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How do I use at and in with places?

1 Tick the correct sentence in each pair.
1 a I’ll be at your house at half past three.
b I’ll be in your house at half past three.
2 a How long are you going to stay in Australia?
b How long are you going to stay at Australia?

We usually use in with places when we say where a person or thing is:
I live in a town in the south of Italy. Our house is in a small street in the city centre.

We also use in in the following expressions:

• in bed, in hospital, in prison
• in the sky, in the world
• in a newspaper/book, in a photo/picture

We use at with:
• events: at a party, at a concert, at a football match
• very precise locations: at the door, at the bus stop

We use at in the following expressions:

• at home, at my friend’s house, at work, at school, at university, at college
• at the airport, at the station
• at the doctor’s, at the hairdresser’s
• at the cinema, at the library
• at the top / at the bottom (of the page)

2 Correct the mistake below.

I’m not working today.
I’m staying in my home.

I’m not working today. ........................................ home.

3 Complete the sentences with at or in.

in London next week.
1 I’ll be back .............
2 I have never been ............. hospital.
3 My friend met me ............. the coach station.
4 We went walking ............. the mountains.
5 I saw the advert ............. a magazine.
6 My cousin is studying ............. London University.
7 I wrote my name ............. the bottom of the letter.
8 My grandparents have a small house ............. the country.
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How do I use by and in/on with means of transport?
1 Tick the correct sentence in each pair.
1 a You can come here by your bike.
b You can come here on your bike.
2 a We went to Sweden on ferry.
b We went to Sweden by ferry.

We use by to say how we travel. We usually use by with come, get, go, travel + to:
My friends want to go to Brighton by car, but I want to travel by train.

We say by bike / by car / by train / by underground / by bus / by coach / by ferry / by

plane. We also say by air. When people walk somewhere, we say that they go on foot.

We do not use by if we include a/the or my/our, etc. with the means of transport. We use
in with a/the/my/our car (and a/the taxi), and on with the other means of transport:
We’ll go there in my car.
Travelling on the underground isn’t cheap. or Travelling by underground isn’t cheap.
Note that we don’t use to before here/there and home.

You can also say ride a bike and drive a car:

I rode my bike to London. or I went to London by bike.
My sister drove her boyfriend’s car to Scotland.

2 Correct the mistake below. It’s a nice day! I’m going

to work by the foot.

It’s a nice day! I’m going to work ........................................ foot.

3 Tick (✓) the sentences which are correct. In some pairs both sentences are correct.
✓
1 a Let’s go home by bus. ............. ✓
b Let’s go home on the bus. .............
2 a We’ll go there in the car. ............. b We’ll go there on the car. .............
3 a Going by train is faster. ............. b Going on the train is faster. .............
4 a He went by air. ............. b He went by plane. .............
5 a How far is it in foot? ............. b How far is it on foot? .............
6 a We’re driving to Edinburgh. ............. b We’re going to Edinburgh by car. .............
7 a They went by boat. ............. b They went by the boat. .............
8 a I often drive my bike. ............. b I often ride my bike. .............
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