Prepositional Phrases for Place and Time
Where is the café? When does the lesson finish? English speakers answer questions like these using prepositional phrases for place and time every day.
Useful phrases for describing place and position include:
- next to the bank
- opposite the station
- in front of the building
- at the top of the hill
- in the middle of the room
Others help us talk about time:
- at the beginning of the lesson
- at the end of the week
- at the moment
- from time to time
- by the time we arrived
These phrases may look simple, but choosing the wrong preposition can make your English sound unnatural. It is therefore best to learn each expression as one complete chunk—not as several separate words.
Watch out for this useful difference
On time means at the scheduled time:
The train arrived on time.
In time for means early enough for something:
We arrived in time for dinner.
Practise, check and speak
Start with the interactive gapfill exercise below on prepositional phrases for place and time.
Use the phrase box to complete all 20 sentences, then check your score. If an answer is incorrect, use the hint before opening the answer sheet.
Finally, try the follow-on speaking activity. Make each phrase personal by using it in a complete sentence and adding a detail. Ask and answer follow-up questions with a partner—or say your answers aloud if you are studying alone.
The more personally meaningful your examples are, the easier the phrases will be to remember.
Prepositional Phrases: Place and Time
Practise 20 useful phrases, check your answers, and then use the language in conversation.
Complete the sentences
Type one phrase from the box into each gap. Use every phrase once. In the middle of is used twice.
Phrase box
- at the moment
- between
- at the bottom of
- in time for
- opposite
- at the beginning of
- next to
- during the course of
- at the same time
- in front of
- at the top of
- on time
- from time to time
- at the side of
- at the end of
- in the middle of ×2
- by the time
- on the corner of
- at the back of
Need the answer sheet?
Click below to reveal the full answer key for this exercise.
Answer Sheet
Make it personal
Work with a partner. Use the target phrase to answer each challenge with a complete sentence. Your partner then asks one follow-up question. Working alone? Say your answer aloud and add one extra detail.
- 1 point: use the phrase correctly.
- 1 point: add a useful detail.
- 1 point: answer the follow-up question.
Describe something you regularly see at the side of a road.
Use the phrase in a complete sentence, then add one detail.
View all 20 speaking challenges
Final memory round
Cover the phrase box. A partner reads a challenge without saying the target phrase. Recall the phrase and use it in a new sentence.