Prepositions of Place — Quick Reference

The Big Three in 10 Seconds

Preposition	Mental Model	Examples
in	Inside a 3D space 📦	in the room, in Beijing, in the water
on	Touching a surface 📄	on the table, on the wall, on Main Street
at	A specific point 📍	at the door, at the bus stop, at 42 Main St

The Zoom Rule

🌏 in a country/city → 🛣️ on a street → 📍 at an address/building

She lives in Tokyo, on Shibuya Street, at number 42.

Preposition	Vehicles	Why
on	bus, train, plane, ship, bicycle	You can walk around / stand on it
in	car, taxi, helicopter	You’re enclosed, can’t stand up

She lives on Beijing.

She lives in Beijing.

Cities are 3D spaces → in.

I'm in the bus.

I'm on the bus.

Bus = large vehicle you walk around in → on.

He works in Google.

He works at Google.

Organizations = specific points → at.

The cat is in the table.

The cat is on the table.

Touching the surface → on. (IN the table = inside the table's wood 🪵)

I'll meet you on the airport.

I'll meet you at the airport.

Meeting point = specific location → at.

The picture is in the wall.

The picture is on the wall.

Hanging on the surface → on. (IN the wall = buried inside it)

These don’t follow spatial logic — just memorize them:

Preposition	Common Collocations
in	interested in, believe in, succeed in, result in
on	depend on, rely on, insist on, concentrate on, based on
at	good at, bad at, surprised at, look at, laugh at
to	listen to, belong to, respond to, refer to, lead to
for	wait for, look for, apply for, responsible for
with	agree with, deal with, familiar with, satisfied with

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