A preposition is a word that shows the relationship between a noun (or pronoun) and another word in the sentence. That relationship can be about time, place, direction, cause, manner, or possession. "The book is on the table" tells you where the book is. "She arrived at noon" tells you when she arrived. "He was accused of theft" tells you the nature of the association between the person and the act.
Here is the key insight most students miss: prepositions in English are not fully logical. Many of them are locked — they are fixed to specific verbs, adjectives, or nouns through something called collocation. You cannot always figure out the correct preposition by thinking about it from first principles. "Interested in" is correct; "interested about" is not — and no grammar rule tells you why. You simply have to know the pairing.
Think of it this way: prepositions are like keys, and the words they follow are like locks. Each lock accepts only one specific key. You can try a different key, but the door will not open.
For SSC MTS, preposition questions come in two flavours:
The second type is far more common in MTS papers. The exam tests whether you recognise these locked combinations, not whether you can recite grammar theory. This page gives you both — the rules for the first type, and the high-frequency fixed combinations for the second.
These three prepositions cover most place and time questions. The trick is to see them as a spectrum from general to specific.
For Place:
| Preposition | Use | Examples | |---|---|---| | IN | Enclosed space, large area | in a room, in Delhi, in India, in a box | | ON | Surface, road, floor, specific line | on the table, on the right, on MG Road | | AT | Exact point, address, institution | at the bus stop, at 14 Park Street, at school |
Look — "the mosque is on the right" uses on because you are describing a position along a path or road, not a point or enclosed space. "At the right" and "in the right" are both wrong for direction.
For Time:
| Preposition | Use | Examples | |---|---|---| | IN | Long periods: months, years, seasons, centuries | in July, in 2024, in winter, in the morning | | ON | Specific days and dates | on Monday, on 15 August, on New Year's Day | | AT | Clock time, short/precise periods | at 5 pm, at noon, at night, at midnight |
The hierarchy: IN (big) → ON (medium) → AT (precise). A useful test — the more specific the time or place, the smaller your preposition. India takes in; the corner of the road takes at.
These are the combinations SSC MTS actually tests. Memorise them as units, not as separate words.
Accuse, blame, convict group:
React, respond, answer group:
Interest, excel, succeed group:
Agree, comply, deal group:
These are locked phrases. The answer is always the same preposition, no matter what.
| Phrase | Preposition | Full Form | |---|---|---| | heir | to | heir to the throne/property | | victim | to | fall victim to | | popular | among | popular among the people | | pursuit | of | in pursuit of | | in keeping | with | in keeping with | | in accordance | with | in accordance with the rules | | at fault | — | at fault (no variation) | | on the right / left | on | on the right | | by chance | by | by chance, by mistake | | in time / on time | in/on | arrived in time (before deadline); arrived on time (punctually) |
Among vs Between: Use between for two people or things, among for three or more (or a group). "Divide the cake between two friends." "Robin Hood was popular among poor people." If a question gives you a group or community, go with among.
For verb-preposition collocations, group them by the preposition, not the verb. Learn: "OF group — accuse, convict, suspect, capable, aware, fond, proud." "TO group — heir, victim, react, respond, married, similar." "WITH group — in keeping, in accordance, comply, deal, agree (person)." When a question shows you one of these verbs/nouns, the preposition group fires automatically. Standard method: read each option and test mentally (45 seconds). Pattern method: recognise the base word, retrieve the preposition cluster (8 seconds).
Draw a mental funnel: IN (country/city/room/month/year) → ON (road/day/date/surface) → AT (exact address/clock time/specific point). When you see a time or place blank, ask: how specific is this? The more specific, the further down the funnel you go. "In the morning" (long period) vs "at noon" (exact point). This cuts the three-way choice to one step instead of comparing all three options (saves 2-3 steps of elimination).
The moment you see among or between as options, count the entities. Two entities = between. Three or more / a group = among. This is a one-second test. No other analysis needed. Standard method: recall rule, apply, verify (30 seconds). Shortcut: count, pick (5 seconds).
For questions with answer options like "with / to / by / of" following a phrase like "in keeping ___", treat the phrase as a frozen unit. Ask: have I seen this phrase printed as a whole somewhere — in a textbook example, a newspaper headline, a PYQ? If yes, replicate it exactly. Do not try to reason from meaning. "In keeping with" is a frozen idiom; inserting "to" or "by" breaks the ice sculpture. This approach eliminates 3 wrong options in under 10 seconds for any fixed prepositional phrase.
When you genuinely cannot recall the correct preposition, substitute a simple known sentence pattern. For "accused ___ theft", mentally substitute: "the police charged him ___ theft." You know it's "charged with" but "accused of" is the parallel — both mean the same action. If that does not help, test "of" first: it is the most common preposition after verbs of attribution (accuse, convict, suspect, capable, aware, fond, proud, guilty). "Of" as default saves you in 4 out of 7 such patterns. Standard method: test all 4 options (60 seconds). Shortcut: test "of" first, then "to", then others (20 seconds).
