Shadowing Practice: Fix Your Prepositions Mistakes - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

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Is it in or on?
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Is it for or from?
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Is it by or with?
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English prepositions can be so confusing.
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Even my most advanced students often tell me that prepositions are their biggest struggle.
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As many of you know, I teach the American accent to professionals who are quite fluent in English and they use English every day at work, but they still struggle with using the correct preposition.
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Prepositions don't always follow clear rules, and they don't often translate directly from your native language.
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And some prepositions don't make any sense.
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For example, why do we say Christmas is in December, but Christmas is on December 25th?
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Why do we say in Los Angeles, but at the post office?
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I will teach you some of the most common mistakes.
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I will start with some easier rules, and then later in the video, the rules and the patterns will get more advanced.
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And I will give you a chance to test yourself as we go.
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Okay, let's get started.
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Let's start with an easy one.
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Let's look at in versus at when we're talking about places.
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Why do we say in New York, but at the airport?
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We use in for larger areas.
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For example, I live in Los Angeles.
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She works in New York.
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We also use in for enclosed spaces.
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They are in the room.
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They're inside the room.
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He's in the building.
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And we use at for specific locations, especially when we think of being at a place for an activity or for a purpose.
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For example, I'm at the market.
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I'm there to do the shopping.
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He's at the bus stop.
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They're at the restaurant.
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Let's compare these two examples.
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What is the difference in meaning?
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Let's meet at the restaurant.
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Let's meet in the restaurant.
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If I say at the restaurant, I mean at that location.
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We're going there to eat.
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That's an activity.
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However, I'm not specifying if we're going to meet in front of the restaurant or in the parking lot or inside the restaurant.
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But if I say let's meet in the restaurant, that means inside the restaurant, not outside, inside the physical building.
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Here's another example.
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I saw her when I was at the market.
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I was there shopping.
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I can't talk right now.
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I'm in the market, but I will call you back as soon as I get out.
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You see the difference?
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Let's look at another confusing prepositions pattern.
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Let's look at on and at with addresses.
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When we mention just the name of the street, we say on.
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She lives on Main Street.
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My office is on Washington Boulevard.
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But when we add the number of the street, we use at.
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She lives at 537 Main Street.
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The office is at 1356 Washington Boulevard.
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So in if you just say the name of the street and at if you give the full address with the number.
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I remember there used to be a billboard, an advertisement for a car dealership in Los Angeles.
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It said in Santa Monica, on Santa Monica.
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Do you understand that?
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Native speakers do.
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It means that it's in the city of Santa Monica.
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For cities, we use the preposition in, and native speakers understand that on means on Santa Monica Boulevard.
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So the advertisement was saying that you can find this car dealership in the city of Santa Monica on Santa Monica Boulevard.
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But remember, with very specific locations, we use at.
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At the intersection of.
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At the corner of.
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Let's meet at the corner of Broadway and Wall Street.
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Let's look at another confusing prepositions rule.
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Let's look at dates.
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If we only say the month, we say in, in July, in August, in September.
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But when we add a specific day of the month, we say on, on July 4th, on August 22nd, and so on.
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So we would say, her birthday is in April, her birthday is on April 10th.
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Okay.
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And now it's going to get a little more advanced.
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Let's look at some adjectives followed by prepositions.
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And these are some very common mistakes.
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Let's look at the adjectives good and bad.
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What do we say in this case?
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I'm good math.
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He's good tennis.
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Which preposition do we use?
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We use at.
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I'm good at math.
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He's good at tennis.
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And let's look at bad.
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It follows the same pattern.
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Bad at.
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I'm bad at remembering names, but I'm good at recognizing faces.
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He's bad at understanding fast speech, but he's good at reading English.
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And terrible follows the same pattern.
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Terrible at.
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I'm terrible at remembering names.
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Let's look at some more adjectives that follow prepositions.
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Let's look at known.
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We can say, he's well known.
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He's known his scientific research.
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Do you know the correct preposition?
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You say it.
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Did you say known for?
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If you did, good job.
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That's a hard one.
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Known for means famous for something, recognized for a skill or for a characteristic.
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We can say, she's known for her beautiful voice.
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This restaurant is known for its pasta.
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Who is he and what is he known for?
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Here's another common mistake with the preposition followed by an adjective.
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Married.
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She's married John.
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What's the correct answer?
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You say it.
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Did you say to?
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Yes, that's correct.
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She's married to John, not she's married with John.
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And engaged is the same.
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When two people agree to get married, engaged to.
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He's engaged to Emily.
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She got engaged to her high school sweetheart.
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Married to, engaged to.
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Not with.
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Let's go on to the next one.
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Let's look at disappointed.
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This one has two possible answers depending on the meaning.
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I'm disappointed you.
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I'm disappointed the film.
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Different preposition is required.
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If I say I'm disappointed you, which preposition should I use?
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In.
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I'm disappointed in you.
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I'm disappointed in you for lying to me.
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Disappointed in when it's a person.
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I'm disappointed in myself for failing the exam.
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But look at this example.
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I'm disappointed the movie.
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A movie is a thing, not a person.
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So what would we say in that case?
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Which preposition would we use?
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I'm disappointed with.
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I'm disappointed with the movie.
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When we're talking about things, or situations or results we would use with.
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I was disappointed with the hotel.
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They are disappointed with the quality of the product.
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So remember, disappointed in a person, disappointed with a thing.
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Let's look at another adjective.
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Absent.
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He was absent work yesterday.
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What is the correct preposition?
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You say it.
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Absent from.
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He was absent from work yesterday.
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He's been absent from class three days this month let's go on to the next one this one
