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Common Preposition Mistakes in English
Common Preposition Mistakes in English
English is one of the easiest languages to learn. However, like all languages, it too is not immune to
inconsistencies and idiosyncrasies that all too often baffle learners and fluent speakers alike. In this
article, we explore some of the most common mistakes that people make in speech or in writing, in
various contexts:
1. Marriage Sometimes we hear people say “I am married with her”/“I am divorced with him”. But, the
correct way to say it is “I am married to her” and “I am divorced from him”.
2. Anger Another context that often confuses speakers when finding a preposition is that of anger. The
correct way to say it is “I am angry about” a topic, but “I am angry at/with” a person.For example, “I am
angry about his careless attitude towards health” and “I am angry at him for being late.”
3. Discussions We often use ‘talking’ and ‘discussing’ interchangeably. However, we talk about a topic,
but discuss the same topic. “We were talking about spacecraft” and “We were discussing spacecraft.”
4. In spite/Despite ‘In spite’ is said with of, but ‘despite’ is used without it. If your friend does not heed
your advice, you can say “In spite of being warned, he went ahead with his plan”, or “Despite being
warned, he went ahead with his plan.”
5. Time / Day / Day of the Month / Month / Year One of the most common mistakes committed by
speakers is to use wrong prepositions while talking about time. Make sure to use “at” before fixed time
like “at 5 o’ clock” and “on” before “day” or “day of the month” like “on Friday” and “on 15th August”.
Use “in” before month and year, for example, “in June” and “in 2009”.
6. Waiting Very often the usages of ‘await’ and ‘I wait’ get confused. If you are expecting a reply from
someone, you can say “I wait/I am waiting for his reply” or “I await his reply.”
7. Day and Time It is often heard from people that they will call you “at morning” or “in morning”. The
correct way to say it is “I will call you in the morning”, but the only exception is night, in which case it
will be “I will call you at night.”
8. ‘For’ and ‘Since’ The word ‘for’ denotes the duration of time, while ‘since’ refers to the time when an
activity began. So, if you want to express your displeasure at being kept waiting, you can either say “I’ve
been waiting since noon” or “I’ve been waiting for five hours.”
9. Enter Generally, “Enter” without preposition is used to talk about entering parts of buildings or
physical structures like “The miscreants entered the building at night” whereas we use “Enter into” to
talk about starting or joining a course, discussion etc like “The interviewers entered into the discussion
with the applicant”
10. ‘Arrive’ and ‘Reach’ Though with a very slight difference in meaning, ‘arrive’ and ‘reach’ are often
used interchangeably. However, we use ‘at / in’ with ‘arrive’ and ‘reach without any preposition. For
example, “We finally arrived at the venue around 10” or “We finally reached the venue around 10”
