Prepositions And Expressions Of Time

PREPOSITIONS AND EXPRESSIONS OF TIME TIME: at, in, on •

We use at, in and on in these ways:

1) at + a time of the day f.e: at 2 o’clock at 6:30 at midnight at noon at lunchtime 2) at + weekends f.e: at the weekend/s 3) at + public holiday periods f.e: at Christmas at Easter 4) in + a part of the day f.e: in the morning in the afternoon in the evening BUT, we say: “at night” 5) in + longer periods eg. Months, seasons, years etc. f.e: in July in the summer in 1983 in the 20th century

6) on + a day f.e: on Monday on Christmas day 7) on + a day + a part of the day f.e: on Monday morning on Saturday night 8) on + date f.e: on 4th July on 1st January •

and one.

We DO NOT use at, on or in before:

next, last, this, every, all, each, some, any f.e: We are leaving next Monday. I’ll see you this evening

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We DO NOT use at, on or in before:

tomorrow and yesterday f.e: What are you doing tomorrow evening? •

We normally leave out at, when we ask: (At) what time…? f.e: What time are you leaving?

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We also use in to talk about a period of time in the future. f.e: I’ll be finished in half an hour. (= half an hour from now) We’re meeting in two weeks. (= two weeks

from now) •

We also use in to show how long something takes. f.e: I can walk from my house to the town centre in twenty minutes. (= it takes me twenty minutes to do this)

ON TIME AND IN TIME 1) On time means ‘at exactly the right time’. f.e: The buses are very unreliable. They never arrive on time. In my school, the classes always start on time. 2) In time means ‘early enough’. f.e: He discovered the fire in time to stop it spreading. (= early enough to stop it) I hope my leg gets better in time for the football match on Saturday. (= early enough for the match)

AT THE END AND IN THE END 1) At the end means ‘at the point where something stops’.

f.e: We are going on holiday at the end of this week.

At the end of this film I felt very sad.

2) In the end means ‘finally’ or after some time. f.e: We couldn’t decide what to do yesterday evening. In the end we decided to stay at home. At first, I didn’t like him, but in the end we became good friends.

TIME: IN, DURING, FOR, WHILE 1) In and during •

We can use both during and in to refer to a period of time, often with the same meaning. f.e: We were in Rome during/in the summer It snowed during/in the night.

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We prefer during to say that something continues all through a period. f.e: We were in Rome during the whole of the summer (NOT: … in the whole of the summer.)

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We use during, NOT in, to refer to an activity, eg. a visit or a meal (rather than a period of time).

f.e: We visited the Colosseum during our visit to Rome. (NOT: … in our visit to Rome)