How to use at in and on in English preposition review
alicia and in this week’s live lesson we
are going to practice some prepositions
today we’re going to practice using at
in and on this lesson is going to focus
on using these prepositions for place
and time to express places and to
express time so i hope this is a really
good refresher for lots and lots of
people
okay uh so we’ll make sure that
everything is rolling smoothly and then
we’ll begin with today’s lesson so as
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everybody on youtube i see lots of
people there hi uh sabir khanmaji skg
alum your first live class with me cool
welcome hi there um let’s see who else
mohsen hello gabriel hi karina hello
cine is from chicago what’s up jonatha
william hi wow there are lots of people
today welcome everyone facebook hello
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hello
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hello welcome everybody okay it looks
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let’s start with today’s lesson boards
let’s take a look at our focus topics
for today here are our lesson boards if
you want to take a screenshot now is
your first chance
okay so we’re gonna talk about at
in and on today in each we’re going to
talk about some key
uses of these words uh it’s not possible
for me to talk about all uses of all
these words in just 30 minutes but this
is a good introduction and i hope a good
refresher
so let’s get started with at let’s begin
with at okay if you want please feel
free to send your example sentences in
the chat i will try to check live but
there are a lot of people here today so
i will i’ll try to check yours
send it to me if you like okay let’s get
going with at let’s start by talking
about at for locations for locations we
use at to mark a specific
place a specific place so we use at for
like a building for example
let’s take a look at some example
sentences and you can send yours in the
chat too
so first one i’m at school in this case
the specific place is school yeah we can
understand school as like a building
right so we use at to mark this
another example he’s at the supermarket
he’s at the supermarket again we can
understand supermarket as a building
right a location
okay
one more we’re at the movie theater
we’re at the movie theater so once more
movie theater is our location our
building we are marking
we can also use at for more specific
locations to mark for example my boss is
sitting
at her desk my boss is sitting
at her desk so you might see at
use in this way to mark a more specific
location
we use this kind of in set expressions
like she’s sitting at her desk or she’s
working at the stove perhaps so we have
just a couple of sort of specific
locations we use this kind of at with
okay
i’m looking for your questions
pom-pom has written at home yes i’m
going to talk about at home at the end
of this section because there’s a key
use of this i want to talk about
christian hello on facebook writes at
the store there is a boy great okay
sounds good uh other ones um i’m not
sure i don’t see other questions or
other things about this topic so i’m
gonna continue to the next part so time
using at for time we use at to mark the
time something happens the specific time
something happens
so i start work at 10 every day so 10
is the time
this thing starts work we mark this with
at i start work at 10 every day
okay another example the bus leaves at 3
pm
the bus leaves at 3 pm
and class ends at 5 30. so at
marks
the time
this action
happens or this condition happens
okay some questions are coming there’s a
little bit of time difference between
the stream and the chat let me take a
look on youtube some questions a few
people ask this question can we say um
my boss
is sitting at her desk uh yeah i think
that was my answer right my boss is
sitting at her desk right this this is a
correct sentence someone said uh i
missed it my boss is sitting at her desk
or my boss is sitting on her desk that
means she’s she’s sitting
like a chair on top of her desk we’ll
talk about on
later
um
[Applause]
let’s see someone camilo says can i use
to the to school or should i use only
two i’m not sure what you mean i’m at
school i’m at i’m at the school maybe
you mean uh that would be grammatically
okay um
oh my gosh there are lots of questions
okay my boss yeah lots of people are
using on my boss is sitting on his desk
that means on top of on top of so maybe
that’s correct maybe your boss is
sitting on top of your desk hope i don’t
know
i don’t know usually we don’t sit on top
of our desks right so maybe don’t use on
lots of people are using on the answer
is probably no no no is probably the
answer sitting at sitting at
okay
uh someone says what about he is angry
at me yes we can use this as well okay
lots of people everybody’s skipping
ahead to on what we’re going to talk
about on later let’s finish at okay
let’s finish at so we use at to mark
times right the time at which something
happens okay
uh some questions from facebook
abdirahman makali i hope i said your
name
sorry says can i say i’m at work now yes
you can i’m outward ah this person
muhammad i saw this question earlier
in the supermarket and at the
supermarket yeah we’re going to talk
about in next but in the supermarket
means physically i’m inside the
supermarket inside the building right
now yeah versus at the supermarket which
is more natural to us we’re when we want
to talk about our location
