Apart from articles, there are other areas of English where learners find themselves on shaky ground. One of them is the use of prepositions, or those little words such as on, of, with, about, in, etc. that are often difficult to get right. There are cases where English and Croatian use the same preposition, so you can rely on your colleagues, as long as they do not compete with you. But then again, it depends on how you define competitiveness. If it inspires you to achieve more, to put more effort into learning, and become better at speaking the language, then it is definitely a positive thing.
To that end, we will point at some common situations where learners frequently get the prepositions wrong. The first category includes prepositions that are different from their English counterparts, and there is no rule to point you in the right direction. The only solution is to learn verbs adjectives together with the prepositions as a fixed phrase. The Croatian ‘na’ is a real trouble-maker when translated into English (just one case in point). For example, you can see yourself in a picture or clouds in the sky (not ‘on’). Or, you can be angry with/at your boss for keeping you in/at long meetings, with the excuse that you must become the most successful company in the world. You could be even angrier if that prevents you from enjoying life’s simple pleasures, such as lying in the sun, playing with your kids in the snow, or strolling in the street with your new boyfriend. Singing in the rain might be carrying it a bit too far, but listening to music and relaxing is probably another thing you would rather be doing than sitting in a business meeting.
