📙 So the Swallow flew over the great city, and saw the rich making merry in their beautiful houses, while the beggars were sitting at the gates. He flew into dark lanes, and saw the white faces of starving children looking out listlessly at the black streets. Under the archway of a bridge two little boys were lying in one another’s arms to try and keep themselves warm. “How hungry we are!” they said. “You must not lie here,” shouted the Watchman, and they wandered out into the rain.
– Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince (1888)
…
For so many English language students, prepositions of place can be some of the most vague and confusing points to master!
You may have heard that memorising some collocations is a good way to learn prepositions of place. Here are some such collocations:
- in the city centre
- at home
- on the weekend
However, in today’s Lesson we will read from The Happy Prince (1888) by Irish poet and playwright, Oscar Wilde. You can find an audiobook version, with text, here on YouTube for you to follow along: it is about 20 minutes in length and accessible for any English language student of intermediate level or beyond.
✏️ I am sharing some general descriptions and guidelines here with you so that you can figure out for yourself what prepositions should apply in different scenarios.
We will cover ‘at’, ‘by’, ‘in’, ‘into’, ‘on’, and ‘out of’.
…
📝 AT – exact, specific location, points in space
✏️ It is used to describe specific places, such as when you talk of meeting someone ‘at the station’, ‘at the airport’, ‘at the office’, etc.
✏️ ‘At’ can be used to describe placement at events, such as ‘I was at a meeting’, ‘at a party’, ‘at a wedding’, etc.)
✏️ ‘At’ is also used for addresses or stationary placement: e.g., ‘they live at no.1 High Street’, or even ‘I had dinner with my friend at her house’, etc. Similarly, we use ‘at’ in collocations such as ‘at the desk’ or ‘at the table’.
Here are some examples from The Happy Prince:
📙 “I am glad there is some one in the world who is quite happy,” muttered a disappointed man as he gazed at the wonderful statue.
– Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince (emphasis mine)
📙 As they passed the column he looked up at the statue: “Dear me! how shabby the Happy Prince looks!” he said.
– Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince (emphasis mine)
📙 “One of the windows is open, and through it I can see a woman seated at a table.”
– Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince (emphasis mine)
📙 “… there were two rude boys, the miller’s sons, who were always throwing stones at me.”
– Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince (emphasis mine)
..
📝 BY – close to something, right next to it, beside, near something
📙 ‘He passed by the cathedral tower, where the white marble angels were sculptured. He passed by the palace and heard the sound of dancing.’
– Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince (emphasis mine)
📙 “He is leaning over a desk covered with papers, and in a tumbler by his side there is a bunch of withered violets.”
– Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince (emphasis mine)
👉 Notice here how Wilde used ‘beside’, and how ‘by’ could be used in its place without changing its meaning:
📙 ‘In he hopped, and laid the great ruby on the table beside the woman’s thimble.’
– Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince (emphasis mine)
..
📝 IN – within, inside the limits, borders, or edges of something.
✏️ It suggests an enclosed place, being surrounded by something.
✏️ It is also used for countries and cities, for certain groups of people (in the family, in the group, in the community, in government, etc.) (‘on’ is used for specific high-level groups such as ‘on the team’, ‘on the committee’, ‘on the board’)
📙 “I am glad there is some one in the world who is quite happy,”
– Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince (emphasis mine)
📙 “Ah! but we have, in our dreams,” answered the children; and the Mathematical Master frowned and looked very severe, for he did not approve of children dreaming.
– Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince (emphasis mine)
📙 ‘He had met her early in the spring as he was flying down the river after a big yellow moth …’
– Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince (emphasis mine)
📙 “What a curious thing!” he cried; “there is not a single cloud in the sky, the stars are quite clear and bright, and yet it is raining. The climate in the north of Europe is really dreadful.”
– Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince (emphasis mine)
📙 “When I was alive and had a human heart,” answered the statue, “I did not know what tears were, for I lived in the Palace of Sans-Souci, where sorrow is not allowed to enter. In the daytime I played with my companions in the garden, and in the evening I led the dance in the Great Hall.”
– Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince (emphasis mine)
📙 “Far away,” continued the statue in a low musical voice, “far away in a little street there is a poor house … In a bed in the corner of the room her little boy is lying ill.”
– Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince (emphasis mine)
✍️ It can be used to describe an emotional state, such as ‘in high spirits’:
📙 “To-night I go to Egypt,” said the Swallow, and he was in high spirits at the prospect.
– Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince (emphasis mine)
In this following quotation, you can see a fixed collocation – ‘in company with’:
📙 ‘Early the next morning the Mayor was walking in the square below in company with the Town Councillors.’
– Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince (emphasis mine)
We will finish this section with a longer quote – the beautiful end of the story in fact. Try to find the prepositions of place here for yourself:
📙 “This broken lead heart will not melt in the furnace. We must throw it away.” So they threw it on a dust-heap where the dead Swallow was also lying.
“Bring me the two most precious things in the city,” said God to one of His Angels; and the Angel brought Him the leaden heart and the dead bird.
“You have rightly chosen,” said God, “for in my garden of Paradise this little bird shall sing for evermore, and in my city of gold the Happy Prince shall praise me.”
– Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince
..
📝 INTO – suggests moving from an open area to an enclosed or more closed location
📙 ‘He swooped past the match-girl, and slipped the jewel into the palm of her hand.’
– Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince (emphasis mine)
📙 “How cool I feel,” said the boy, “I must be getting better”; and he sank into a delicious slumber.
– Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince (emphasis mine)
📙 ‘It was easy enough to get in, as there was a hole in the roof. Through this he darted, and came into the room.’
– Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince (emphasis mine)
..
📝 ON – describes something as being on top of (some kind of flat surface)
Notice how it is used to describe the flat surface here in the opening line of The Happy Prince:
📙 ‘High above the city, on a tall column, stood the statue of the Happy Prince.’
– Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince (emphasis mine)
📙 “I have a golden bedroom,” he said softly to himself as he looked round, and he prepared to go to sleep; but just as he was putting his head under his wing a large drop of water fell on him.
– Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince (emphasis mine)
📙 “She is embroidering passion-flowers on a satin gown for the loveliest of the Queen’s maids-of-honour to wear at the next Court-ball.”
– Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince (emphasis mine)
📙 “Last summer, when I was staying on the river, there were two rude boys, the miller’s sons, who were always throwing stones at me.”
– Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince (emphasis mine – ‘on the river’ is a collocation)
📙 ‘… the little boys wore scarlet caps and skated on the ice.’
– Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince (emphasis mine – ‘on the ice’ is another collocation)
📙 ‘A beautiful girl came out on the balcony with her lover.’
– Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince (emphasis mine)
The surface is not always flat however. We can use ‘on’ to describe being situated or seated at the top of something, as here:
📙 ‘He visited all the public monuments, and sat a long time on top of the church steeple.’
– Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince (emphasis mine)
Or here:
📙 ‘He sat on the mast of a large vessel and watched the sailors hauling big chests out of the hold with ropes.’
– Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince (emphasis mine)
..
📝 OUT OF – (the reverse of into) moving from a closed location to an open area.
📙 “He looks just like an angel,” said the Charity Children as they came out of the cathedral in their bright scarlet cloaks and their clean white pinafores.
– Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince (emphasis mine)
📙 “Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow, will you not bring her the ruby out of my sword-hilt?”
– Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince (emphasis mine)
📙 “They are made of rare sapphires, which were brought out of India a thousand years ago.”
– Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince (emphasis mine)
…
📝 One last word as we close: even though these guidelines apply most of the time, be aware that because of an overlap in the meanings of prepositions (e.g. ‘on’ and ‘at’ have similar meanings), different prepositions can be used with the same words. So you can say ‘Julie is in the university’ (she is a student, she is studying in the university, she is in the university buildings) or ‘Julie is at the university’ (maybe she is just visiting the university, but she is at that precise location).
👉 So different prepositions with the same word can change the overall emphasis, or even meaning, of the sentence.
These principles outlined above, together with your memorisation of common collocations, should certainly help you to avoid mistakes and express yourself clearly in English.
