Common Mistakes
Preposition confusion (in/on/at)
Learn common collocations — good at, interested in, depend on.
Why this happens
Preposition confusion is separate from general preposition use — it targets high-frequency mix-ups: depend on/in, different from/than, arrive at/in, agree with/on/about. These pairs are not interchangeable; exams often test collocations in gap-fill and error-correction items. Learning them as fixed phrases beats translating from another language word by word.
See it in a sentence
IncorrectSuccess depends in hard work and careful planning.
CorrectSuccess depends on hard work and careful planning.
Teaching note: Depend on is fixed — not depend in.
IncorrectShe is married with a lawyer who specialises in tax.
CorrectShe is married to a lawyer who specialises in tax.
Teaching note: Married to a person; married with is non-standard for spouses.
IncorrectWe discussed about the results at length.
CorrectWe discussed the results at length.
Teaching note: Discuss takes a direct object — no about after discuss.
More examples
Agree with a person, agree on a plan, agree about a topic — senses differ slightly.
I agree with her; we agree on the date.
In the morning vs on Monday vs at night — time prepositions are idiomatic.
Memorise sets rather than one rule.
Compliant with regulations vs compliant to is wrong.
Many adjective + preposition pairs are fixed.
Enter a room — no into after enter (enter into an agreement is idiomatic).
Verb + preposition traps vary by verb.
Quick check
The findings are different than the control group in several ways.
Show the fix
The findings are different from the control group in several ways. In formal writing, different from is preferred over different than.
Practice this topic in Wrytesmart
Open the grammar workspace to complete interactive exercises for preposition confusion (in/on/at). You will spot errors, fill blanks, and transform sentences — always with teaching notes that explain the principle, not just the correction.
Master preposition confusion (in/on/at) in context
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