Preposition Mistakes

Simple explanation

Prepositions are small words like in, on, at, with, for, about — and English has very fixed habits about which preposition goes with which word. These habits do not always match other languages, which is why preposition mistakes are so common and so hard to notice.

Why it matters

Preposition mistakes do not usually cause confusion about meaning — but they do create a feeling that something is off in the sentence. Fixing the most common ones makes your English feel natural and effortless.

The most common preposition errors

1. "Good in" vs "Good at"

Skill or ability → always use at. Good at, bad at, excellent at, poor at.

2. "Discuss about"

Discuss already means "talk about." Adding about is redundant — remove it entirely.

3. "Cope up with"

There is no up in cope with. Remove it.

4. "Married with" vs "Married to"

5. "Bored of" vs "Bored with"

6. "At the morning" vs "In the morning"

Parts of the day use in: in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening. Use at only for clock times and at night.

Fixed preposition pairs to memorise

Say this	Not this
good at something	good in
discuss the topic	discuss about
cope with pressure	cope up with
married to someone	married with
in the morning/afternoon/evening	at the morning
arrive at a place	arrive to
afraid of something	afraid from
different from something	different than (in British English)
depend on someone	depend of / depend from
interested in something	interested on

Practice quiz

Quick summary

• Skill/ability → good at, not good in.
• Discuss needs no about — it already means "talk about."
• Cope with, not cope up with.
• Parts of the day → in (in the morning, in the evening). Clock times → at.