like on the phone or something
we usually say i’m at the supermarket
unless it’s really really important to
be specific like i’m inside the
supermarket right now so we’ll talk
about in in just a moment
okay
some other examples on facebook are
coming my mom is sitting at home or he
is at the hospital good okay
yeah some people are saying is it at the
hospital or at hospital at hospital is a
british english expression you might
hear in hospital too i’ll talk about
that a little later at the hospital
means i’m visiting
in the hospital means i’m sick and i’m
receiving treatment so again at the
hospital
at the hospital like this means i am
visiting the hospital or maybe i work
there as staff i’m at the hospital right
now
in the hospital means i’m sick i’m
getting some treatment
okay lots of questions i hope i got that
right uh at the beach at the beach edwin
not at the beach okay uh
all right our r ray hand says hard at it
mean please don’t send the same message
a million times everybody
please be careful there are lots of
people participating today hard at it
means working really hard on something
yeah okay all right let’s go to the next
one
other at home and at the moment at home
and at the moment so i want to talk
about these because there are sometimes
some questions about how to use these
correctly
at home we use for something or someone
that is already home
already home
so we could say like my mother is at
home right now she’s there now we don’t
use it to talk about going to our home
we don’t use it to talk about returning
there we say something is at home when
it is in that location it is already
there
okay
all right and one more at the moment at
the moment this one might not seem easy
to understand but this one follows
this pattern kind of at the moment this
means right now or currently it’s kind
of a more formal way to express that
yeah at the moment means now or right
now okay
so this is our first part uh
so this is how we some some ways to use
at and um there are many phrasal verbs
of course that use these prepositions
today i’m not going to talk about
phrasal verbs really there are just way
too many
okay great so
uh andre says i will be at home soon is
wrong then yes that’s correct we don’t
say i will be at home we will say i will
be home soon i will be home soon
okay wow there are lots of questions and
topics
um
can i some people are saying can i say
i’m at the school yes so if it’s clear
in your conversation what the school
which school you’re talking about is
then yes the school is is fine to use
okay
all right um
i’m going to continue to the next one
we’re going to continue because some of
you are asking questions i’m going to
answer later but quickly a super quick
break if you missed it earlier check
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it okay yes so do that do that if you
want to practice
okay
let’s go to the next one next is in
we’re gonna talk about in next some
people are asking questions related to
in i see you so let’s talk about this
okay also if you haven’t please please
please make sure to like this video and
share it so other people can find
today’s lesson yeah that would be super
super helpful
alrighty let’s go
in
in for locations so i mentioned earlier
we use in to express
inside something inside something like
in the supermarket couldn’t be correct
we want to express being inside inside
something for example
my keys are in my bed
my keys are in my bag so you might think
can i say my keys are inside my bag yes
it’s just more efficient to say in it’s
shorter my keys are in my bag
okay next he’s in the bathroom he’s in
the bathroom so here the bathroom
is like you can imagine as like a box
he is inside it he’s inside he’s in the
bathroom
okay one more i’m in your classroom i’m
in your classroom so that means i’m
inside your classroom
all right
so lots of you are saying what’s the
difference between i’m at location and
i’m in location i said it earlier with
at but to repeat in
the emphasis is with inside i’m inside
so when native speakers talk about their
location like you send a text message to
someone or you’re on the phone with
someone when we want to say
where we are like hey i’m at the
supermarket do you need something or i’m
at your school right now i saw your
teacher we generally use at
we use in
if there’s some reason
to be specific about being inside
also we do this
for uh we do this at in thing i’m sorry
we use in
when we want to be
when we want to talk about like a
smaller unit
inside something else so for example i
said i’m at school
and i’m in your classroom right so if it
helps to think about that think of at
for like a building
and in for a small section in the
building so like
school and classroom yeah i’m at the
school i’m in your classroom this is a
more natural way that we think about
using at and in i hope that helps you
okay
uh let’s go to the next one lots of
questions and example sentences miran
writes the frog is in the pond
excellent good job frog okay uh some
people are saying i am in my room good
uh i am in the school uh at the restroom
i would reverse those i’m at the school
in the restroom uh hatis on youtube
um could i say i’m sitting inside my car
yes you could
oh my gosh there are lots of questions
right now
oh some of you i want to answer your
questions but there are very many there
are a lot today can i say in the end or
at the end it depends they’re both
correct depending on what you want to
say
let’s go to the next part
