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Want even more deets on prepositions? Take a look at our entire grammar section for all the goods.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:01

Prepositions, a la Shmoop. The English language is weird, especially

00:09

when it comes to prepositions. Why do you say “I'm at Starbucks” instead of “I'm

00:14

in Starbucks”?

00:15

Why do you say “I'm in bed” instead of “I'm on bed”?

00:20

It's not like you're the stuffing in the mattress. Two phrases that are particularly screwy are

00:26

“by accident” and “on accident”.

00:30

In our neck of the woods… “the United States”, in case you weren’t sure… “by

00:34

accident” is most commonly used by people over the age of thirty-five.

00:40

Folks between the ages of ten and thirty-five use both “by accident” and “on accident”...

00:44

...and kids under the age of ten prefer “on accident”.

00:47

Also, they’re the most likely ones to have… an accident.

00:53

Imagine how frustrating it must be if you're an English teacher over the age of thirty-five.

00:57

You want your students to use “by accident” when they write...

01:00

...as in, “Peter rear-ended the BMW with his jalopy by accident”...

01:04

...but many of your students have grown up saying “on accident”...

01:07

“Peter rear-ended the BMW with his jalopy on accident.”

01:12

Who knows why younger Americans prefer “on accident” to “by accident”.

01:15

Is it because “on accident” parallels “on purpose”, and young people like their

01:19

grammar neat and tidy?

01:20

Or, have millions of young people seen something on TV that all the old fogeys missed?

01:25

Come on, Bill Gates, throw some money at this so we can have an answer.

01:30

Whatever the reasons behind our odd use of prepositions, most of us are guided by the

01:34

little voice in our head that tells us a particular preposition either sounds right...

01:39

...as in, “John suffered from a serious case of the runs”...

01:42

...or sounds wrong...

01:44

...as in, “John suffered with a serious case of the runs”.

01:51

As for those folks who aren't native English speakers...

01:53

...and therefore lack a tiny English-speaking shoulder angel...

01:56

...well, you'll always have these videos to turn to for help.

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