In my last blog post, I wrote about how confusing prepositions can be for English learners. Sometimes, even something that seems simple, like prepositions of place, can be confusing.

Perhaps, after teaching a class of studious students that we say “in Tehran” and “at a cafe” and “on the platform,” and after they’ve faithfully written this valuable information down and taken it all in, one of the students comes up to you after the lesson pointing out that they’ve heard the phrase “in the cafe” in their favourite film.
And then you think to yourself and realise that “in the cafe” is also correct.
And then you think more and realise that there are all sorts of options when it comes to these:
You can say “at the beach” or “on the beach.”
You can say “in the office” or “at the office.”
What’s going on?
Well, as usual, the “rules” for this don’t really apply to what you’re using the preposition with, but rather how you’re looking at it;.
In this video, I talk about how we use “in,” “on” and “at” for place and how it’s all just a matter of perception…