A2 · Elementary

Prepositions of movement: to, into, through, across and others

Prepositions of movement show where someone or something goes. To names the destination. Through, across, along, up, down and over describe the route.

Destination and starting point

Word	Meaning	Example
to	movement in the direction of a place	We walked to the market.
from	the place you start	The train comes from Madrid.
into	going in	She went into the shop.
out of	going out	He ran out of the room.
off	down or away from a surface	The cat jumped off the sofa.
onto	going on to a surface	The cat jumped onto the table.

I am going to the dentist.
A letter came from my cousin.

Home works as an adverb, with no preposition: go home, come home.

You may also hear off of in informal, mainly North American English: He jumped off of the wall. Oxford labels off of informal and mainly North American, so it is a variety difference, not an error; in British English, off is the usual form.

The route

Word	Meaning	Example
through	from one side to the other, inside a space	We walked through the wood.
across	from one side to the other	We swam across the lake.
along	in a line next to	They walked along the river.
past	going by	Go past the church.
round	in a circle	The earth goes round the sun.
over	above and across	A bird flew over the roof.
under	below	The boat sailed under the bridge.

Up and down, towards and away

She climbed up the stairs.
The ball rolled down the hill.
A dog ran towards me. in my direction
The boat sailed away from the harbour.

Into or in? Onto or on?

Into usually shows movement and in usually shows position. Onto usually shows movement to a surface and on usually shows position on a surface. These are the usual contrasts, not absolute bans: Cambridge also records on for movement to something, with on and onto very close in meaning there (He put his bag on the seat).

She walked into the room. movement
She is in the room. position
The cat climbed onto the roof. movement
Your keys are on the table. position

With put, fall, jump and dive, both in and into are possible with the same meaning.

Watch out

✗I am going at school.

✓I am going to school.

Use to for movement to a place in this sentence.

✗She went to home.

✓She went home.

Home is an adverb here and takes no preposition in this sentence.

✗We drove across of the bridge.

✓We drove across the bridge.

Across takes no of in this sentence.

What comes next

See Prepositions of place: at, in, on, under, next to and others for position, Other prepositions: by, with, without, about, for and of for other prepositions, and Verb + preposition for verbs with prepositions.

Practice

Eight questions. Choose one answer for each.