HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY No.2
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FACULTY
---------------------

LE THUY HIEN

COMMON ERRORS IN THE USE OF PREPOSITIONS OF PLACE
MADE BY THE SECOND YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT
HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY NUMBER 2 IN THE ACADEMIC
YEAR OF 2012/2013

(SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF
THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS IN ENGLISH)

SUPERVISOR: MAI THI VAN ANH, M.A

Hanoi, May 2013
ii


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This study would not have been possible without the guidance and the help
of several individuals who in one way or another contributed and extended their
valuable assistance in the preparation and completion of this study.
Foremost, I would like to take this chance to express my sincere gratitude to
Ms. Mai Thi Van Anh, M.A., my supervisor, for the continuous support of my
study, for her patience, motivation, encouragement, indispensable suggestions and
advice, enthusiasm and knowledge. Her guidance helped me in all the time of
research and writing of this study.
Besides my supervisor, I would like to thank all the lecturers at Hanoi

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

Title: Common Errors in the Use of Prepositions of Place
(Graduation paper submitted in partial fulfillment of the Degree of Bachelor of
Arts in English)

I certify that no part of this report has been copied or reproduced by me from
any other person’s work without acknowledgment and that the report is originally
written by me under strict guidance from my supervisor.

Date submitted: May 2013

Student

Supervisor

Le Thuy Hien

Mai Thi Van Anh, M.A

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDMENT ......................................................................................... ii
ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................... iii
STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP .................................................................... iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS ..................................................................................... v


I.2.2.2.4. Differences between in, on and at .................................... 13
I.2.2.2.4.1. In and At........................................................................ 13
I.2.2.2.4.2. On and In ...................................................................... 13
I.2.3. Prepositions and location ...................................................................... 14
I.2.4. Relationship between notions of position and direction ........................ 16
I.2.4.1. Positive position and direction .................................................... 16
I.2.4.2. Negative position and direction .................................................. 16
I.2.5. Expressions of prepositions of place ..................................................... 17
I.2.5.1. Relative position......................................................................... 17
I.2.5.2. Relative destination .................................................................... 18
I.2.5.3. Passage ....................................................................................... 18

CHAPTER TWO: COMMON ERRORS IN THE USE OF PREPOSITIONS
OF PLACE
II.1. Survey ......................................................................................................... 19
II.1.1. Purpose of the survey ......................................................................... 19
II.1.2. Population of the survey ..................................................................... 19
II.1.3. Type of the survey .............................................................................. 20
II.1.4. Construction of the test....................................................................... 20
II.1.5. Preparation of the survey .................................................................... 21
II.1.5.1. Test items .................................................................................. 21
II.1.5.2. Arrangement of the test items.................................................... 21
II.1.6. Administration of the try-out .............................................................. 22
II.1.6.1. Preparation of the try-out .......................................................... 22
II.1.6.2. Try-out ...................................................................................... 22
II.1.7. Method of data analysis ...................................................................... 22
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II.1.8. Results of the survey .......................................................................... 23

Language is very important in daily human life. It is a systematic mean of
communication by the use of sounds or conventional symbols. Human beings use
the language to express their ideas and communicate to others. The language is the
written and spoken methods of combining words to create meaning used by a
particular group of people. However, it is only easy for people who have the same
language to communicate. There are likely no difficulties in using the language to
express their ideas and concepts as well as moods, feelings and attitudes. As for the
native speakers, in particular, they do not have difficulties or obstacles in using the
language since they soon pick up their own native language from their birth. On
the other hand, if the people take part in the conversations who speak the different
languages, they definitely get difficulties in communicating to each other due to
their different backgrounds: nationality, race, and language. One of the problems
causing the difficulties is the language used. Therefore, they need a language
which the speaker and his or her counterpart can understand. This leads to the
international languages used. They must be the most popular and most spoken
languages in the world. One of the languages is the English language.
English is known as the most important language in the world in general and
in Vietnam in particular. It is necessary in each and every field. At present, due to
the awareness of the importance of English, there are more and more people need
to learn English. Hence, English is being taught at every educational level in
Vietnam.
However, learning a language is not easy due to the differences of the
system between the foreign languages and the native language. This may bring
about the problems for the foreign language learners. Accordingly, it is inevitable
that the Vietnamese students usually get problems in learning English. It is proved
that English grammar is complex and often causes embarrassment to students.
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Prepositions, in particular preposition of place are the language categories that are



