Prepositions are everywhere, make no sense and have no rules. All that maybe true, but it doesn’t mean that you can avoid them.
Can you end a sentence with a preposition? Is high on most lists of language myths. You should already know the answer but take a look anyway.
Now the real mistakes. Let’s start with two simple ones: How to use the preposition between and Comparative before than.
Most mistakes with prepositions are small but at the same time significant in so much as that any mistake can change the meaning of a sentence. These four pages illustrate that point perfectly: At night or in the night?, Are you at school or in school?, Are you on a bus or in a bus? and Made from, made of, made by.
The page On foot, depends on, married to features three verbs that are often given the wrong preposition.
That tiny two-letter preposition to probably causes more trouble than any other on the planet. These pages will fix six of those to mistakes for you: Near and near to as prepositions, Listen to someone or something, Indirect object with to, Use of modals with to, Don’t say thinking to and Don’t use to after arrive.
You’ll be glad to know that there are times when you won’t need to decide which preposition to use because you don’t need any of them. The pages Unnecessary prepositions, Prepositions are not normally used before infinitives, Prepositions are not used in expressions of time and Prepositions are not used before that will inform you when the joyous moment can be experienced.
Often it is a straight choice between two options when trying to decide which preposition to use. Take a look at my list of commonly confused prepositions and see which of them often confuse you:
