IN - AT - ON

Hi people.

The very first posts seemed to look too much at prepositions so I felt it was necessary to take a different road for a while. Now it seems that there is still a great need to keep reviewing some specific concepts.

When I start a student's first class(es) I usually focus on the problems associated with these three main PREPOSITIONS - IN - AT - ON as positional forms.

Why, you might ask. Well, it seems that this is where I might be able to instil an understanding of English as being not another challenge, but as being another essential tool towards a better understanding of our global community and a way towards better communication.
This said, the most I can hope for is to plant the seeds that one day may germinate into a better feeling for the language as well as an appreciation of how a better knowledge of this language will probably result in a better understanding of their own language.

To this end, let's proceed.
When learning to speak Portuguese I often had difficulties getting used to the genders of objects, something we don't have in English. I realized after a long, long time that these Portuguese speakers had had these genders drilled into them right from an early age and what seemed so difficult to me, was as simple and natural as so many of our prepositions are to us.

How do we make this sense of prepositions as vivid to learners of the language as they appear to us?

I try to create a similar KEYWORD of association for each of these prepositions.

For IN I suggest - INSIDE - This one word places all objects INSIDE their related environment.
While a book might be ON the table, the same book IN the table suggests that the table has a special kind of compartment for the book to be placed INSIDE it, very much as we had as children with our school desks where the top lifted up so we could place the material we had INSIDE.

For ON I suggest - SURFACE - Again we have a very visual clue to ON especially when we think of the sea. A boat or ship should float ON the SURFACE of the sea. The book ON the table is also placed ON a SURFACE as are chairs and tables placed ON a floor.

For AT I suggest - EXACT - While I am focusing on positional uses of these prepositions, AT as a time preposition very accurately shows the exactness of its use when we specify the EXACT time of an event. I will meet you AT 12 o'clock means 12 o'clock exactly.
In much the same way we state an EXACT position when we use AT to describe the position.
I will meet you AT the shopping center (Where exactly, can be seen below). I will meet you AT the bar.

IN Sao Paulo, we have a very famous building called the Gazeta building. All I know about the Gazeta building, is that it is ON (SURFACE) Paulista avenue, a very famous street IN Sao Paulo. If I knew the EXACT number of the address of this building I could say that it is located AT XXX Paulista avenue.

For the individual describing their residential address, there is the simplest form - I live ON Residential street. More exactly, I live AT XXX Residential street. For businesses, it is exactly the same deal.

IN the above AT example, I mentioned meeting someone AT the Shopping center. We refer to places using the AT preposition to be as EXACT as possible IN our references. AT the library, AT the Airport, AT home, AT work etc. With the other prepositions IN & ON, we can drill that location down to something more specific. AT the shopping center, we are already providing an EXACT reference where we might agree to meet AT the North or South entrance. If we agree to meet IN the Shopping Center there is always going to be a need to state where exactly AT is. I will meet you AT Starbucks IN the Shopping Center. OR, I will meet you AT Starbucks ON the first floor of the shopping center.

Testing this - AT the Shopping Center is EXACT. AT Starbucks is EXACT. IN the Shopping Center is INSIDE. ON the first floor is a SURFACE.

We cannot meet ON the Shopping Center unless it has been designed for people to stand ON TOP of it. We cannot meet IN an Airport if we consider that an Airport consists of not only buildings but also Runways and other facilities. We can meet AT the Coffee shop IN the Airport Terminal.
We must be able to see the crazy, ridiculous aspect of using the wrong preposition in all situations. We must be able to sense what is IN - INSIDE, ON - SURFACE & AT - EXACT to begin to come to terms with this demon referred to as prepositions.