2) What are the common errors in the use of the prepositions of place made
by the second year non-English major students at Hanoi Pedagogical University No
2 in the academic year of 2012/2013?
3) Why do the second year non-English major students at Hanoi
Pedagogical University No 2 in the academic year of 2012/2013 make errors when
they use the prepositions of place?
Based on the questions above, I am eager to learn about the problems and
make an error analysis in prepositions of place so that the major errors in the use of
prepositions of place may be found.

III. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
The study is aimed to describe the patterns of difficulty and the variability
observed in the incorrect uses of English prepositions of place in a survey
questionnaire completed by the second year non-English major students at Hanoi
Pedagogical University No 2 in the academic year of 2012/2013 studying English
as a compulsory subject at University. In particular, the study is aimed at the
following goals:
1) To find out the kinds of errors in the use of prepositions of place made
by the second year non-English major students at Hanoi Pedagogical University No
2 in the academic year of 2012/2013 in using prepositions of place.
2) To find out the main errors in the use of prepositions of place most often
made by the second year non-English major students at Hanoi Pedagogical
University No 2 in the academic year of 2012/2013 in using prepositions of place.
3) To find out the causes of the errors in the use of prepositions of place
made by the second year non-English major students at Hanoi Pedagogical
University No 2 in the academic year of 2012/2013 in using prepositions of place.

3

the research, it is hoped that the result will be helpful to provide:
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1) Input for learners of English in order to minimize their errors in the use of
prepositions of place.
2) Input for teachers of English with information on error types and solutions
to the problems so that they can have good methods of teaching the
prepositions of place.
This study is also beneficial to anyone who is interested in the prepositions
of place in English.

VIII. DESIGN OF THE RESEARCH WORK
The research work has three main parts, namely: Introduction, Development,
and Conclusion. The part “Development” consists two chapters. Chapter one is
entitled “Theoretical Background”. It consists two sections. Section one reviews
literature review in brief. The second one deals with things related to the
prepositions of place such as definition, classification and the different uses among
some prepositions of place. Moreover, the relationship between the prepositions of
position and direction and the expressions of prepositions of position are also
mentioned.
Chapter two is named “Common errors in the use of the prepositions of
place”. It has three sections. Section one is devoted to the survey. The second one
deals with error types and causes. The last one is solutions to the problems and
suggested exercises on the prepositions of place.

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PART TWO


George Yule (1998) in Explaining English Grammar mentions types of
prepositions of place according to locations in space such as points, surfaces and
area. He also introduces the movement of entities in relation to the locations as a
point, a surface, or an area.
In the book First Certificate Language Practice, Michael Vince (1993)
introduces briefly the differences between in and at.
In the website englishtheeasyway.com, the definition of prepositions of place
is presented. In addition, common place prepositions and examples are also
mentioned.
Alaine Walker and Steve Elsworth (2000) in the book Grammar Practice for
Upper Intermediate Students only gives the uses of at, in, on, above, below, over,
under, beneath, underneath, on top of, against, opposite, by, beside, next to, inside,
and outside.
In the book A University Grammar of English, Randolph Quirk (1973)
shows prepositions of place in relation to the dimensional properties: at a point, on
a line or surface, in a area or volume. He explains the contrast between on and in
and at and in. Besides, he refers to the cause-and-effect relationship between
positive position and direction and the parallel cause-and-effect relation between
negative position and direction. Moreover, he focuses his attention on the
expressions of the prepositions of place like relative position, relative destination
and passage.
Overall, much research has been done on the prepositions of place.
However, only Mark Folley and Diane Hall (2003) point out errors in the use of
prepositions of place. The fact is that there are a lot of errors that learners of
English often make when they use the prepositions of place. Therefore, it is
essential to have a comprehensive study of common errors in the use of
prepositions of place.

