In your daily life, you use vehicles to move from one place to another. You use the metro, bus, car, motorbike, taxi, tram, or another engine-driven vehicle. You may also walk or cycle to move from one place to another. One day, while talking to a stranger, I said to him, "How do you go to your office?" "I go in my own car," he replied. Is his reply correct? On another day, another one said, "I go to my office on a bus." Is it the right answer? Can you use the prepositions correctly while you talk about transportation? Today, you are going to learn certain prepositions which are used with forms of transport. There are only three prepositions of transportation.
Usage of By
You can use 'by' to express transport or travel in a general way. How do you go to your office? I go to the office by bus. Another one may say he goes to the office by rail. You may say your son goes to school by rickshaw, van, or tram. You may say when you go abroad, you go by plane. So, when we talk about transportation in a general way we use 'by'.
You can also use 'by' when you talk about the surface of transport. You can say you go abroad by road, by rail, or by air. You can say your son go Bangaluru by air or rail. So, when you talk about the surface or atmosphere of transport, be it air or road or rail or river or sea, you should use 'by'.
Usage of 'In' and 'On'
When you talk or indicate any specific vehicle or specific detail about the form of transport, you should use either 'in' or 'on'. For example, I go in my car. Here, "My car" provides specific detail. But the question is why did I use 'in' instead of 'on'. The answer is we use in for the vehicle which is small where you can only sit in and you cannot stand up and walk during its motion. In general, this type of vehicle is used for personal communication. Such vehicles include cars, taxis, helicopters.
Though motorcycles and bicycles are small vehicles, you cannot sit inside them. So, you use 'on' for such a vehicle where you can sit on it but you cannot sit inside (in) it. Like motorcycle and bicycle, you should use 'on' when you use any animal such as horse, donkey, elephant or camel for your transport because you sit on them. So, you can say you are on a horse or elephant, or camel. You can also use 'onto' when you travel on animals because you are to climb onto them. But, keep in mind that usage of 'onto' is limited to animals.
You can also use 'on' for big vehicles where you can get in and stand and walk during the motion of the vehicle. So, you can use 'on' for bus, train, plane, ferry, ship, etc. because you can stand and walk in those vehicles. So, you can say you are going to your office by bus or train. I can say he waved to me on the train. I could not talk to you because I was going abroad 'on' plane. We spent a nice moment on the ship.
You can also use 'on' when you go somewhere walking. You can say you went to the office on foot.
You can use both 'on' and 'in' for a boat based on its size. If the boat is small, you should use 'in'. The fact is that many people have their own boat. They use it for their personal use such as fishing or rowing. In that case, you can use 'in'. So, you can say you are in a boat if it is small enough and you can say you are on a boat if it is a big one.
Look at Prepositions of place
Prepositions of Movement
Prepositions of Time
Preposition & Its Various Types
ARUP ROY
WORKING AS A LECTURER IN ENGLISH
LITERATURE & LINGUISTICS
AT KANCHKHURA UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR OF IELD
FORMER LECTURER OF STAMFORD COLLEGE
& DHAKA PUBLIC COLLEGE
WORKED AS A MEMBER SECRETARY
AT STAMFORD ENGLISH LANGUAGE CLUB UTTARA
AT STAMFORD ENGLISH LANGUAGE CLUB UTTARA