Prepositions of Time

IN ON

AT
(Three Tiny Words—One Confusing Dilemma)
 You know that these three little words are everywhere in
English. Right? Using them correctly is an important and
difficult task for many reasons.

For example, in Spanish,

Spanish there is one word “en” for these three
English words (in, at, on.) In Kreyol these words are not always
used in quite the same ways.

So…Let’s Get Started!

Are You Ready?
The prepositions IN, AT, ON are used for many
different reasons. They are used…
• with expressions of TIME
AT 11:45
ON Monday
IN June
• to describe LOCATIONS
IN the car ON
top of the car AT
work

• in many IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS

IN touch with
ON call
AT present
 In this lesson we are only going to focus on these
prepositions with EXPRESSIONS OF TIME.

AT
We use AT with TIMES:
TIMES
at 6:45 at noon at break time at 3 o’clock
at the beginning of I am going to Haiti at the beginning of May.
May

at night I usually study at night.

night

at the moment/at present I am busy at the moment/at present.

present

at the end of I am leaving campus at the end of class.

class
at the same time I can type and listen to music at the same time.
time
at the age of I learned how to drive at the age of 16/at 16.
16
Here’s a special case!

We say at Christmas, at Easter, at Ramadan, at Passover when

we want to talk about the period around those holidays. For
example:
I like to go back my country at Christmas.
Christmas
(The weeks around Christmas)
I will visit my relatives in Tampa at Easter.
Easter

However, when we are talking about Christmas Day (December 25) or

Easter Day (Sunday Only) or any other particular holiday, we use the
preposition ON.
ON For example:
I will visit my relatives in Tampa on Easter.
Easter
We will all meet at Aunt Jan’s house on Passover.
Passover
 ON
We use ON with DATES and DAYS.
on April 10 on Monday(s) on weekends

on Mondays On Mondays we have classes in Room 506.

on the weekend What do you usually do on the weekend?.

weekend

on April 10 Her daughter was born on April 10.

on Friday morning On Friday morning there is a faculty meeting.

 IN
We use IN for longer periods of time like MONTHS, YEARS,
SEASONS, DECADES AND CENTURIES.

in October The CASAS test took place in October.

October
in 2002 They arrived in the U.S. in 2002

in the summer Hurricane seasons begins in the summer.

in the 1960’s That song was popular in the 1960’s.

in the 15th Century The New World was discovered in the 15th Century.
Century
 IN
We also say:
In the morning(s)
In the afternoon(s)
In the evening(s)
I go to class in the mornings,
mornings work in the afternoon,
afternoon and study
in the evening.
evening

We do not use in/at/on with the words LAST or NEXT.

NEXT We do not
need a preposition before these words.
I’ll call you next Friday.
They went on vacation last week.
 IN More Rules

We also use IN to say how long it

takes to do something.
Marie completed her nursing assistant
course in 3 months.
John learned to drive in 4 weeks.
IN + a period of time means a time in
the future.
The movie will begin in 15 minutes.
(15 minutes from now)
Leslie went to the office. She’ll be
back in 5 minutes.
 Whew! So many rules!

Any Questions ?

Good! Let’s Practice.