Sergey
Is using prepositions "in, on, at, by" difficult for native English speakers? Do native English speakers use prepositions "in, on, at, by" incorrectly?  
2017年2月14日 17:28
评论 · 8
6

No. It is easy for us. Maybe not the answer you were hoping for but it's true. It is completely intuitive which prepositions go with which verb, when prepositions can be separated from the verb, when they can't etc. We have been immersed in the language since we were very young, preposition usage is something that is trivial for native speakers.

2017年2月14日
3

I tried to think of an example, and I don't think we generally use them incorrectly.  I am an American native speaker of English.

I am sure, like people everywehre in every language, there are some people who use them incorrectly, but while we make many other grammar errors, I cannot remember hearing native speakers misuse these prepositons.

Dane

2017年2月14日
2

No, of course not because it's our language. But it is certainly difficult for most English people to learn prepositions in foreign languages. I think they are one of the most difficult things to learn in any foreign language.



2017年2月15日
2

In other cases, we may use non-standard forms. Here's an example. A short while ago, I came across the phrase 'on accident'. I had never heard this before. Had the writer been a language learner, I would have presumed it to be an error. But the fact that she was a native speaker intrigued me. So I googled it, and discovered that there is a growing trend, particularly among young Americans in some areas, to say 'on accident' rather than 'by accident'. Most users of mainstream English would consider this to be wrong, and it's not impossible that this youngster's teacher would correct her if she were to use this form in class. But here's the important point - strange as it sounds to most of us, on accident is NOT a mistake. It's certainly non-standard, but it is a correct usage within the speaker's immediate language environment.

The example above is a very different situation from a non-native error. Non-natives make errors (and mistakes) when they have not learnt the correct form, or if they misunderstand, misapply or forget what they have been taught. And if the subtext of your question is 'Perhaps prepositions aren't that important after all?' or 'Maybe it doesn't matter if I get prepositions wrong?', the answer to that is also No. You can't get away with incorrect prepositions. We get them right, and so should you.

2017年2月15日
2

The answer to this is No. Native speakers do not make actual 'mistakes' in their mother tongue beyond the age of about 5 or so. Growing up in a native-speaker context, we all internalise and imitate the language around us, and soon instinctively use the same forms as other speakers in our immediate environment.

In most cases, this is the standard usage. In others, it's a regional usage : whether you say 'at the weekend' or 'on the weekend', or 'on the street' rather than 'in the street', depends on the variant of English that you speak. There are a number of differences between US and GB English when it comes to preposition use, and, needless to say, neither is any more 'correct' than any other.


2017年2月15日
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