Question

Fill in the given blank with an appropriate preposition:
I’ll be home _______ 7 o’clock.
A) By
B) In
C) On
D) Since

Answer 1

Hint: Prepositions can be tricky so read the question well; remember that only one among the options will be appropriate to complete the given sentence. The noun that succeeds the preposition is a ‘particular time’. Since prepositions express a relationship, in this sentence it means that the preposition must signify that the person will come before that time or after the specified time.

Complete answer:
The noun that succeeds the preposition is a ‘particular time’, so it is important to say that the person will come before or around that time, and definitely not after that. For this purpose we can find our preposition by converting the statement into a question, here the only possible question we can ask, to get 7 o’clock as the answer is;
By what time you will be home?

Now let us see what each of the options would mean in the given blank:
For option (A) by; this is the correct option because in the sentence ‘by’ would signify that the person would come before or at 7 o’clock, not later than that. It is the right option when we convert the question into a statement.
For option (B) in; this is not correct because it will not make sense to say that the person would come ‘in’ particular time. As ‘in’ here signifies a period of time, so it can be specifically morning or evening, or it can be after a few days. But since a specific time and not period is mentioned, ‘in’ is not an apt fit.
For option (C) on; this is incorrect as ‘on’ must be followed by a day or month, it cannot be used as ‘on’ followed by 7 o’clock.
For option (D) since; this is also incorrect, because here ‘since’ would mean that the person was already here but the person is trying to say that they will come in the future.

Thus the correct answer is option ‘B’.

Note: Let us check out some facts about prepositions;
- Prepositions cannot exist on their own, it is used to describe a conditions, in specific, it is used only along with verbs or a noun.
- To put in general, it can describe a few conditions like time, a thing or a person’s position, it can also describe how an activity is done.
- Some prepositions can be used in different scenarios with different meanings, so it can have more than one meaning.
- If we place it before a noun them it can also become adverbs or adjectives.