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He disappeared under the water.
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 When horizontal movement is suggested:
Are we going to fly over the Alps?
 With prices, ages, speeds, distances and quantities, where we mean
more than or fewer or less than:
The conference was very badly attended: under two hundred
people came.
We use above or below to talk about level or rank:
Is the position of Managing Editor above or below that of Editorial
Director?
It is also possible to use after in this sense:
His opinion is second only after the Managing Director’s.
In the use of up and down we note:
John lives a few houses further up the hill from us.
John lives a few houses further down the hill from us.
We generally use beneath in idiomatic phrases:
Your behavior towards my new husband was really beneath contempt!
I.2.2.1.2. Horizontal relationships
As for horizontal relationships, in the book Advanced learners’ Grammar by
Mark Folley and Diane Hall, prepositions of place comprise against, along,
alongside, around, at, beside, between, by, in, near, next to, on, on the left/ right of.
We use at with a point in space, e.g. at the bus stop, at 8 Baker Street; we
use on with a surface or a line, e.g. on the table, on the river, on Oxford Street; and
we use in with something that surrounds, e.g. in the wood. We use different
prepositions depending on how we see a place. For example:
The group will meet at 7.30 at the sports centre. (= either inside or
outside)

I’ll meet you in the café opposite/ facing the theatre. (= on the other
side of the road)
I’ll meet you in the café across/ over the road from the theatre.
The difference between opposite/ facing and in front of is that the items on
the ‘line’ are not facing in the same direction, but are facing each other.
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I.2.2.2. According to dimension
When we use a preposition to indicate place, we do so in relation to the
dimensional properties, whether subjectively or objectively conceived, of the
location concerned. In this way, prepositions of position are classified into three
types: point, which focuses on at; line or surface deals with on and area or volume,
which concentrates on in.
I.2.2.2.1. Point
Locations can be points in space and treated as having no relevant
dimension. We are often at a point in space.
Prepositions in this group indicate that the noun that follows them is treated
as a point in relation to which another object is positioned.
We can use at with nouns to mean ‘a (meeting) point’. For example:
I’ll meet you at the airport.
Some typical nouns used in this case are the cinema, the office, the bank, the
library, (the) school.
We say that someone is at an event, e.g. at a concert, a dance, a dinner, a
funeral, a meeting, a party, a wedding. For instance:
Tom is at a party.
We say at with buildings when we say where the event (film, concert,...)
takes place. For example:
Where were you yesterday? At the cinema.
The meeting took place at the headquarters.

They always meet in a secret room.
We use in for names of specific land areas, e.g. in Southern Africa, in the
Philippines, in Southeast Asia. For example:
She lives in a quiet town in Southern Africa.
We use in for bodies of water. For instance:
That kind of fish thrives in freshwater in the lake.
We use in for lines, e.g. in a row, in a line, in a queue. For example:
The registrants are in a row.
We use in to show that something is enclosed or surrounded, e.g. in the
garden, in the house, in the water, in a taxi, in her bag. For example:
There is nobody in the room.
Here are some more examples:
The dog is in the garden.
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She is in a taxi.
Put it in the box.
We also use in to show position within land-areas (towns, countries, states,
continents). For instance:
I used to live in Nottingham.
I.2.2.2.4. Differences between in, on and at
I.2.2.2.4.1. In and At
Random Quirk (1973) shows in detail the opposition between at and in.
In is used for continents, countries, provinces, and sizeable territories of any
kind. For example:
She lives in London.
However for towns, villages, and so on, either at or in is appropriate.
According to this point of view, we have:
at Straford-upon-Avon, or

A face appeared in the window/ mirror.
(window, mirror = framed area)

On the island:

Robinson Crusoe was marooned on an
uninhabited island.

