تصلني بعض الأسئلة حول اللغة ومكوّناتها من متعلّمي اللغة. حفظاً للإجابات وإفادةً للدائرة الواسعة من المتعلّمين، بدأت هذه السلسلة "سؤالات في اللغة" لأضيف إليها كلما استجد سؤال.

سأراعي وضوح الإجابة وتركيزها وإرفاق المصادر معها.

السؤال الأول حول حروف الجرّ Prepositions :

Is there a rule for using places prepositions? I just try to memorize them when we had the quiz but I didn’t understand when they are used. For example: why do we say: in the street, on our farm? Does it depend on the meaning? I can just memorize them for the final exam but I feel that i want to know the different between them.

By Lena Al Muhaitheef

Answer:

Languages are systematic or logical. When we don't understand a linguistic element, it doesn't mean it has no logic but we don't know enough about the language.

So, regarding your question about location prepositions*, we tell you that they were found like this in English and just memorize them as they are because you don't need to know the logic behind them at this level. The truth is that they have logic (1). At is used with "small" places e.g. at university and at McDonald's, on is used with "medium' places e.g. on the farm and on King Fahad Park, and in is used with "large" places e.g. in North America and in Riyadh. What about: in the street? Here, we don't talk about a specific street. We talk about the street in general, as an idea. That's why it's considered as a large place.

A further explanation (2) is that at is used to tell where you are and in is used when you enter that place. For example, you say "I'm at the mall" when you go to the mall or want to say where you are, and you say "I'm in the mall" when you enter the mall. Another examples: you tell your brother: "I'm in the university. Pick me up." and he says "I'm at the university. Come out." You can also use in when you physically enter a location e.g. I'm in the car, I'm in the school, etc.

Reading and listening a lot is the key to understand and use preposition correctly.

Thank you for your question Lena! I hope that the above explanation made the idea clearer for you. Prepositions is usually a problem for Arabs because we use the Arabic System in justifying their usages.

Arak M.
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* there are two general types of prepositions: Lexical Prepositions and Grammatical Prepositions. Location Prepositions come under the second type.

References:
1: Keys to Teaching Grammar to English Language Learners, S. Folse.
2: http://ar.talkenglish.com/lessondetails.aspx?ALID=200