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is also confusing dressed why are you dressed black you're wearing all black what do we say dressed dressed in he's dressed in black he's dressed in an elegant suit.
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Dressed in.
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Let's go on to the next one.
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Actually, this one may not be that hard.
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I have a feeling many of you know this one.
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Composed.
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Water is composed, hydrogen, and oxygen.
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What do we say?
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Composed of.
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The team is composed of strong players.
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Did you know that one?
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I have a feeling you did.
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Okay, now let's look at some verbs with prepositions.
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Let's look at the verb to make in the passive voice, made.
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It can have three possible prepositions with three meanings.
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We can say made of, made from, or made out of.
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They're slightly different.
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We use made from when the original material is changed or transformed and you can't clearly see it anymore.
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For example, paper is made from wood.
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Wine is made from grapes.
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We would not say wine is made of grapes or out of grapes.
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Cheese is made from milk.
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Let's look at made of.
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We use made of when the original material is still visible or it's recognizable in the final product.
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For example, the table is made of wood.
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Let's compare these two sentences.
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Paper is made from wood.
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The table is made of wood.
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You see the difference?
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Wine is made from grapes.
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We can't see the grapes anymore.
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But the ring is made of gold.
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We still see the gold.
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Cheese is made from milk.
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The house is made of bricks.
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And instead of saying made of, some people say made out of.
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And sometimes they have the same meaning, but they can also be slightly different.
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We use made out of when we want to emphasize the meaning of creativity or improvisation or unusual use.
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For example, she made a basket out of caps.
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He made a heart out of paper.
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So let's review.
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Made of the material is visible, made from the material is transformed, and made out of is when it's creative or when it's unusual in the way it's used.
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Let's listen to some native speakers using all three, made of, made from, and made out of.
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In the rural areas they're usually made of wood.
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The Lego bricks are made of plastic.
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What is your car made of?
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Is it made of metal?
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You know the lemonade that's made from actual lemons.
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This is made out of a, we can see it's made out of clay.
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But a 40 foot tall dog made out of bushes in the middle of New York City.
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And this next postcard was made out of one of those photos.
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And now let's learn about some verbs that are followed by prepositions.
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And these can be confusing.
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Let's look at the verb to decide.
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We have three different prepositions options.
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You already know this one, decide to.
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I decided to do it.
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She decided to go there.
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I decided the blue one.
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Which preposition should we use?
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On.
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I decided on the blue one.
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When you have to choose something.
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I can't decide on which restaurant to go to.
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She couldn't decide on which dress to wear.
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And let's look at another example with decide.
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If you decide not to do something.
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I decided doing it.
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Which preposition do we use in this case?
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I think this is a difficult one.
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Do you know it?
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I decided against doing it.
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So you can say, I decided not to do it, or you can say, I decided against doing it.
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And you have to use ing with the verb after against.
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I decided against going there.
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So instead of saying, I decided not to go to the party, you can say what?
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With against.
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I decided against going to the party.
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Make sure you use the ing.
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I decided against buying the new car.
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Ray Charles decided against playing the guitar at a very young age.
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Ultimately Buchanan decided against accepting the nomination.
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They actually decided against using a new.
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Let's look the verb to consist.
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Do you know the preposition?
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I have a feeling you might.
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This one is probably not that hard.
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This course consists 10 video lessons.
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What is the preposition?
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Consists of.
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The meal consists of rice and vegetables.
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Let's go on to the next one.
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Which preposition do we need with the verb to discriminate.
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For example, it's wrong.
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Discriminate others.
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What do we say?
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A lot of my students don't use any preposition and they just say discriminate others, but that's not correct.
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You need a preposition.
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The preposition is against.
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Discriminate against.
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It is illegal to discriminate against an employee based on age.
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Laws protect people from being discriminated against.
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You have to use that preposition.
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They are discriminated against in the workplace and the world.
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Have you ever been discriminated against?
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You're too young, you're too old, you're too this color, too that size.
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They're more likely to feel underpaid and maybe even discriminated against.
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Let's look at the verb to plan.
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We can use the verb to plan in two ways.
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We can say, I plan to do it.
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We use to, but we can also use plan with an ing verb.
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In that case, we need a different preposition.
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I plan on doing it.
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I plan to buy it.
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I plan on buying it.
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Don't forget the ing.
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So what is the difference between I plan to and I plan on?
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They're both very commonly used, but there is a subtle difference.
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If you say, I plan to do it, that's a clear intention.
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You have made a decision and you will do it.
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And plan on doing it is an intention, but it's also an expectation or preparation.
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It can imply that you expect something to happen.
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You're preparing for it, but it may sound slightly less definite.
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It's a plan, but maybe it's not 100% decided.
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Both are correct and they're often interchangeable.
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But if you want to sound more certain, then say, I plan to do it.
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If you want to express expectation or early preparation, say, I plan on doing it.
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I plan to finish the report by tomorrow.
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We plan on visiting our friends next week.
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We will probably visit our friends, but it's not 100% certain.
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we're in the course of planning it.
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How did you do?
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The key to improving is to pay attention.
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Listen carefully to the patterns that native speakers use.
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Both prepositions and articles can be difficult for non-native speakers.
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These are small words, but they make a big difference in how natural and how fluent you sound.
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And if you also struggle with articles, a, on, and the, I have a full course called the Articles course, where I teach all of the rules and exceptions for using articles.
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The course includes 13 video lessons, plus pronunciation practice, and many quizzes so that you can test your progress and build your confidence.
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And to learn more about the Articles course and all of the other accurate English courses, to help you reach the final level of fluency, click on the link in the description below or go to accurateenglish.com.
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Thanks for watching and keep practicing.
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Why practice speaking with this video?

