Prepositions of Time ON AT IN Common English Mistakes
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Hi everybody!
My name is Alisha, and today I’m going to
talk about prepositions of time.
I’m going to talk about a few prepositions
we use when we’re talking about time and time
periods.
So let’s get started!
Okay, so the first preposition of time I want
to talk about is “on.”
We use “on” for days, for example, on
Sunday, on Monday, on Tuesday.
And we use “on” for the weekend, like,
on the weekend or on weekends.
These are the two cases where we use “on”
as a preposition of time.
I like to… on Sunday.
I like to… on weekends.
We use “on” in these two cases.
The second preposition of time I want to talk
about for today is “at.”
So we use “at” when we want to talk about
a time, and by time, I mean o’clock, like,
at 7 o’clock, at 9 o’clock, at 10 o’clock.
We can also use at with a.m. and p.m., like,
at 2 a.m., at 7 p.m., we use “at” to talk
about a specific point in time, a specific
number, for example.
We also use “at” with the expression “at
night.”
I like to… at night.
I usually… at night.
We always use “at” in this case.
Then I have one more here, the weekend, you’ll
see I used the weekend for “on” here,
but in British English, I speak American English,
in British English, you might hear “at the
weekend” instead of “on the weekend.”
So “at the weekend” is something you might
hear depending on where you are or depending
on the people with whom you study, but for
me I prefer to use “on the weekend.”
Ok, let’s talk about “in” next.
So we use “in” for a lot of different
cases, as you can see.
We use “in” for months, like, in September,
in October, in November.
We use it for seasons, like, in summer, in
spring, in fall.
We use it for expression, like, in the morning,
in the evening, in the afternoon as well.
In the morning, in the afternoon.
We also use “in” for periods of time,
so minutes, hours, and years, for example.
So in five minutes, in three years, in a few
seconds.
If you want to talk about a period of time,
you can use “in” to explain that.
So we use “in” for a lot of different
cases.
The last thing I want to talk about though,
is a situation where you don’t need to use
a preposition at all when you use “this”
plus weekend, like, this weekend or this morning,
or this evening, or this month, this September,
this October.
You do not need to use a preposition in this
case.
We’ll practice in just a moment, but this
is a very common mistake; if you use “this”
before one of these expressions, you do not
need to include a preposition.
So, please be careful.
Okay, so with this information, I want to
try a few example sentences that I’ve prepared
here.
The first one is I have to leave _____ five
minutes.
Five minutes is a period of time, so we know
the correct preposition is “in.”
I have to leave in five minutes is the correct
answer here.
Next, what are you doing _____ December?
December, so we know December is a month,
we should use “in” in this case.
What are you doing in December?
Of course, by the way with this sentence,
we could say What are you doing this December?
to be very specific, but in this case, for
a preposition, we should use “in.”
Okay, next sentence, I’ll meet you at the
restaurant… we know that we should use “at,”
at 6 p.m.
Okay, next, your plane leave _____ two hours.
So two hours, again, is a period of time,
a period of time therefore we should use “in.”
Your plane leaves in two hours is the correct
sentence here.
Okay, next, they’re going to France _____
this summer.
Here is a big hint word, “this,” therefore
no preposition is needed in this case.
They’re going to France this summer.
No preposition here.
Okay, next, he’s meeting us in the station
_____ noon.
So noon, I’ve used the word noon here, but
noon is a time, still a time, we should use
“at.”
At noon is the correct sentence here.
Okay, next, can you meet me at the cafe _____
2 p.m.?
So 2 p.m. here, we have another time, at 2
p.m. is the correct answer here.
Okay, next, I like going hiking _____ weekends.
So we learned over here that we use “on”
to talk about weekends.
Weekends, in this case, multiple weekends,
so I like going hiking on weekends is the
correct answer in this case.
Finally, it’s hard for me to wake up _____
the morning.
The morning, so we saw here, morning is used
with “in.”
So in the morning is the correct answer for
this sentence.
So with a little bit of practice and as you
use these phrases, not just with a single
preposition but as you use these in longer
sentences and as part of phrases, it will
become easier to remember which is which and
which one you should use at which time.
So I hope this was useful for you!
Also, if you’re interested in seeing a different
explanation and some different example sentences,
please check out the live stream that we did
about this topic.
You can find it on our Youtube channel.
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