5.1 Prepositions and Particles
Key Takeaways
- iTEP Grammar tests time, place, and movement prepositions; dependent prepositions after verbs/adjectives; and particles in phrasal verbs—often as fill-in blanks or single underlined error words.
- Use in for months/years/long periods, on for days/dates/surfaces, and at for clock times and precise points; for cities and large areas prefer in, for addresses prefer at.
- Dependent prepositions are fixed: interested in, capable of, depend on, responsible for, good at—never invent a “logical” preposition that native patterns reject.
- A phrasal verb’s particle changes meaning (look up vs look after); treat the whole unit as one lexical item, not a free preposition plus verb.
- Common traps include despite of, discuss about, arrive to (for destinations), and confusing since (start point) with for (duration).
5.1 Prepositions and Particles
Quick Answer: On iTEP Grammar, preposition items ask you to pick or fix a small word that links nouns, verbs, and clauses correctly. Master time/place/movement maps, dependent prepositions (interested in, capable of), and phrasal-verb particles that change meaning. One wrong preposition can be the only underlined error in Part 2.
Why this unit matters on iTEP Academic-Core
Grammar on iTEP Academic-Core is a 25-item, 10-minute multiple-choice block: 13 sentence completions and 12 error-identification items. Prepositions appear in both formats. A blank may sit after an adjective (interested ____ research), after a verb of movement (walked ____ the hallway), or inside a fixed multi-word expression. In error ID, a single wrong preposition is often the only incorrect word in an otherwise clean academic sentence.
Difficulty ranges from beginner (at 3 p.m.) to advanced (formal dependent frames such as consistent with, accountable for, reminiscent of). Treat prepositions as closed-class patterns, not freestyle logic. “What sounds close” fails when two options both “make sense” in your first language but only one matches English usage.
Time prepositions: in, on, at, for, since, by, until
| Pattern | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| in | Months, years, decades, centuries, long periods, seasons, parts of day (in the morning) | in 2026, in March, in the 1990s |
| on | Days, dates, named days + parts, surfaces | on Monday, on May 12, on the table |
| at | Clock times, night (at night), precise points | at 9:30, at noon, at the entrance |
| for | Duration (how long) | for three years, for a decade |
| since | Start point of a continuing period (with perfects often) | since 2019, since last July |
| by | Deadline “no later than” | by Friday, by the end of term |
| until / till | Continuity up to a point | until midnight, until the results arrive |
iTEP trap: since vs for. She has lived here for five years (duration). She has lived here since 2021 (start point). Since five years is almost always wrong in standard academic English.
iTEP trap: by vs until. Submit the draft by Friday means the deadline is Friday. Work on the draft until Friday means continuous activity ending then—not the same obligation shape.
Place and movement
| Idea | Preferred forms |
|---|---|
| Large areas / cities / countries | in Tokyo, in Canada, in the library (as a contained space) |
| Specific address / precise point | at 14 Oak Street, at the bus stop |
| Surfaces | on the wall, on page 12 |
| Entering enclosed space | into the lab |
| Exiting | out of the building |
| Toward a destination (no “enter” focus) | to campus, to the station |
| Onto a surface | onto the stage |
| Within a path / along a line | along the corridor, through the tunnel |
Arrive / get / reach:
- arrive in a city/country; arrive at a building/event/station
- get to a place
- reach usually takes no preposition: reach the campus (not reach to)
iTEP trap: arrive to the airport → prefer arrive at the airport. Discuss about the topic → discuss the topic (no about). Despite of the rain → despite the rain or in spite of the rain.
Dependent prepositions (fixed pairs)
These are among the highest-yield iTEP targets because the head word “pulls” one preposition only.
Adjective + preposition
- interested in, afraid of, proud of, good at, bad at, responsible for, capable of, aware of, similar to, different from, dependent on, consistent with, familiar with, concerned about / with (sense differs slightly)
Verb + preposition
- depend on, rely on, insist on, focus on, succeed in, consist of, result in, lead to, belong to, apologize for, apply for (a job) / to (an institution), look forward to + gerund
Noun + preposition
- reason for, increase in, effect on, solution to, attitude toward(s)
When a blank follows interested, capable, responsible, or depend, predict the preposition before reading options. If error ID underlines on after interested, that single word may be the error (interested on → interested in).
Particles and phrasal verbs vs free prepositions
A particle is the little word in a multi-word verb that belongs to the verb’s meaning, not to a following noun phrase alone:
| Unit | Meaning |
|---|---|
| look up (information) | search for |
| look after | take care of |
| look into | investigate |
| put off | postpone |
| put up with | tolerate |
| turn down | reject |
| bring about | cause |
| come up with | invent / propose |
Separable vs inseparable (awareness level): Many transitive phrasal verbs allow object between verb and particle (turn the offer down / turn down the offer) but require the object between when the object is a pronoun (turn it down, not turn down it). iTEP may not always test pronoun placement, but wrong particle choice (turn off the offer for “reject”) is a classic trap.
Free preposition: She sat on the bench — on links to location, not a special verb meaning. Particle: She put on her coat — put on = dress in.
Exam process for blanks after verbs/adjectives:
- Identify the head (interested, depend, look).
- Recall the fixed frame or phrasal unit.
- Reject options that use a different preposition common in another frame (depend of, interested on, capable to).
- Check gerund after to when to is a preposition: look forward to meeting, not to meet (infinitive trap).
High-frequency error patterns (error-ID ready)
| Wrong | Right |
|---|---|
| discuss about | discuss |
| enter into the room (physical entry) | enter the room |
| marry with | marry |
| despite of | despite / in spite of |
| according with | according to |
| in the other hand | on the other hand |
| in Monday | on Monday |
| at 2024 | in 2024 |
| since two hours | for two hours |
| arrive to school | arrive at school |
Strategy under the 10-minute Grammar clock
- Fill-in: Cover options, say the collocation aloud in your head (capable of, not capable to).
- Error ID: Scan all four underlined words; if one is a preposition after a known head, verify the pair first—preposition errors are often faster to spot than subtle tense errors.
- Do not overthink geography: If the stem is academic and the blank is after interested, the answer is almost always the dependent preposition, not a creative spatial reading.
Prepositions reward memorized frames. Spend short daily drills on adjective–preposition and verb–preposition lists, then retest with iTEP-style stems that bury the frame inside long academic subjects. When the particle or preposition is the only difference among options, treat the item as a dictionary fact, not a reasoning essay—and move on within ~25 seconds so later clause and conditional items keep their share of the clock.
Which option correctly completes: “The research team has been interested ____ longitudinal survey design since 2022”?
Which sentence uses a time preposition correctly?
Identify the error: “Despite of the budget cuts, the department continued to fund the language lab.”
In “Please look ____ the missing citation before you submit,” which particle best means “investigate”?