I’m not a native speaker and I started English classes in school later than everyone else, so I started in 4th grade when everyone else has already 3 years of learning the basics, and since these are really basic words I never learned them in class
So, please, how do I know when to use each one? I can get by a bit as evidenced in this post, but a lot of times I get it wrong
In: Other
You can use a box to demonstrate all three.
If you are *in* the box, you are contained by it. You can be in a room, in a restaurant, in a car, in a canoe, etc.
If you are *on* the box, you are atop it or somehow applied to it (which doesn’t make sense for a person and a box, but may make sense for something like a sticket). You can be on a roof, on a bike, on a log, on a path, on a wall, etc.
If you are *at* the box, you are proximal to it. You can be at a landmark, at a restaurant, at a park.
Of course, there are exceptions or other phrases which fall outside of these categories, but this is a fairly solid way to remember most use cases. For example, you could be “on drugs” or “on the phone”. You might also say “meet me at the restaurant” when you really mean “meet me in the restaurant”. Both are fine, but “at” is more commonly used in this case.
Another way to think about this is a bucket; if you were told to stand *on* the bucket, you’d probably flip the bucket over and stand atop the overturned bottom. If you were told to stand *in* the bucket, you’d probably keep the bucket right side up and put your feet inside it. If you were told to stand *at* the bucket, you’d probably walk over to the bucket and stand at arms length or so from the bucket.
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