time using in for time this part is long
and there are lots of kind of confusing
points here so let’s go through them
also uh please this is happening a lot
today please don’t send many many
messages in a row so everyone has a
chance to participate yeah
okay let’s go expressing time to finish
something within so using in for time to
express the time it takes to finish
something to finish something so for
example
she finished her homework in 10
minutes
she finished her homework in 10 minutes
so this in comes before 10 minutes
plural plural yeah this in marks how
long
it took to do this action
so this is the action she finished her
homework
it took 10 minutes of time we use in to
express this
here’s another example they completed
the project in three months they
completed the project in three
months again here is in it marks three
months
plural
so this is the time it took
to finish the project okay so we use
this in
before a length of time
to express how long it took to do
something hey thiago one of our members
in the youtube chat welcome okay
basira says i will prepare breakfast
know that there i prefer breakfast in 10
minutes awesome okay
um others
okay people are saying what uh let’s see
some of you i’ve already answered your
question i talked about at earlier if
you’re watching live maybe check this
check this later okay
continuing on expressing time
until oh sorry i missed one one more
example we ate all the snacks
in an hour in an hour so notice this one
uses the singular an hour yeah because
it’s only one hour so we don’t use the
plural here but we use this in
to talk about how long it took to finish
something or to complete something okay
what’s the difference between in time
and on time that’s the last point in
today’s lesson for those of you who are
asking that question all right let’s go
to the next point about in
expresses time until something happens
express this time until something
happens so
let’s start the meeting in five minutes
let’s start the meeting in five minutes
so that means
five minutes from this point in time
let’s start the meeting so we use in
here sometimes i see two people maybe
use two let’s start the meeting like two
five minutes or something like that
we have to use in here let’s start the
meeting in five minutes so after five
minutes have passed
all right on to the next one he wants to
leave in an hour he wants to leave in an
hour so this means after one hour has
passed he wants to leave so this in
marks that he wants to leave in an hour
and finally we’re going to move in three
months we’re going to move in three
months
okay so again three months this is how
long
this action will take so we’re going to
do this
after
this time period
has elapsed has finished
okay
uh all right
i’m looking at your questions uh i’m
going to continue on a lot of you are
asking about things i’m going to answer
later okay i see your question so i’m
going to continue on
last part
i want to refresh us about we use in
with years seasons centuries months so
for example in october in november in
december and so on we use in before
these we use it before years as in she
was born in 1959
so before the year she was born in 1959
in winter we go skiing in winter my
season here so before the season not on
i see on used a lot in this position she
was born on 1959 nope she was born in
and here before this season use in in
winter in summer in autumn
and
he was a famous painter in the 18th
century
he was a famous painter in the 18th
century
in
here and then the 18th century century
if you don’t know century century is 100
years a 100 year time period so the 18th
century in this case so we use in to
mark these time periods
okay so this is how we use in if you
want more information about all of these
prepositions i have some videos on the
youtube channel so use your search
skills to search for at an in and on or
just search preposition search for
preposition on the channel to find my
other lessons about this topic
phew okay let’s go to the next part
let’s go to the next part
uh we’ll go to the last one on now uh we
have just
oh just enough time also if you haven’t
please please please like this video and
share it so others can find the lesson
yeah i think lots of people needed some
preposition practice today there’s a lot
of people here that’s cool okay so let’s
go to on and talk about how we use it
and this will i think answer some
questions i’ve seen in the chat too okay
so let’s talk about using on first using
on for locations for locations so
earlier we talked about on and in with
sitting at the desk or sitting on the
desk on
marks a surface position marks a surface
position so what’s a surface that means
it’s the top of something so this is on
the board right so my marker is on the
board right so lots of you ask can i say
my boss is sitting at the desk or
sitting on the desk imagine your marker
is the boss
typically we don’t sit on our desks we
sit next to them right or we sit we say
at sitting at the desk or next to the
desk so we don’t use on unless the
person is at the surface position
so
let’s look at some other examples my bag
is on the table my bag is on the table
so the position of the bag is the
surface of the table okay
another one your coffee is on the desk
your coffee is on the desk so the
surface position of the desk
and
his laptop is on the chair his laptop is
on the chair so this item my bag your
coffee his laptop
is in this position right the surface
of
this the table the desk the chair right
