Between or among?

Between, betwixt, among, amongst, amid, amidst are all prepositions and their meanings are  quite similar, that’s why students of English are often confused about their use.

Between and among are the most widely used, as the others are more formal (amid) or even archaic, that is, they are no longer used by speakers, and can only be found in written or literary texts. That's the case of betwixt, which is the same as between.

Between two legs.
 Image in:http://pixdaus.com/pics/1321124354kxjhGNP.jpg

We say that something is between two things if the things are on either side of it: I was sitting between my mother and my father. (Note that the root of this word, “tw”, is related to number two). Between is also used when there are more than two things but each one is clearly distinct from the others: Luxemburg lies between Belgium, France and Germany.

However, we say that something is among (or amongst) a group of things when these things cannot be told apart, that is, a collection of things we do not see separately: 
They used to live in a little hut among the trees. 
She grabbed the title among a total of 20 competitors. 
I saw him walking among the crowd.

If something is among a group of similar things, it is one of these things. In this case, it means “included in”: Among the collection of pictures there is one by Picasso.

Poppies among lavender.
 Image in: http://pixdaus.com/pics/1225922721p2nsG8a.jpg

Amid or amidst is very formal and is mainly used with ideas and abstract nouns:

The politician finished his speech amid tremendous applause.
The law was approved amid a great deal of controversy.
It can also mean “surrounded by”: The house was in a beautiful position amid vineyards.

Vineyard in Greece by Spiro Anaxos.
 Image in: http://pixdaus.com/pics/1313681910cfTIcPE.jpg

Idioms:
To be sandwiched between... is to be so close to two people or things that there is not enough space to move. My poor little car was sandwiched between a Rolls Royce and a Mercedes.
To read between the lines is to discover a meaning in something that is not openly stated: He is not going to say what he really feels, but you can read between the lines and guess that he isn’t happy with the situation.
Between you and me, or between ourselves are used to mean that something is or should be kept a secret. Now between ourselves, for this is strictly confidential, I'm quite alarmed at the prospect.
If you are between the devil and the deep blue sea, you must choose between two unpleasant situations. We seemed to be between the devil and the deep blue sea: it didn’t matter which way we went.
To come between two people is to disrupt their relationship. You have a nice example in Sade’s song “Nothing can come between us”.


Now you can check what you have learned by doing this exercise:

http://focus.olsztyn.pl/en-exercises-prepositions-test-9.html

Prepositions of time: at, on, in.

With this presentation you will learn the use of at, in and on before time expressions. In the last slide there are some exercises that will help you check what you have learnt.

Arrive in, at or to?

One of the typical mistakes my students make is using the preposition "to" with the verb "arrive".

For example: *We arrived to London.

The preposition “to” can never follow the verb “arrive”, because it is a preposition of movement and the verb is not. Instead of “to”, we can use “at” or “in”, but, when should we use one or the other? The answer is easy:

• We use “at” when we get to a small place such as an airport, station or village.

Ex.: The children arrived at school quite late.

• We use “in” when we get to a large place such as a country or a city.

Ex.: The Vikings arrived in Britain in the 8^th century.

Sometimes it's not so easy and you can find examples like:

They arrived at Cardiff

Being Cardiff a big town, "in" should have been used, but "at" is correct because we actually mean arrive at Cardiff station or airport.

Photo: Cardiff Bay, by Ian Britton

Prepositions of place and movement

A preposition is a part of speech that links nouns, pronouns or phrases to other words in the sentence. There are three types of prepositions:

• Time prepositions, used to show a point in time.
• Place prepositions, used to indicate a location or position.
• Direction prepositions, used to show movement from one place to another.

Sometimes it's difficult for a learner of foreign languages to use prepositions correctly, because they don't always translate as the same word in every context. For instance, my students get confused with words like in, into, at or on.

In the following presentation the images will help you realise the exact meaning of the preposition. In this case, only prepositions of place and movement are described.

Prepositions Of Place Movement from Vinicius Luciano Menezes Cotrim

 With this other presentation by Patricia Pérez Miguel you can practise what you have learnt, and at the same time revise your Halloween vocabulary. Try to answer the questions and have fun!

Prepositions from maykagavi

More exercises:
Prepositions of place: http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=597
Prepositions of movement: http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=4300