Gateway to Grammar: How to Use ‘In’ and ‘On’ When Staying Still and Moving

Welcome to Gateway to Grammar, the Friday series that makes sense of English Grammar. That can be a challenge, but I like to meet that challenge every week with as many cats as possible.

What are ‘In’ and ‘On’?

‘In’ and ‘on’ are prepositions of place. Prepositions are words that describe a noun’s (in our example a cat’s) relationship with other people or things. Prepositions of place tell you where your noun is in relation to other things.

What’s the Difference Between ‘In’ and ‘On’?

The simplest way to think about ‘in’ and ‘on’ is this:

• in = inside

• on = on top of

For most uses of ‘in’, our cat will be inside of an object, or surrounded by objects on all sides. For most uses of ‘on’, our cat will be outside of the object and on the top.

How Does Adding ‘To’ Change the Meaning of In and On?

Adding the ‘to’ changes the preposition of place into a preposition of movement and place. So, while prepositions of place describe our cat sitting still, prepositions of movement and place describe our cat moving to a still position:

• The cat is in the box (sitting still inside)

• The cat is jumping into the box (outside the box jumping so it can finish the movement inside the box).

• The cat is on the box (sitting still on the top of the box)

• That cat is jumping onto the box (jumping from another area to finish the movement on the top of the box).

Now go and cuddle a cat.