so we use on to mark the surface
position or to express the surface
position of something
okay
let’s go to the next one then so this is
how we use on to mark a surface position
we also use on for street location
street location so when we give
directions for something okay for
example
the store is on
first street the store is on first
street this tells us the location of the
store the street location of the store
the store is on first street
okay or her house is on
maple road so the road name here the
street name is maple road her house is
on maple road
or that restaurant is on the highway
that restaurant is on the highway
uh chat moderator on youtube can you
help me out with some
repeated comments
that restaurant is on the highway so the
highway here is a main road yeah it’s
still a road so we need to use on here
that restaurant is on the highway
okay so we use on to mark a street
location to mark market street location
okay
all right
um
okay other questions and looking for
other questions
uh
elita says you can’t find the link for
the test check the youtube description
it’s there i clicked it earlier you can
check it there it says want to test your
english or how good is your english
check that in the youtube description
okay let’s continue to time
time so we use on with time we use it
with days of the week so we practiced
using in with like months and years and
seasons and things like that we use on
with days of the week for example let’s
meet on sunday let’s meet on sunday so
not in
not in i see in lots of people use in
here we use on with days of the week
okay
another one she started a new job on
monday she started a new job on monday
so this marks my day of the week here
and finally we’re going to the mountains
on saturday we’re going to the mountains
on saturday so we use this before our
days of the week okay
finally last point
made it this question lots of you asked
this in time versus on time in time
versus on time so what’s the difference
we use on time to mean something happens
at the scheduled time
so for example if class the schedule of
class is from two o’clock to three
o’clock class starts at two o’clock
class starts on time class starts on
time class starts at the scheduled time
in time
means to have enough time to do
something to have enough time to do
something so for example my flight
leaves at two o’clock
i need to arrive at the airport in time
to catch my flight that means i need to
arrive at the airport with enough time
to catch my flight so that means i
cannot arrive at two o’clock my flight
leaves at two o’clock i have to arrive
before that so
in time means to have enough time to do
something on time means that something
happens at the scheduled time
okay
phew that was a lot of information i
know there were lots and lots of other
questions there are so many expressions
that use at and in and on and i’m not
going to talk about them because there
are way too many there are way too many
today’s focus was on using these words
as prepositions and a couple of very
common uses in other expressions so i
hope you got a good refresher
about these words and if you want to see
more information again search uh
preposition
on the english class 101 youtube channel
or on the website if you are uh an
account holder there okay
uh
andres why do we say alicia is on
youtube and not in youtube well i can’t
physically i cannot enter like
youtube i cannot enter the internet
right so we usually for internet
expressions we say something is on the
internet maybe it’s helpful to imagine
like the internet as an information
board right when we post something on a
board in real life we say i put it on
the board you can imagine the internet
is like the same thing so we post
something
on the internet not in it we can’t get
inside so maybe on
uh is kind of we can think of this use
of on as similar to the physical posting
action
so i hope that helps you okay a lot of
you are asking specific questions about
specific very specific vocabulary words
i suggest you google those because i
don’t have time i have to go i’m already
late so i will thank you for asking me
many good questions uh and
i will end the lesson there so if you
enjoyed today’s lesson please don’t
forget to give it a like
also here is the lesson board picture if
you want to take a screenshot this is
what we talked about today we talked
about at and in and on we talked about
location and time expressions with these
words and a few other topics as well
there’s so much to cover here and uh of
course i didn’t cover all of it but
we will cover it in some other
format in some way okay next week’s
lesson i’ll be back next week of course
next week’s lesson information is right
here here we go next week’s lesson next
week will be october 20th at 10 p.m
eastern standard time that is new york
city time if you don’t know your local
time please use your excellent google
skills google it or set a notification
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i’m going to talk about mistakes people
make when learning a language and how to
avoid them so common issues that we see
that
all of us do sometimes just a couple of
reminders of good ideas
for your studies and maybe things to try
not to do okay so we’ll finish there for
this week thank you as always for
joining me and don’t forget if you want
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alicia there too so i’ll say goodbye for
this week enjoy the rest of your day
have a good week and i will see you
again