Put in suitable prepositions 1. The shop is open ______ 9 a.m. ______ 9 p.m. ______ weekdays. 2. Mary is very punctual.

She is always ______ time for her appointments. 3. This scarf was given to me ______ John. He said that he had bought it ______ a shop in Chinatown while he was in San Francisco. 4. This book is ______ the few that I really enjoyed reading. I stayed up ______ twelve o'clock last night to finish it. 5. My parents still treat me ______ a ten-year-old girl even though I am already seventeen. They won't let me go anywhere on my own ______ bus. 6. The committee members discussed the problem ______ themselves ______ they brought it up ______ the meeting. 7. We shall have to leave the house ______ six a.m. at the latest ______ get to the airport ______ time to catch our flight. 8. The baby was born ______ 1 p.m. ______ New Year's Eve. 9. The old man suffered a heart attack ______ the night and died ______ the morning. 10. The boys go everywhere ______ bicycles. They never ride ______ a bus. 11. My eldest sister has gone to Los Angeles _____ a holiday. She went there ______ plane. She will be there ______ a week. 12. This book was published _____ August 1984. It was written ______ Sidney Sheldon. 13. One of my classmates comes to school ______ bus. He says that he has to leave his house ______ half past six every morning ______ be ______ time for school. 14. The robbers were caught ______ the police ______ forty-eight hours of the robbery. They were fighting ______ themselves over the loot when the police surrounded their hideout. 15. We are studying hard ______ our final examination which begins ______ Monday. We hope to do well in the examination ______ our parents will be proud of us.

Put in suitable prepositions of place, position or direction.

1. I looked ______ the place but there was no sign of the puppy. Later I found it fast asleep _____ my bed. 2. He saw the little boy fall ______ the pond. He quickly took off his shoes and dived ______ the water. 3. When all the students had got ______ the bus, the bus began to move ______ the bus-stop. 4. Lambert leaned the ladder ______ wall. Then he climbed ______ ladder ______ the roof. 5. The motorboat was heading ______ the quay when it crashed _____ a ship. The two men ______ the motorboat were flung ______ the water. 6. The tourists threw pieces of bread ______ the swans ______ the pond. The swans glided _____ the water to catch the bread. 7. The thief climbed ______ through the window. Then he tiptoed ______ the stairs and ______ the master bedroom. 8. As Alvin was walking ______ the building, he saw smoke coming ______ one of the windows. He quickly ran ______ the nearest telephone booth and called the fire brigade. 9. I walked ______ the beach for a while. Then I sat ______ a rock and looked ______ the sea. 10. I asked my friend to wait for me ______ the corner of the street ______ the baker's shop. 11. The fishermen threw their nets. The nets sank ______ the water but the floats bobbed ______ the surface. After some time they hauled the nets ______. 12. The coin she dropped rolled ______her, and disappeared from view ______a cupboard. 13. The bird flew ______ the tree, circled ______ it once or twice and then flew ______ to settle ______ one of its branches. 14. We roamed ______ the town, lingering ______ the stalls and looking ______ shops until we were exhausted. 15. When I was young, I used to visit my uncle who lived ______ the countryside. I loved to wander ______ the place. Sometimes I would hike ______ the hill ______ my uncle's house.

AN EXCITING PICNIC AT SENTOSA ISLAND

During our last school break for the millennium my classmates and I decided to make the holidays one to remember by planning a visit to Sentosa Island. There were fifteen of us in all and we eagerly set down to discussing the trip. We decided unanimously that no girls would be allowed as this was a boys only trip. We set out bright and early one Sunday morning for Sentosa by ferry from the jetty of the World Trade Centre. We could barely contain our excitement. The first thing we did upon landing on the pier at Sentosa was to make our way single mindedly to the monorail. We boisterously boarded the monorail for a trip around the island. The train took us along a narrow track through lush green foliage and valleys. We were spellbound by the scenic beauty all around us. Alighting at the terminal station near the jetty, we walked straight to the park where we strolled along the well-worn paths for a while. Then we sat down for a while and talked over what to do next. We first visited the Coralariums where we saw a variety of coral fishes and other marine creatures. The so called lion fish caught our attention with it's strange form and coloration. It was easy to see how it derived its name. Little did we realize that coral was a living organism! Our next stop was at the wax museum which displays life size figurines of men and women who have left their mark in history. The figurines were so life-like that one almost felt like reaching out and touching one and at the same expecting it to react. We recognized some of the figurines from our history books but were at loss as to who the others were. Equally exciting were our next two stops, namely Fort Siloso and the Insectarium. Among all the sights we experienced that day the most captivating was the Musical Fountain. We spent some time there just watching the surroundings and listening to the music wafting through the air so soothing to the ears. We began to feel hungry just then so we promptly wolfed down the sandwiches we had brought from home. Later that afternoon some of us went down to the beach for a swim. There were a number of tourists there, mainly Japanese, who were enjoying the beach as well. As it was getting late in the day we decided to go back home. Our launch brought us back safely to the World Trade Centre at about seven in the evening. We took along with us memories of beautiful Sentosa.

set out

begin a journey

waft

to (cause to) move gently through the air

wolf down

to eat a large amount of food very quickly

A train journey to Penang

Every year my father makes it a point to take the family on a vacation. This year as it is every year, we put it to a vote to decide what our holiday destination will be. Even though we all decided on Bali in Indonesia, we gave in to my little sister who insisted on visiting Penang in West Malaysia, otherwise known as 'The Pearl of the Orient'. After all the preparations had been made, a week later, we found ourselves standing on the platform of the railway station awaiting the 'Langkawi Express'. The train would be taking us to Penang as my father firmly believed that half the fun of a vacation was in getting to one's destination. My sister and I were very excited as this was the first time we would be going on such a long train journey. We would even have to spend the night on board the train. The train arrived promptly on schedule. We found that our father had booked us two compartments on board the train. I had to share my compartment with my little sister while my father and mother occupied the other one. The bunks were rather hard, but who could sleep anyway ? We were too engrossed with staring out the window into the darkness that was punctuated only by the lights of all the little towns that our train passed through and sometimes, stopped at to pick up passengers. There were a number of Caucasian tourists on board. We were unable to make out what they were saying as they seemed to be speaking languages other than English. We had our supper in the buffet coach and I must say that the food was delicious but expensive. My sister and I decided to do a bit of exploring and made off on our own after promising our parents that we wouldn't wander too far. we ran into the train conductor who was kind enough to give us a guided tour. He told us that the train had twelve carriages and that the diesel driven locomotive pulled all of these along. some of the carriages contained compartments like ours, while other contained sleeping berths and ordinary seats. All the carriages were air conditioned and quite spacious. I could see my little sister starting to yawn, well so much for staying awake the whole trip. we started to make our way back to our compartments and were soon fast asleep. we were still asleep when our train pulled into the station in Butterworth from where we look the ferry to Penang Island.