There was this exercise about prepositions which I’ll repost below. The question I have is, is there some kind of rule for knowing which preposition to use in this case? Which would be the correct answer, and would there be a definite reason for each usage or is it just getting used to them?
Nick lives _____ a farm, but I live _____ San Francisco, and most of my relatives live ____ a small village near Santa Monica.
A) at – at – at
B) on – at – on
C) in – in – in
D) on – in – at
How about you first try to solve the task and then we’ll give our feedback?
I’d say the first is ON because it sounds better.
The second would be IN because I guess people use IN for cities.
But that makes the answer D and the last being AT, but since I used IN for cities I’d be inclined to use In for the third as well.
The one I’m most sure is the second, I really think people use In for cities.
I’d put D but I was using some aspects like sounding better, which isn’t very trustworthy.
You are right, ‘on a farm’ is the most likely option since we usually use ‘on’ when describing something on a surface rather than inside a building or place.
We also say ‘in San Francisco’ and ‘in a small village’ although to me ‘small village’ is almost a tautology because in the English speaking world a village is already small. I don’t know where you got this exercise from because it’s rather strange. If I were you I would use these exercises:
Nick lives on a farm, but I live in San Francisco, and most of my relatives live at a small village near Santa Monica.
Hi Lawrence, I don’t think there are any ‘small villages’ near Santa Monica and I also don’t think ‘at a small village’ is idiomatic English. Also, I think no native speaker would every say ‘I live in a small village’ let alone ‘I live at a small village’.
Torsten, if the village is geographically ‘locatable’ (so to say), we use ‘at’, and if it is a vast area not being identifiable, we use ‘in’.
Further, we know that it is always ‘on a farm’. If so, we have these two options: (B) on – at – on and (D) on – in – at.
Then, naturally, we have got to go for the option ‘on a village’ which is unacceptable for it does not make good grammatical or semantic sense.
No, we don’t say ‘I live at a village’ but ‘I live in a village’ as you can see below.
Also, why would you call ‘a vast area’ a ‘a small village’? Doesn’t make any sense.
Torsten, there are villages with, say, about 20-25 families, living together in clusters, in the interior parts where the area of a village is so small that it is easily identifiable. You have to travel farther if you want to see another village.
As regards a normal village extending to a vast area, we say ‘they live in a village far away from the town’. (So, I don’t disagree with your contention)
Hi Andrea, good to see we are on the same page 
Yep!! I think the multiple choice options are misleading. Perhaps someone made a mistake with the correct option. 
Evern if the preposition was correct, I don’t think any American would say that they ‘live in a small village’.
@Torsten I would still go with ‘live in a small village’. It is the only option I think and seems natural to say.
For me when talking about where you live I would use ‘in’ for village, city, town or whatever regardless of the size of the location simply because you are ‘inside’ the place. ‘At’ is more associated with position within a location where you reside. You live in a house in the village at the corner of Bridge Road, at junction 34 of the motorway. We stopped to admire the gardens at a beauty spot in the village.
I agree with and here is what I mean:
Quote from StackExchange:
As others have explained, the term ‘village’ is used in the US as a technical designation, a governmental-legalistic denomination.
But hardly anywhere in the US would someone use the term ‘village’ as a generic term for a very small settlement. That is, there is the official usage ‘the village of East Davenport, Iowa’, but never, ever, would someone say ‘I live in a village outside of the main town’. In that sense, no one would describe or refer to where they live as ‘a village’. Americans would use the term for a place in another country, but not for anywhere in the US.
‘You live in a village’ is not particularly derogatory, it just sounds weird if talking about some place in the US.
@Torsten I understand. However, if you’re not talking about the US…then you’ll find villages in other countries. You’ll definitely find villages in Africa
I also found this example from a website. It is slightly different but there are 5 options for the answer.
And I’ve found tihs:
That’s cool! So true too!