Practicing speaking alongside this YouTube video on fixing preposition mistakes is an excellent way to enhance your communication skills. Engaging with the content allows you to immerse yourself in real-life examples of language use, helping you to understand the nuances of prepositions in different contexts. Additionally, as you learn to recognize common pitfalls, you'll gain confidence in your speaking abilities, which is essential for achieving high scores in IELTS speaking practice. By shadowing the speaker, you can improve your English pronunciation and fluency while also identifying how to properly use prepositions in conversation.

Grammar & Expressions in Context

The video emphasizes several critical grammatical structures that can be particularly challenging for English learners. Here are some key expressions highlighted:

  • In vs. At: Used to distinguish between larger areas and specific locations. For example, "I live in New York" vs. "I’m at the market." Understanding this difference will significantly improve your clarity when speaking.
  • On vs. At for Addresses: The speaker relates how "on" is used for street names, while "at" comes into play when a number is involved. For instance, "She lives on Main Street" vs. "My office is at 123 Main Street." Mastering these distinctions helps with directions and understanding locations.
  • Using Prepositions in Activity Contexts: The examples clarify how prepositions can signal the intention behind an action. Phrases like "I'm at the restaurant" signal an activity, while "Let's meet in the restaurant" specifies a location.

Common Pronunciation Traps

As you engage with the video, pay attention to words and phrases that might trip you up in pronunciation. Here are a few tricky aspects to focus on:

  • The difference in pronunciation when using "in" vs. "at." The subtle shifts in intonation can change the entire meaning of a sentence.
  • Words involving street names such as "Main Street" or "Washington Boulevard" can be challenging due to their rhythm and the American accent. Listening closely will aid in your goal to improve English pronunciation.
  • Finally, phrases such as "at the market" can pose challenges, particularly in the transition between words. Practicing these with the video can assist you in achieving a more natural delivery.

By utilizing the resources from this video, learners who wish to learn English with YouTube will find tremendous value in repeated shadow practice, helping them cement their understanding of prepositions while honing their speaking skills.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

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