Top Tips Grammar: Transport prepositions

Main points

*This includes phrases like: ‘by bus’, ‘in a car’, ‘on the plane’, and ‘off the train’.
*You can use ‘by’ with most forms of transport.
*You use ‘in’, ‘into’, and ‘out of’ with cars.
*You normally use ‘on’, ‘onto’, and ‘off’ with other forms of transport.

 

a) When you talk about the type of vehicle or transport you use to travel somewhere, you use ‘by’.

bu bus	by car	by plane
by bicycle	by coach	by train

- She had come by car with her husband and her four children.
- I left Arequipa in the afternoon and went by bus and train to Cusco.

Remember that if you want to say you walk somewhere, you say you go ‘on foot’. You don’t say ‘by foot’.

- Marie decided to continue on foot.

 

b) You must use ‘in’, ‘into’, and ‘out of’ when you are talking about cars, vans, lorries, taxis, and ambulances.

- I followed them in my car.
- The carpets had to be collected in a van.
- Mr. Ward happened to be getting into his lorry.
- She was carried out of the ambulance and up the steps.

 

c) You use ‘on’, ‘onto’, and ‘off’ when you are talking about other forms of transport, such as buses, coaches, trains, ships, and planes.

- Why don’t you come on the train with me to New York?
- Peter was already on the plane from Pucallpa.
- The last thing he wanted was to spend ten day on a boat with Hooper.
- He jumped back onto the old bus, now nearly empty.
- Mr. Huzz stepped off the train and walked quickly to the exit.

You can use ‘in’, ‘into’, and ‘out of’ with these other forms of transport, usually when you are focusing on the physical position or movement of the person, rather than stating what form of transport they are using.

- The passengers in the plane were beginning to panic.
- He got back into the train quickly, before Alex could stop him.
- We jumped out of the bus and ran into the nearest shop.

 

 

 

 

---------------------------------------------
Top Tips Abz Ingles: Part A    -    Part B
---------------------------------------------

 

See also:

Words related to Failure to Cooperate	Irregular Verbs list
Common Phrasal Verbs	Common Slangs
Common misspellings	Regular vs Irregular Verbs
Common Errors	Frequently confused words
Common Slangs	Lista de Términos Gramaticales
Common Clichés	Common Prepositions

 

No te olvides de compartir esto con tus amigos y compañeros, hagamos de este Blog una comunidad de difusión del Inglés como segundo idioma. Antes de irte deja tu comentario y haz clic en Me Gusta.