Read the sentence once. Identify the word immediately before the blank — that is your anchor word.
Step 1 — Is the anchor a place or time word? Yes → Apply the IN/ON/AT funnel (big → medium → exact).
Step 2 — Is the anchor a verb? Yes → Retrieve the verb-preposition collocation. Check the OF/TO/WITH/FOR cluster mentally.
Step 3 — Is the anchor part of a known phrase or idiom? Yes → Freeze and replicate the idiom ("in pursuit of", "in keeping with", "fall victim to", "heir to"). Do not reason. Just match.
Step 4 — Is the question about among/between/with? Count the entities. Two = between. Group = among. Consistency or accordance = with.
Step 5 — Still stuck? Eliminate "by" first (it is least likely in fill-in-the-blank preposition questions outside of passive voice or time expressions). Then test "of" and "to" in that order.
Total time per question using this framework: 15-25 seconds.
Why this question: Tests the noun-preposition collocation "heir to" — one of the most commonly confused patterns where students incorrectly choose "of" or "for".
Solving path: Anchor word = "heir". Fire the noun-preposition cluster: "heir to" is the frozen form (heir to the throne, heir to the estate). "Of" is tempting because "property of" sounds natural in other contexts, but the noun "heir" locks to "to". Answer: to.
Why this question: Tests the among/between distinction — a direct one-second test if you know the rule.
Solving path: Anchor = "popular ___". Options include "by", "among", "about", "in". "Poor people" is a group, not two individuals. Among = group. Answer: among.
Why this question: Tests whether you recognise "in pursuit of" as a frozen idiomatic phrase rather than trying to construct the preposition logically.
Solving path: The phrase "in pursuit ___" should trigger idiom recognition immediately. "In pursuit of happiness" — the phrase is complete only with "of". Options "by", "after", "for" all break the idiom. Answer: of.
Why this question: Tests the fixed phrase "fall victim to" — students often pick "of" because "victim of" sounds reasonable in isolation.
Solving path: The verb phrase here is "fell victims ___". The complete idiom is "fall victim to something/someone". "Of" feels natural (victim of a crime) but the verb "fall" changes the collocation. "Fall victim to" is the locked phrase. Answer: to.
Why this question: Tests on/at/in for direction — a place-based IN/ON/AT question.
Solving path: "The mosque is ___ the right." This is about position along a direction of travel, not an exact address (so not "at") and not an enclosed space (so not "in"). "On the right / on the left" is the standard directional phrase in English. Answer: on.
Why this question: Tests reaction/respond collocations — students mix up "reaction about" or "reaction for".
Solving path: Anchor = "reaction ___". Retrieve: react to, response to, reaction to. The verb "react" always takes "to". Its noun form "reaction" follows the same pattern. Answer: to.
Why this question: Tests the frozen idiom "in keeping with" — a high-frequency phrase in SSC papers.
Solving path: "In keeping ___". Freeze-and-replicate: "in keeping with" means consistent with. No other preposition fits this expression. "To", "by", "of" all produce ungrammatical phrases. Answer: with.
Why this question: Tests the "accused of" collocation — the most tested verb-preposition pair in SSC English sections.
Solving path: Anchor = "accused ___". Fire the OF-cluster: accuse, convict, suspect all take "of". "Accused for" and "accused with" are wrong. "Accused by" would be used in passive voice to name the accuser, not the charge. Answer: of.
Confusing "victim of" with "fall victim to": In isolation, "victim of a crime" is correct. But when the verb "fall" is used, the phrase locks to "fall victim to". The verb changes the required preposition. Do not treat the noun in isolation — check what verb precedes it.
Using "between" for groups: "The prize was distributed between the students" is wrong when there are more than two students. Use "among" for any group of three or more or an undefined collective. "Between" is strictly for two entities.
Writing "accused for" instead of "accused of": This is perhaps the single most common preposition error in SSC papers. "Accused", "convicted", "suspected", "guilty" — all take "of". There is no exception in this cluster.
Confusing "in time" and "on time": These are different. "On time" means punctually, exactly at the scheduled moment. "In time" means before it is too late, with time to spare. "The train arrived on time" (punctual). "We reached the hospital in time" (before something bad happened). Both look identical in blank-fill format — read the context carefully.
Applying "popular with" when the answer is "popular among": "Popular with" is used for a skill or quality ("popular with children" is accepted colloquially), but when the context is a group or community being described as fans or followers, "popular among" is the standard written form preferred in SSC papers.
Ignoring the fixed preposition after "in keeping": Students see "in keeping ___ the rules" and reason that "to the rules" sounds reasonable. It does not work. The idiom is frozen as "in keeping with". Any time you see "in keeping" in a preposition question, the answer is "with", no further analysis needed.