Question

Fill in the blank with a suitable preposition:
What was the temperature ____ Chennai yesterday?
(a)at
(b)of
(c)in
(d)off

Answer 1

Hint: Read the given sentence and try to understand what it means. Now go through the given options, recall what they mean and when they are used. Choose the option which fits the context.

Complete answer: Prepositions are words that are used to show
positions, locations, direction, and time. They are usually placed in front of nouns and gerunds. Example - In the sentence ‘There is a book on the table’, the word ‘on’ describes the location of the book. So, it is definitely a preposition. There are many verb + preposition combinations in the English language, which are easy to learn, like ‘get up’. Prepositions indicate the different relationships between other words in a sentence. They can be very important parts of a sentence, as they can give you important insight into the meaning of the sentence. For example, in the sentence ‘We had a picnic at the park’, we understand where the picnic took place. It clearly conveys that the picnic did not take place at any other location. This is an example of a preposition of location. There are many more types of prepositions.

The meaning of the sentence can change depending on which preposition is used in the sentence. The preposition used makes a huge difference. For example, ‘turn back’ and ‘turn around’ have two completely different meanings, even though the root verb is the same.
Now, we know what we are looking for. Let’s look at the given options:
(a)at - The word ‘at’ refers to ‘expressing location or arrival in a particular place or position', so it does not fit into the context of the given sentence. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
(b)of - The word ‘of’ refers to ‘expressing the relationship between a part and a whole’, so it does not fit into the context of the given sentence. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
(c)in - The word ‘in’ refers to ‘expressing the situation of something that is or appears to be enclosed or surrounded by something else', so this fits perfectly into the context of the given sentence. This is the required answer. So, this is the correct option.
(d)off - The word ‘off’ refers to ‘moving away and often down from’, so this does not fit into the context of the given sentence. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.

Note: Make sure to go through the parts of speech of the sentence and choose the
preposition that makes the most sense. Also, make sure that the sentence remains
grammatically correct.