Prepositions of Movement (to, into, through)

Level: A2. Prepositions of movement tell you the direction something moves — towards a place, into it, across it or through it. They answer where to? rather than where?, which is what makes them different from prepositions of place.

The rule

A preposition is a small word that links a noun to the rest of the sentence (to, in, on, through). Prepositions of place describe a fixed position — the cat is in the box. Prepositions of movement describe a path from one place to another — the cat jumped into the box.

The most important one is to, which points to a destination: I go to work, to school, to the shop. The others add a shape to the movement:

• into — moving to the inside of an enclosed space: She walked into the room.
• onto — moving to the top of a surface: The cat jumped onto the table.
• through — in one side and out the other, inside something: We drove through the tunnel.
• across — from one side to the other, over a surface or line: He swam across the river.
• along — following the length of a line, road or path: We walked along the beach.

A few more fill in the rest of the directions: over (above and across), under (below), past (by and beyond), towards (in the direction of, without arriving), up/down (higher/lower), and out of / off (leaving a space or surface).

Forms

How to say it

Three sounds in these words catch English learners out:

• through starts with the th sound made by putting your tongue between your teeth and blowing (voiceless /θ/), and ends like true: say throo, not troo or froo.
• into and onto are usually said as one word with the stress on the first part: IN-to, ON-to. In fast speech the final vowel weakens to in-tuh, on-tuh.
• towards can be said as one syllable (tordz) or two (tuh-WORDZ); both are standard.

Example sentences

Common mistakes

• ❌ I go to home. → ✅ I go home. Home, here and there take no preposition after a verb of movement.
• ❌ She came in the room. → ✅ She came into the room. Use into for the movement of entering; in is for position.
• ❌ We arrived to the airport. → ✅ We arrived at the airport. Use arrive at (a point) or arrive in (a city/country), never arrive to.
• ❌ He walked trough the door. → ✅ He walked through the door. Spell it through, and say the th sound.
• ❌ The cat jumped on the table (when it was on the floor). → ✅ The cat jumped onto the table. Use onto for the movement up to the surface; on is for staying there.

A short conversation

A: How do I get to the museum from here? B: Walk along this street, then go across the square. A: And then into that big building? B: No, go past it and through the small gate. The museum is right there.

Usage notes

• Into vs in, onto vs on. The -to forms show movement; the short forms show position. She ran into the garden (she entered) versus She is in the garden (she is there). He climbed onto the roof (he went up) versus He is on the roof (he is up there).
• To vs towards. To means you reach the place; towards means you move in its direction without necessarily arriving: I walked to the door (I got there) versus I walked towards the door (I headed that way).
• Across vs through. Across is over a flat surface or a line (across the road, across the field); through is inside something that surrounds you (through the forest, through the water, through the crowd).

Compared with…

• Prepositions of place. Prepositions of place (in, on, at) describe where something is; prepositions of movement describe where something goes. Compare The keys are on the table (place) with I threw the keys onto the table (movement). If the verb involves motion to a new spot, you usually want a movement preposition.

If you are not yet sure about in, on and at for position, review prepositions of place first — the movement forms build directly on them.

Quick recap before you practise.

Practice

Quiz

Recap cheat-sheet

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