Question

Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate words.
The girl saw a beautiful garden ___ the end of the corridor with red flowers ___ it.

a) at/in
b) at/on
c) to/in
d) in/in
e) of/an

Answer 1

Hint: A preposition is a function word that combines with a noun or pronoun or noun phrase to form a prepositional phrase that can have an adverbial or adjectival relation to some other word.

Complete answer:

To understand which option is the correct option, we need to first learn the usage of the given prepositions in the options.

‘At’ - In or very near a particular place.
‘In’- Contained by.
‘On’- Positioned at the upper surface of, touching from above.
‘Of’- Expressing origin.
‘To’- Indicating destination: In the direction of, and arriving at.

Let us thus analyze the options given to us in this question:

Option (a.), 'at/in', suggests that the garden was ‘in a particular place’, i.e the end of the corridor and that it ‘contained’ the red flowers.
So, the correct answer is “Option a”., as the prepositions ‘at and ‘in fit perfectly into the sentence.

Option (b.), ‘at/on', suggests that the garden was ‘in a particular place’, i.e the end of the corridor, and that it had the red flowers ‘positioned at the upper surface of’ it.
Therefore, option (b.) is incorrect as the flowers were not ‘on’ i.e. positioned above the garden, but inside it.

Option (c.), ‘to/in', suggests that the garden was ‘in the direction of’ the end of the corridor, which is not right as the direction (end) has already been mentioned.
Therefore, option (c.) is incorrect.

Option (d.), ‘in/in', suggests that the garden was ‘contained by’ the end of the corridor, which is incorrect as the garden cannot be towards the inside a corridor in general.
Therefore, option (d.) is incorrect as the more appropriate option is an option (a.).

Option (e.), ‘of/on', suggests that the garden was ‘of’ the end of the corridor, i.e the garden’s origin was the end of the corridor, which is incorrect.
Therefore, option (e.) is incorrect.

Note: In this question, you need to identify first how the objects in question are behaving, which will ultimately define their position or status, and thus their preposition.
Apart from that, you have to be well versed in the different contextual meanings of all the prepositions in order to correctly use them.