Don’t Make These 16 Preposition Mistakes!

Hi, everyone. My name's Arnelle. In English lessons, we are always taught, use this preposition here, use this preposition here. But I've put together a list of 16 common preposition mistakes students make with certain words. Do students use the wrong preposition? No, they just use a preposition when they shouldn't. So let's fix these mistakes one by one with rules, examples, and clear explanations. Let's start. Incorrect. Correct. My sister married an architect who now works in Dubai. Carl married someone he met while studying abroad. You can marry anyone you like. Marry is a verb here. Married, married, married. We do not use a preposition with the verb marry, but we can with the adjective. She is married to a doctor. My sister is married to an architect. Carl is married to someone he met while studying abroad. Let's do one more example. They are married. And we don't always need to. They are married to each other. That isn't really necessary. So we can use a preposition with the adjective only, not the verb. Enter a place. Enter to. Into a place? Incorrect. They enter into the room. They entered the room. I slowly entered the classroom so I wouldn't disturb any students. You can enter the museum through the side entrance. And this doesn't just have to be a physical place. We can also enter competitions, contests, races. I might enter the short story competition hosted by the library. But. There is always a but in English. In legal English, we can enter into a contract or enter into an agreement. This means two parties sign a contract or agreement. The company entered into a two-year contract with the supplier. I'm hesitant to enter into an agreement without having a lawyer look over all the terms. Number three. Discuss something. Discuss about something? Incorrect. Let's discuss about the issue. Correct. Let's discuss the issue. Frankie and I discussed the project during lunch. The teacher discussed the test results with her students. Do you have a minute? I really want to discuss something important with you. Discuss about is a common mistake. This is confusing because we do say speak about something. Talk about something. Just not discuss about. Four. Reach a destination. Reach to a destination? And reach means arrive at the destination. Incorrect. We reached to the station late. We reached the station late. What time do you think we'll reach Kim's house? We reached the hotel just before 11. Five. Approach someone or something? Approach to someone or something? And approach means moving toward your destination. This destination can be a person, place, or thing. Incorrect. The man is approaching to the woman. The man is approaching the woman. The police approached the building cautiously. Do not approach wild animals. I am approaching a camera. Six. Go home. Go to home? This is a confusing one for students. Why? Well, usually we have go to plus destination. I am going to Jean's house. I went to the grocery store yesterday. What time do you normally go to work? But we cannot say go to plus adverb. Home is an adverb in this case. After the meeting, I just wanted to go home and sleep. She went home early because she wasn't feeling well. Let's go home before it gets dark. Here are other adverbs we do not use to with. Go upstairs. Go downstairs. Go back. Go there. Go outside. Go inside. Go abroad. With all of these adverbs, there is no to. Mini note. Yes, home can sometimes be a noun. Your home is beautiful. I miss my home. Seven. Consider something. Consider about? Incorrect. I'm considering about a new job. I'm considering a new job. They're considering moving to Spain. I'm considering buying a new car. We need to consider the risks before we invest. Notice how after consider, if you want to use a verb, it must be ing. We call this ing verb a gerund in English grammar. We cannot say consider about, but we can say think about. That's okay. They're thinking about moving to Spain. I'm thinking about buying a new car. We need to think about the risks before we invest. What's the difference between consider and think about? Well, they have similar meanings, but consider often sounds more serious or formal. It's typically used when you're carefully thinking about something important or when a decision needs to be made. Think about is more casual and general. We think about things every day, but we don't always need to consider things. Let's compare. I need to think about what to pack for my trip versus I'm considering taking a few weeks off from work to work on my house. One sentence gives you a more important situation, but sometimes, yes, these two are used interchangeably. Pay someone? Pay to someone? When we need to give someone money, we pay them, not pay to. Incorrect. I paid to the waiter. Correct. I paid the waiter. Miles paid the driver and thanked him. I paid my landlord last week. When do you think you'll pay your accountant? With all of these mistakes in today's lesson, I'm focusing on very specific, common mistakes. I don't mean never use a preposition with pay. I just mean to isn't used when we pay a person or business or company. I could say pay for something. This means buy. John paid for my coffee. He bought it. You have to pay for your course before Friday. A little preposition changes everything. Prepositions are a pain in English. I know. Sometimes when a student hears the word preposition, it's like, yes. Let's do number nine a bit differently. Search something and search for something are both correct, but that mini preposition again changes everything. Do not use a preposition