:
I was talking to my neighbour yesterday. We had a nice chat.
(I did not do it on purpose. We just met in the street.)
I talked to my neighbour yesterday. And he promised to help me.
(I did it on purpose. I needed to ask him for help.)

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 Past simple and continuous: exercise 1 - affirmative
https://www.e-grammar.org/past-simple-continuous-worksheets/

Exercise 1

Choose the correct tense.

As the stranger came | was coming to the station, a car stopped | was stopping behind him.

My grandma never watched | was never watching TV. But she read | was reading books.

I started | was starting work at 6 o'clock.

He got up | was getting up and switched off | was switching off the light.

When I finished | was finishing my homework, I cooked | was cooking dinner.

While we listened | were listening to the news, the telephone rang | was ringing. Kate stood up | was
standing up and answered | was answering it.

As I drove | was driving to work last Friday, a car crashed | was crashing in front of me.
I stepped | was stepping on the brakes.

Yesterday Carrol wrote | was writing emails from 10 to 11 and then from 5 to 7 again.

We arrived in Cannes at 2.30. The sun shone | was shining, people sunbathed | were sunbathing on
the beach and big yachts sailed | were sailing near the harbour. We parked our car and went | were
going to the beach.

ESL worksheets on e-grammar.org

 Past simple: exercise 1 - was, were
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Exercise 1

Complete the answers.

A: Were you hungry?

B: Yes, I ........................ a little bit hungry.

A: Was your sister at school?

B: No, she ........................ at school.

A: Were your parents at work?

B: Yes, my mum ........................ at work. But my dad ........................ at work. He was ill.

A: Was Peter your friend? And Bill?

B: Peter and Bill ...................... my best friends.

A: I think the first story was quite interesting and the second story was great.

B: Really? No, the stories ....................... very interesting.

A: Was I often ill when I was a child?

B: Not really. You .................... much healthier than your brother.

A: Were Susan and Marion good at sport?

B: Well, Susan ............. quite good at athletics, but Marion ......................... good at any sport.

ESL worksheets on e-grammar.org

 Past simple: exercise 4 - questions
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Exercise 4

Choose the correct question.

Did your students their homework?
Did your students do their homework?
Yes, they did. They always do.

Who went with you?

Who did go with you?
Nobody. I went there alone.

Did you worked all day yesterday?

Did you work all day yesterday?
Of course, I did. I was so tired!

Which jeans liked you best?

Which jeans did you like best?
I don't know. They were awful.

Why was Tim and Greg so unhappy?

Why were Tim and Greg so unhappy?
Because they had an argument.

Why didn't you answer the phone?

Why did not you answer the phone?
The phone? I did not hear it.

Were they not at the hospital on Sunday?

Didn't they be at the hospital on Sunday?
Not on Sunday. They went there on Saturday.

Had you a shower this morning?

Did you have a shower this morning?
Sorry? I have a shower every morning.

ESL worksheets on e-grammar.org











 
 






 


 

 
 


 
 


 



 



 




 




 


 

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