Choose: (choices can be used twice)
A. Hey, how ya doin?
B. Great! I went __ and stayed __ Hakone __ the holiday.
a. in
b. to
c. for
d. during
e. at
f. from
The answers are b, a and d.
This may seem easy,
but you might be surprised to know
that many intermediate and advanced students
leave out important prepositions.
These words are not extra or superfluous in English.
They are necessary.
Explanation
For answer #1, of course the only choice is to
For answer #2, the best choice is in—
but this depends on the type of place Hakone is or on what the speaker means; it is possible to have ‘at’ in this space; for example, if Hakone is thought of as a business–such as a resort and not a geographical location on a map–but as a location on a map ‘in’ is necessary.
For #3, only during (meaning ‘in the time of’) is possible. Some people might say ‘in the holiday,’ but this is perhaps part of a local dialect and not widespread–so outside the practice of standard style; it also does not sound best.
