IN ON AT Prepositions of PLACE AND TIME English Grammar Lesson
(soft music)
- Hello, everyone
and welcome back to English with Lucy.
Today we are going to be talking
about the prepositions in, on, and at.
They are prepositions of time and place.
Is it in the morning?
On the morning?
Or at the morning?
Why did we say at Christmas,
but on Christmas day?
Why do you go in a taxi,
but on a bus?
That is what we are going to discuss
in today’s English lesson.
As always, there is a free PDF
that goes with this lesson.
It’s got all of the
information from the lesson
plus a quiz that I think
you’re really like.
You can use it to check
that you’ve really understood
how to use in, on, and at
as prepositions of place
and prepositions of time.
If you would like the free PDF
click on the link in the description box
you enter your name and your email address
you sign up to my mailing list
and I send the PDF directly to your inbox.
Before we get started
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Right, let’s get started with the lesson.
Let’s start within in, on, and
at as prepositions of time.
When we look at, in, on, at
we move from general to more specific.
That’s a really good
way to think of things,
in is very general, on is quite general
and at is normally more specific.
Let’s take a look at in first.
Firstly, we use in to talk
about periods of time,
general periods of time
because in is very general.
In the future.
In the past.
In the present.
Some examples in the future,
I’d like to get married.
In the past I studied hard at school.
In is also used to talk about years
and I mean individual
years like 1991 for example
groups of years, decades, and centuries.
In 1994, I was born.
I was born in the 90s.
My great grandfather was
born in the 19th century.
Maybe he wasn’t,
my great, great grandfather
was born in the 19th century,
I think.
We also use in to talk about seasons
these are big parts of the year.
In summer.
In winter.
In autumn, I love seeing
the changing of the leaves.
In spring I feel really positive.
We also use in to talk
about months and weeks.
In June.
In November.
In five weeks time.
In a few weeks.
These all use in.
In June, I will be 27,
I can’t believe that.
Or hopefully look down in the
UK will end in a few weeks.
Who knows if you’re from the future
can you tell me, I would
really like to know.
Lastly, we use in to talk about parts,
general parts of days.
For example, in the morning.
In the afternoon.
In the evening, I like to
relax and play board games.
So that’s clear, in is general.
Let’s move on to on
it’s much more specific
but not quite as specific as at.
We use on to talk about dates.
For example, on the 10th
of June, 1994, I was born.
I’m sorry I bring my
birthday into everything.
I really enjoyed my birthday.
Another example on his
birthday, on his birthday
he went out for a meal.
We also use on to talk about holidays
that include the word day.
On Christmas day.
On new year’s day.
On a bank holiday.
A bank holiday is a day
where schools are closed
and normally we don’t have to work
and most importantly banks are closed
that’s why it gets its name.
They normally fall on a Monday
so you have a nice long weekend.
I love bank holidays.
So we don’t say on Christmas
but we do say on Christmas day,
I wonder if you can
guess which preposition
we use for Christmas.
We also use on for days of the week,
on Monday.
On Friday.
On Friday evening.
On Saturday morning, on is also used
for days of the month.
On the 4th of July.
On the first day of September.
Remember in American
English and British English
we say dates differently.
So I would say on the 4th of
May, they might say May 4th.
I do have a video on how to say
and write dates and English.
It’s very old,
I probably look very, very young in it.
I will leave it in the
description for you.
I have one miscellaneous,
slightly random one
and that is on time.
On time.
I arrived to work on
time, at the correct time.
Okay, let’s move on to at,
the most specific preposition
we use at to talk
about specific times,
at 10:00 AM.
At three o’clock.
At lunchtime.
At sunset.
At sunrise.
At the moment, right now you
will often see us saying atm
for at the moment in
spoken slang, English.
What are you doing atm?
What are you doing at the moment,
that’s a good one to remember.
We also use at to talk about
holidays without the word day.
So at Christmas.
At Christmas I like to
spend time with my family.
Although I didn’t get to this year.
Thanks, COVID.
At Easter.
