Prepositions in OET letters: admitted to, with, for and other common patterns
Prepositions are among the small words case notes leave out, so you must add them when you turn notes into sentences. The patterns nurses need most are 'admitted to hospital/the ward with a condition', 'admitted for surgery or treatment', 'on a medicine', 'referred to a service', 'discharged to a place' and 'on' with dates and days, 'at' with times. Getting these right makes a letter read accurately and fluently, which supports the Language criterion.
Why prepositions go missing
Case notes are written in shorthand: "adm 3/6 SOB", "ref physio", "d/c home". When you expand them into sentences, you have to supply the small words the notes leave out, and prepositions are among the easiest to get wrong. A sentence such as "She was admitted in the hospital for chest pain" is understandable, but it reads as non-native and less precise than "She was admitted to hospital with chest pain."
For the full method of expanding notes, see case notes to full sentences. This guide focuses on the preposition patterns that come up again and again in nursing letters.
The core patterns
| Pattern | Example | Common error |
|---|---|---|
| admitted to a place | "admitted to the surgical ward" | ~~admitted in the ward~~ |
| admitted with a condition | "admitted with abdominal pain" | ~~admitted by abdominal pain~~ |
| admitted for a purpose | "admitted for a hip replacement" | ~~admitted to a hip replacement~~ |
| discharged from a place to a place | "discharged from hospital to her daughter's home" | ~~discharged to hospital~~ (means the opposite) |
| transferred to a facility | "transferred to Oakfield Nursing Home" | ~~transferred in Oakfield~~ |
| referred to a person or service for a purpose | "referred to the physiotherapist for mobility training" | ~~referred for the physiotherapist~~ |
| diagnosed with a condition | "diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2018" | ~~diagnosed of diabetes~~ |
| suffer from / complain of | "complained of nausea" | ~~complained about nausea~~ (sounds informal) |
| on a medicine | "She is on warfarin." | ~~She is in warfarin.~~ |
| started on / commenced on | "He was started on insulin." | ~~started with insulin~~ |
| allergic to | "allergic to penicillin" | ~~allergic with penicillin~~ |
| respond to treatment | "responded well to antibiotics" | ~~responded well with antibiotics~~ |
| adherent to / compliant with | "adherent to her medication" (or simply: "takes her medication as prescribed") | ~~adherent of~~ |
| independent with an activity | "independent with showering" | ~~independent in the shower~~ (changes meaning) |
| assistance with | "needs assistance with dressing" | ~~assistance in dressing~~ |
| under the care of | "under the care of Dr Patel" | ~~in the care from~~ |
Time prepositions
Dates and times appear in nearly every letter.
| Use | Pattern | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Dates and days | on | "on 14 March", "on Tuesday" |
| Clock times | at | "at 9 am" |
| Months, years, parts of the day | in | "in April", "in 2020", "in the morning" |
| Duration | for | "for three days" |
| Starting point | since | "since 2 June", "since her fall" |
| Deadline | by | "should be reviewed by Friday" |
| Up to a point | until | "continue the antibiotics until 12 May" |
| Period of time before now | over | "has lost 4 kg over the past month" |
A frequent error is "since three days". Use for with a length of time ("for three days") and since with a starting point ("since Monday"). For more on dates, see dates and times in letters.
Place and position
- "lives in a flat on the second floor"
- "lives with her husband"
- "a wound on his left shin", "pain in her lower back"
- "a fistula in his left forearm"
- "seen at the outpatient clinic", "at home"
Worked correction (invented notes)
Notes (invented): 72 y.o. M. Adm 8/4 via ED – fall at home, # L wrist. ORIF 9/4. Hx: AF – on apixaban; T2DM dx 2015. Lives alone 1st floor flat. Needs help dressing. Ref OT – home assessment. D/c 12/4 home. F/u fracture clinic 2/52.
First draft (with preposition errors):
Mr Hassan was admitted in hospital at 8 April after a fall in home, which resulted to a fracture of his left wrist. He has atrial fibrillation and is in apixaban, and he was diagnosed of type 2 diabetes on 2015. He lives alone at a first-floor flat and needs assistance in dressing. He has been referred for the occupational therapist to a home assessment.
Corrected:
Mr Hassan was admitted to hospital on 8 April after a fall at home, which resulted in a fracture of his left wrist. The fracture was surgically repaired on 9 April. He has atrial fibrillation and is on apixaban, and he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2015. He lives alone in a first-floor flat and needs assistance with dressing. He has been referred to the occupational therapist for a home assessment.
The corrected prepositions are: admitted to, on 8 April, at home, resulted in, on apixaban, diagnosed with, in 2015, in a flat, assistance with, referred to ... for. The draft also left out the wrist surgery from the notes, so one sentence was added. Apart from that, the content is the same, but the corrected paragraph is easier and faster to read.
Practise a full case under timed conditions at /writing/, or check a letter you have written: medEmu marks each issue on your own sentence, with the fix and the reason, and gives an estimated mark for Language and the other five criteria.
A quick self-check
After writing, scan your letter for these words and check the preposition after each one:
- admitted, discharged, transferred, referred
- diagnosed, allergic, responded
- on (medicines), started, commenced
- dates and times
- assistance, independent, needs help
This takes a minute and catches most errors. Related grammar guides: the Language criterion, articles a, an and the and passive voice in OET letters.
Sources
This guide is medEmu's writing advice, not official OET guidance; the example patient and notes are invented. The network used for this run could not reach oet.com, so no OET test facts are stated beyond the criterion names. For OET's official Writing information, see oet.com.