when you mean look around a person or place. The police officer is searching the bag. He wants to know what's inside. Airport security guards searched each passenger. They want to know if the passengers have drugs or weapons on them. Helicopters search the coast for the missing boat. We use search for when we mean look for a specific person or object that is lost or hard to find. Many explorers have searched for the fountain of youth. Where is the fountain of youth? I'll need your help. I'm searching for a very specific herb. Our company is searching for a quick and easy way to build brand awareness. Let's compare a group of tourists search the market for someone's lost bag. A group of tourists search for someone's lost bag. You can see in sentence one, they're looking around the location. If you remove the location, it takes you directly to the object they're looking for. Last Sunday, next Sunday, on last Sunday, on next Sunday. Normally with days of the week, we use on. I'll see you on Wednesday. She had a dental appointment on Tuesday. And with months of the year, we use in. I graduated in June. We are going to Vietnam in September. But we do not use on or in with last or next. I'll see you next Wednesday. She had a dental appointment last Tuesday. I graduated last June. We are going to Vietnam next September. No preposition here. 11. Most people. Most of people. Incorrect. Most of people agree. Correct. Most people agree. Most people prefer to work from home now. I know most people in our company are taking Monday off. Most people are looking forward to summer. But we can do this. Most of the, my, this, that, etc. plus plural noun. We call these words here determiners. Most of the people who live in this apartment are over 65. Most of my students submit their homework on time. Most of this cake is pure frosting. I can't eat it. And frosting is that sugar cream you put on cake. With all of these examples, we have a determiner, so of is okay. If you remove the determiner, you also need to remove the preposition. 12. Affect someone or something. Affect to someone or something. Incorrect. The news affected to her deeply. The news affected her deeply. This decision will affect everyone in the company. Lack of sleep affects your mood and productivity. Here's a quote I saw by American philosopher William James. It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which more than anything else will affect its successful outcome. What do you think? Do you like this quote? Do you agree with it? I personally really like this one. Let me know what you think in the comments. 13. Call, email, message, text someone. Call, email, message, text to someone. I called to him. I called him. I emailed her yesterday, but she hasn't replied. My boss texted me two minutes before the meeting. Did you call your parents? But we can send or write an email, letter, message, or text to someone. That's correct. I sent an email to the manager. My kids wrote a letter to Santa. I know there are a lot of mini rules in this lesson. It's not easy to remember rules with prepositions. Unfortunately, the best thing you can do is memorize when you should and shouldn't use a preposition. 14. I need another chart. Grow or grow up. These are both correct, but again that pesky preposition gets in the way. Grow gets bigger in size. Babies grow so quickly. Your plants would grow faster if you used plant food. Business has grown a lot this year. Grow up. To go from a child to adult or to become mature. You can see this phrasal verb is not just physical. It's growing mentally as well. I grew up in a small town near the sea. Stop acting like a child. Grow up. Here this person is saying, come on, be mature. So it's incorrect when someone says the tree is growing up. Our sales have grown up steadily since 2020. If you're just talking about size, use grow and only grow. 15. Believe or believe in someone, something. These are both correct. Let's look at the difference. Believe. You think what someone says is true. I believe the story he told us. Do you believe what she said? Police don't believe the suspect. I need you to believe me. I'm not lying. Believe in someone. You are confident someone has potential. My coach believed in me and that gave me the strength to keep going. You can't be successful if you don't believe in yourself. Believe in can also mean you have faith something is real. Fran believes in God. Her religion is very important to her. Do you believe in ghosts? My kids are getting older. They don't believe in Santa, the Easter bunny, the tooth fairy, etc. 16. Last but not least, tell someone. Tell to someone? Incorrect. I told to my boss that I was sick. I told my boss that I was sick. Can you tell Amy about the meeting? Miss Coyne told the class to stand up and line up by the door. Line up is a great phrasal verb. It means that everyone forms a line. Okay, but what about this sentence? My lawyer told me to sign the contract. There's to here. In this case, to is a command. Tell someone to verb. To plus verb forms an infinitive. Here, to is not a preposition. It's part of infinitive. My mom told me to book a dental appointment. Stefano told everyone to like his Facebook page. So this is correct, but we wouldn't say my mom told to me or Stefano told to everyone. There we have it. 16 little preposition tips for you to remember. I really hope this lesson helped you and I can't wait to make another video for you. You know, why don't you leave me a few example sentences in the comments below? I really do love hearing from you. I'll see you next time and have a wonderful day. Bye.