(of time or place) in; at; on / (indicating any indirect relation) to; toward; vis-à-vis; with regard to; for / (indicating a source) from; out of / (used in comparison) than / (used in the passive voice) by
于
=
亅
+
二
:
Mnemonic symbol: prepositions (in, at, on, to, ...) are what glue the sentence together. Honey is as sticky as glue, so I'll represent 于 by a honey jar.
Yu the Great (于) was assigned to repair the electronics of the space station's kitchen (Ø2), but instead he was snacking honey from a honey jar (于). Unfortunately his capacitor (二) got stuck in the honey and now he has to use a crowbar (亅) to lever it out.
归
=
刂
+
彐
:
Gitta Giraffe (gu) was given the responsibility (归) to guard the Eiffel Tower. In front of it (ei1) she stands guard holding a tiny kitchen knife (刂) in her hand in case of attacks, and a pig's snout (彐) on her head as kind of a helmet.
to return / to go back to / to give back to / (of a responsibility) to be taken care of by / to belong to / to gather together / (used between two identical verbs) despite / to marry (of a woman) (old) / division on the abacus with a one-digit divisor
归
=
刂
+
彐
:
Gitta Giraffe (gu) was given the responsibility (归) to guard the Eiffel Tower. In front of it (ei1) she stands guard holding a tiny kitchen knife (刂) in her hand in case of attacks, and a pig's snout (彐) on her head as kind of a helmet.
之
=
丶
+
Z
:
Mnemonic symbol: Sooo sleepy... "zZz" (the character looks like a "Z"). James II of England (zh) fell asleep in front of the space station (Ø1). He sleeps on a big petal leaf (丶), making loud "zZz" (之) sounds.
Marie Curie is overjoyed to announce her marriage in the space station. She improvised a wedding banquet with nothing but mandarins and notifies everyone by beating a large drum very quickly with two mandarins.