So it’s on Easter Sunday or at Easter
when we’re talking
about the whole weekend of Easter.
One last miscellaneous one
we have at night, at night.
In the PDF I mentioned
before I have included a quiz
so you can check your understanding
of in, on, and at as prepositions of time,
the link for that is
in the description box.
Let’s move on to, in, on, and at,
as prepositions of place.
And I have some good news in, on, and at
as prepositions of place.
Also follow that same rule as before.
In is more general.
On is in the middle.
And at is more specific.
If you’re stuck in an exam,
just keep that in your head
at least you can have a good estimation
of which preposition to use.
Let’s start with in again,
nice and general in.
In is used to talk about countries.
I am in England.
He is in Ireland.
We also use in talk about
cities, very general once again.
I stayed in Jakarta, in Jakarta.
In Seville.
When I went to Italy, I stayed in Palermo.
Like cities we also use
in for neighbourhoods
and large areas.
For example, in the Cotswolds,
the Cotswolds is a beautiful
large area of England.
Or in Kensington.
That’s an big neighbourhood in London.
We also use in for enclosed spaces
and this is an important one to remember,
we are in a taxi.
In a car.
Now I’ll talk about
trains and buses later on
because we don’t use
in with them we use on.
And I like to think that
because taxis, cars,
and helicopters are small spaces
and you have to crouch down
and make yourself small to get into them
we use in.
We also use in for in a classroom.
In the house.
In the books.
Finally, we use in for
books and newspapers.
In the Times.
In the dictionary
I saw that in the newspaper.
Let’s move on to on,
this is less general than in
but not quite as specific as at.
We use on to talk about
streets or roads or avenues,
on Fleet Street.
On Fifth Avenue.
On the Kings Road.
We also use on to talk about surfaces.
On the floor.
On the ceiling.
On the roof.
On the table.
We also use on to talk
about floors of buildings.
Her office is on the first floor.
I am on the top floor.
Important we use on to talk
about public transport.
On the train.
On a bus.
On a plane.
So it’s in a taxi, car, helicopter,
on a train, bus, tram, plane.
These are less enclosed spaces
in general, you can enter
them and remain standing up
that’s how I like to think of them.
Finally, we use on for
communications and media.
On the TV.
On the internet.
On the news, meaning on the news on TV.
On the radio.
I was on the radio last week
did you hear me?
Finally, we have at,
very specific usually.
We use at for addresses,
this are very specific.
Number 10 High Street.
Or the Red Hous, Bedford Street.
In England most houses have house numbers
but especially in villages
or for very big houses
some have names.
Whenever I’ve lived in a city
my house or flat has always had a number
but where I grew up and where I live now
I live in a rural location
there aren’t many people nearby,
we have a house name.
We also use at for specific locations.
I am at the bus stop.
He is at the museum.
At is also used for shops,
at the coffee shop.
At the bakery.
At the butchers.
We also use art for group activities,
at a party.
At a concert.
At a theatre.
An important one to remember
is that we use at for home,
work, and places of study.
I’m at school.
I’m at university.
I’m at work.
I’m at home.
We also use at with
top, bottom, and start
for example, at the end of the river.
At the top of the page.
At the bottom of the stairs.
Finally, this one is slightly strange
but do you remember I said
we use on for surfaces,
so my laptop is on my desk.
However, I am sitting at my desk.
You sit at a table, at a surface,
but you put your things
on a table, on a surface.
If I were to get up and
sit on top of my desk
then I would be on the desk.
Right that is it for today’s lesson.
Again, I have included a quiz
for in, on, and at prepositions
of both place and time.
If you would like to do the quiz
click on the link in the description box
you sign up to my mailing
list and I send the quiz
and all of the information
directly to your inbox,
and you can share your results
in the comment section down below.
Another big thank you to Lingoda,
the sponsor of today’s video.
Click on the link in the description box
and use code LOVE2021
for 20% of all of their courses.
This offer on the 1st of March.
If you’ve missed the deadline
I will put another active
code in the description box
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I will see you soon for another lesson.
(soft music)