*Prepositions and Modes of Transportation

*General Ways to Travel

BY• When talking about general ways to travel,

we always use the preposition “by.” We can travel by bike, by motorcycle, by car, etc.

• We can also use by to refer to the transportation environment (by sea, by land, by air) or the surface area (by rail, by road, by water).

*Specific Transport

Vehicles

IN• When we talk about specific transport

vehicles, however, we need to switch to either in or on. How do we know which to use? Easy, if you remember this simple rule: If you must sit inside the vehicle, we use in.

• Some examples would be: "in a car", "in a truck", or "in a helicopter": it is almost impossible to stand in them.

*Specific Transport

Vehicles

ON• If you can stand or walk on the vehicle, then we

use on. So we go on a ship but in a rowboat; we go on a bus but in a taxi. Finally, if we actually sit or stand upon the top of the vehicle, then we also are on it. So we go on a bicycle, on a surfboard, on a motorcycle, etc.

• The preposition in is different from the short form of inside. So, you can be inside an airplane or a cruise ship, but that doesn’t mean we use the preposition in (we can stand and walk on both a plane and ship, so we use on as our preposition).

*Walking

ON and BY

• And, where does that leave the most basic form of transportation — walking? Well, the same rules apply: we go by foot (meaning as a general way of moving from one place to another) or we go on foot (meaning we are on top of our feet!). Therefore, both are correct ways to describe walking.

 

*Modes of Transportation

• Transportation-the movement of people, animals and goods from one location to another

• Transportation is possible through air, land, and water

*By Air

Plane

Hot Air Balloon

Blimp Helicopter

Rocket

*By Water

Boat

Raft

Ship Canoe

Ferry

Submarine

Kayak

*By Land

Car Diesel Truck Taxi Bus Van

Train Bike Motorcycle Metro/Subway