In the island:

He was born in Long Island.
(the island has an institutional identity)

We note that in many cases (especially in colloquial English), on and in may
be used for both position and destination. For instance:
He dived in the water.
He felt on the floor.
I.2.3. Prepositions and location
In the book Explaining English Grammar, George Yule (1998) believes that
there are several important aspects of the information which should be kept in
mind. We can be seen the information in the following box:
Position of entity (E) Reference location perceived as:
Point

Surface

Area

Connected position


Some types of spatial reference (i.e. locations) may be inherently more
‘area-like’ (i.e. having volume, or three dimensions) than ‘surface-like’ or ‘point14


like’ and hence may tend to be used with one set of related prepositions more than
another. However, most spatial reference can be conceptualized by a speaker
differently on different occasions, depending on the nature of the information
being conveyed.
For example, a town would seem to represent the kind of the location that
would most typically be treated as three-dimensional space and lead us to talk of
being in it, as shown in the following example:
The University is in Baton Rouge.
However, from a different perspective, the town may be treated as if it was a
kind of surface with sunshine on it, as in example:
The Sun is shining on Baton Rouge this morning.
If that city is treated as one point in a journey, essentially having no relevant
dimension, then we can stop at it. For instance:
Flight 410 to Nashville has one stop at Baton Rouge.
Although the concept of ‘surface’ may frequently be taken to mean ‘on top
of’ a horizontal surface, it does not mean that the perspective has to be that of the
human observer. It can be a spider’s orientation to the surface that is being
described, as shown in the following example:
The cat on the floor is watching the spider on the ceiling.
The relevant space can be also viewed as the vertical surface on which
certain entities are found. For instance:
The cat on the floor, watching the spider on the ceiling which was
following the fly on the wall.
Spatial locations viewed in terms of a vertical dimension are also the key to
the use of up and down as prepositions indicating a directional path as a surface.
For example:

floor.

Tom fell on(to) the floor.

as a result: Tom was on the
floor.

Tom dived in(to) the water.

as a result: Tom was in the
water.

A prepositional phrase of ‘position’ can accompany any verb, although the
meaning of ‘direction’ generally (but by no means always) requires a dynamic verb
of ‘motional’ meaning, such as go, move, fly, and so on.
I.2.4.2. Negative position and direction
There is a parallel cause and effect relation with the negative prepositions
away from, off, off of (informal American English), out of.
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Direction

Position

Tom went away from the door.

Tom was away from the door.
(= Tom was not at the door.)


Over and under as place prepositions are roughly synonymous with above
and below respectively. The main differences are that over and under tend to
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indicate a direct vertical relationship and/ or spatial proximity, while above and
below may indicate simply ‘on a higher/lower level than’. For example:
The castle stands on a hill above (rather than over) the valley.
The doctor and the policeman were leaning over (rather than above)
the body when we arrived.
Underneath and beneath are less common substitutes for under; beneath is
formal in style. Underneath, like on top of, generally indicates a contiguous
relation.
Some other prepositions of relative position are beside, near (to), between,
amid(st) (formal), among, amongst (especially in British English).
I.2.5.2. Relative destination
The prepositions in the part ‘Relative position’ (but not, generally, above
and below) can express ‘Relative destination’. For example:
The bush was the only conceivable hiding-place, so I dashed behind it.
When it started to rain, we all went underneath the trees.
This use is distinct from that denoting that passage behind, under, and so on.
I.2.5.3. Passage
With verbs of motion, prepositions may express the idea of passage, i.e.
movement towards and then away from a place, as well as destination. With the
prepositions listed in the part ‘Relative position’, this occurs in sentences like:
He jumped over a ditch.
Someone ran behind the goal-posts.
In sentences like the last, or like The ball rolled underneath the table, there
is an ambiguity: we can supply either the meaning of ‘passage’ (= the ball passed
under the table on the way to some other destination) or the meaning of