Les Prépositions (sur/dans/avant/derrière)

Question

Bonjour Madame Cécile !The lesson states that when talking about “time”- ‘avant’ and ‘après’ are used.Now, if a sentence is -> 1.Mon chien court ______ le petit chat. I think here, the answer should be “après” (after) because in English too, we say- The cops ran after the thief. But, why is the answer “derrière” ?2. Regarde le bel oiseau perché ________ cet arbre ! Why is “sur” correct ? I had opted for “dans”. How can we judge the difference between “dans/sur l’arbre” ?3. On admire les grands palmiers ________ l’île.Again, here the answer is “sur” ? The other options- “dans/à” are not acceptable. What is the grammatical concept behind this?Je vous remercierais du fond de mon cœur.Bonne journée!

Accepted Answer

Hi Shrey,
1. I agree that the expression,  'courir après' (to chase ) would be plausible here 
It might be a good idea to repost this via your Report it button on your correction board to take a look at your query. 
2. the expression is 'être perché sur', simply, in the case of birds.
but you could say-
Le chat est dans l'arbre
3. Here it is just 'sur' ( on), rather than 'dans' ( inside)
If it is any consolation, prepositions are difficult to get right and I still make prepositions mistakes in English!
For future reference, I applaud you for asking questions on the same subject today as sometimes it takes too much time to answer your multiple grammar queries in one single question...
Hope this helps!