April 15, 2019
Grammar

Prepositions of time – English grammar courses

A preposition is describing an object in relation to between itself and other objects or subjects within the sentence. Prepositions can be combined with words to form prepositional phrases. For example, “at 7 pm” is a prepositional phrase. There are many prepositions like toward, to, around etc. But in this lesson, we will only learn about At, On and In. We use these words to talk about time and place. But in this lesson, we will look specifically at them talking about time.

 

  • At

When we talk about a specific point in time. For example:

  • I will come at the end of this week.
  • He will go home at midnight.
  • I will walk to school at 2 pm.
  • She will visit her family at the end of the year.
  • They will come see me at the beginning of next month.
  • We are going to meet them at 7 o’clock.

Remember, “at” can be used for locations as well. For example, I will be at school at 1 pm.

 

  • In

We use “in” when we talk about non-specific times. For example:

  • I was born in 1977 (this is considered non-specific because it only refers to the duration of the entire and not an exact date in the year).
  • I am going to Germany in July.
  • We enjoy going to the countryside in the summer.
  • Let’s meet in the afternoon.
  • I will see you in a week.
  • Michelle will be here in 2 months.

 

  • On

We use “on” for days and dates. For example:

  • My father’s birthday is on the 20th of june.
  • I don’t work on Mondays.
  • I will meet you on Friday.
  • My new job begins on August 11th.
  • I wish to see you on the same day next week.
  • Alex will go to school on Monday and Tuesday.

There are other prepositions of time like For and Since. Click here for more information about them.

 

Let’s do some exercises with what we have learned already.

  1. Can you make a sentence using the phrase “at 2 pm?”
  2. Make a new sentence using the “at” for both time and place.
  3. Make a new sentence using both “at“ and “in”.
  4. Make a new sentence using both “in” and “on”.
  5. Make a new sentence using both “at” and “on”.
  6. Make a new sentence using everything, “at”, “in” and “on”.