Download and use this PowerPoint slideshow to teach your students the difference between the prepositions of time and place IN ON AT. great for students too. There's a link to a quiz for testing yourself.

1. Visualize
Prepositions
IN ON AT

2. Visualization is a key skill…
•Because names and numbers are
abstract they are difficult to
remember
•But our brains store and recall
images much more easily.
The Science of Memory: Top 10 Proven
Techniques to Remember More and Learn
Faster
Melanie Pinola / September 13, 2016
We are wired to Visualize

3. 2 kinds of prepositions:
Place and Time
Where
are you?
When are you
coming?
• I’m at home.
• I’m in bed.
• I’m on the train.
• At 2 o’clock.
• On Tuesday.
• In July.
Part 1 Part 2

4. 2 Visualizing strategies
for where & when
On 5th Ave. At the Plaza
Hotel
In NYC

5. Strategy 1: visualize an image
with each preposition
Think
Think
Think Location

6. Strategy 2: visualize a target
with ‘general area’ to ‘precise locale’
IN ON AT
•On Park Ave.
•In New York City •At the
hotel

7. Or visualize a triangle to represent
•Bigger to smaller
•More general to specific
Smaller Precise
Bigger General
AT
the hotel
ON 5th Ave
IN
New York City

8. Let’s look at Strategy 1 for
prepositions of place: where
Think
Think
Think Location Read on…

9. Visualize
Think
Visualize
boxes
In the shower
In the kitchen
In an elevator
Where ?

10. Name these boxes
Name these boxes. In the …..

11. Name these boxes
Did you guess right?
In the
shower
In
prison
In the
kitchen
In the living
room

12. Visualize
Visualize
containers
Think
In a bowl
In an arm chair
In a car Where?

13. Name these containers
Name these containers. In a …..

14. Name these containers
Did you guess right?
In a
basket
In a fry
pan
In a
bottle
In a car

15. Visualize
Think
Visualize
borders
In New York state
In the US
In New York City

16. Name your country,
region, city
Name places with a border. In….

17. Name your country,
region, city
Did you guess correctly?
In New York
City
In Canada
In the US
In BrooklynIn New York state

18. Visualize
Think
Visualize
limits
In the park
In the garden
In a picture frameWhere?

19. Name these limits
Names these places with limits. In a….

20. Name these limits
Did you guess them all?
In the park
In a parking
space
In a
garden
In the
woods

21. Remember:
LimitsContainers
Borders
Boxes

22. Think
2D
Visualize
Visualize
surfaces
On Park Avenue
On the tennis courtWhere?

23. Think
2D
Visualize
Visualize
surfaces
On the grass
On the beach
On the field
Where?

24. Think
2D
Visualize
Visualize
surfaces
On the lake
On the riverWhere?

25. Name these surfaces. On the….

26. How did you do?
On the lake
On Park Ave.
On the grass
On the
sidewalk

27. Think
2D
Visualize
Visualize
surfaces
On the bench
On the sofaWhere?

28. Name these surfaces in a house. On the….

29. Name these surfaces in a house. On the….
On the sofa
On the book shelf
On the
counter
On the bed

30. Think
2D
Visualize
Visualize lines On the Equator
On Subway Line B
Where?

31. Name these lines. On a …..

32. Did you get them all right?
On the railroad
On the line
On the power lines
On Line ‘B’

33. Remember:
On a bench
On the lake
On the grass
On the street
On Line ‘B’

34. Think
Location
Visualize
Visualize the place:
not in or out
At the station
At the airport
At the bus stop
Where?

35. Name these locations. At the…

36. Did you guess right?
At the Empire State
building
At the airport
At the bus stop
At the Statue of
Liberty

37. Think
Event
Visualize
Visualize an event At a party
At lunch
At a conference
Where?

38. Name these events. At ……

39. Did you do well?
At a party
At a
conference
At work

40. At lunch
At the train station
In the cafeteria
Inside Grand Central
It’s just a place
not in or out
Where is Bryan? At or In
He’s really inside
the building

41. Visualize funny images for exceptions to
the rule for communications :
On the phone
On the computer
On the internet

42. Visualize funny images for exceptions to
the rule for transportation:
On the train
On the bus
On the plane

43. We sit at a table or at a desk.
We stand at a window and look at the view. And
we say “Someone’s at the door. Let them in,
would you?”

44. He’s ____ work. He’s ___ his office. He’s
____ his desk.
He’s talking ____ the phone.
He’s working ___ his computer.
Try
this!

45. He’s at work. He’s in his office.
He’s at his desk.
He’s talking on the phone.
He’s working on his computer.
Did you
get it
right?

46. Nice room! There’s a sink __ the kitchenette, flowers ___ the
coffee table, flat screen TV ___the wall, luxurious sheets ___
the bed and probably wine __ the mini-fridge!

47. Nice room! There’s a sink in the kitchenette, flowers on the
coffee table, flat screen TV on the wall, luxurious sheets on
the bed and probably wine in the mini-fridge!

48. Visualize the
year as a box
and each
month as a box
Part 2: Prepositions of time:
In 2018
In June
When?

49. In
summer
Prepositions of time:
Visualize each
season as a box
In
autumn
In
spring
In
winter
When?

50. Visualize
each part
of the day
as a box
Prepositions of time:
In the
morning
In the
afternoon
In the evening
Exception:
At night
At the
weekend

51. Or visualize prepositions of time
from ‘in general’ to more ‘precise’
IN
ON
AT
•In 2018
•In May
•On Thursday
• On May 3rd

52. ‘DAY’ is strong. It
overrides parts of
the day
We say in the morning, but on
Thursday morning
On May 3 is a day

53. At Christmas
time = Event
On Christmas Day
= date

54. Things to do:
On holiday
On vacation
On a business trip
Think day = ON = holiday = vacation = business trip

55. Today,
tomorrow, yesterday
no preposition
Next week,
last week
no preposition
No Prepositions

56. Try this final quiz with in, on, at

57. How did you do?

58. I hope these 3 prepositions of place
and time are more clear for you
now.
Teachers: Need more info?
Visit https://www.businessenglishallure.com/ to read
the full blog post, download the slides, flashcards and
quiz.
Ellen Dubois

59. Photo credits:
In the shower by Freeimages
In prison by Freeimages
In a car by ‘In Time’ movie
In NY State by Wikipedia
In Brooklyn by Homeaway
In a parking space by Propcy Blog
In the woods by ‘The child in Time’ movie
On Park Ave by Alamy
On the sidewalk by Streetsblog NYC
On the bench by New York by Design
On the sofa by Herman Miller
On the bookshelf by ‘The Child in Time’ movie
On random Lines by Kpsuperplane
On railroad line by Rail Technology Magazine
On power lines by Toni bird Control Solutions
On subway line B by Bloomberg
At Empire State Building by Viator
At the Airport by Airport Parking Guide
At the Statue Liberty by NYCGo
At rooftop party by BestViews NYC
Men at work by Petapixel
At a party by Timeout
At a conference by Artemis
On the computer by Funny Images
On the train by Info Nigeria
In a hotel room by Agoda
NYC in the morning by Ignans Angle
NYC in the afternoon by NYCGo
NYC in the evening by Minitime
At a desk by Knoll Office Seating
At Christmas time by Holidays in NY
On holiday by Active Planet Travels
Wired to visualize by Huffington Post