Prepositions of Travel and Movement


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Tagged with: Prepositions, Intermediate Grammar


I. From - To

We travel from our place to our destination.

  • They drove/flew/walked from New York to Philadelphia.
  • When are you coming back to Moscow?
  • We also sent letters etc. to people.

II. Home

We can use a verb of motion etc. + home without a prepositon.

  • It took us an hour to get home.
  • We went home by bus.

But if home is immediately preceded by a word or phrase, preposition is neccessary.

  • She returned to her parents' home.

We can live/stay/work/be etc. at home, at + ... + home, in + ... + home.

But in cannot be followed directly by home.

  • You can do this sort of work at home. (or at your home/in your home).

III. Arrive at/in

We arrive in a country or town.

We arrive in or at a village.

We arrive at a small destination.

  • We arrived in England/London.
  • We arrived at the airport/at the hotel/at the station.

IV. Transport: by, on, get in/into/on/onto/off/out of

We travel by car (but in Mike's car), by bus, train, plain, helicopter, etc. and by sea/air.

We can also go by a certain route or by a certain place:

  • We went by I-95.

We can walk or go on foot.

We can cycle or go on a bicycle or by bicycle.

We can ride or go on horseback.

We get into a private or public vehicle, or get in (adverb).

We get on a public vehicle, get on (adverb).

But we go on board a boat (=embark).

We get on/onto a horse, camel, bicycle.

We get out of a private or public vehicle, or get out (adverb).

We get off a public vehicle, a horse, bicycle, etc., or get off (adverb).

V. Get in/into/out/out of

Get in/into/out/out of can also be used of buildings, institutions, and countries, instead of go, come, return etc. when there is some difficulty in entering or leaving (in and out are used here as adverbs).

  • I lost my keys! How are we going to get into the house?
  • The house is on fire! We'd better get out! (adverb)

VI. Giving directions

at, into, to, etc. are prepositions; along, on are prepositions and adverbs; till is a conjunction.

  • Go along the Ferret Street till you see the library on your right.
  • Get off the bus and walk back till you come to some traffic lights.

VII. Get to/Reach

Get to/reach can be used with any destination:

  • He got to the station just in time for his train.
  • They reached the top of the mountain before dark.

Get in (in = adverb) can mean "arrive at a destination", is used mainly of trains:

  • What time does the train get in?

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