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Prépositions at on in (time)

Examples :

They arrived at 8.30.

They arrived on Sunday.

They arrived in June. / They arrived in 1998.

USE :

at : for a time of a day

at 5 o'clock

at midday

at lunchtime

at Xmas

at sunset

on : for days and dates

on Friday /

on Fridays

on 19 November 1994

on Xmas Day

on my birthday

in : for months, years, seasons

in October

in 1998

in (the) winter

in the 1950's

in the Middle Ages

in the past

in (the) future

in the past

We use at in these expressions …

at night…

- at night : I don't like going out at night.

- at the weekend / at weekends : I' ll be there at the weekend.

- at Christmas : Do you have a lot of presents at Christmas ?

- at the moment / at present : He is quite busy at the moment / at present

- at the same time : Jessie and I left at the same time.

in the evening …

on Friday ….

We say...

- in the morning(s) : I'll come in the morning	- on Friday morning(s) : See you on Friday morning.
- in the afternoon(s) : He used to rest in the afternoon.	- on Sunday afternoon(s) : There's a play on Sunday afternoon
- in the evening(s) : I don't work in the evening.	- on Monday evening(s) : I saw them on Monday evening.

We do not use at / on / in / before last / next / this / every:

- I'll see you next Friday (not "on next Friday")

- They got married last May.

In spoken English we often leave out on before days :

- I'll see her on Sunday <=> I'll see her Sunday

… in a few minutes / in six months etc.

- The train will leave in a few seconds.

- I'll be back home in a few months.

You can also say ' in six years' time, 'in a week's time' etc.

- They are getting married in a month's time. / or /…in a month.

We also use in …to say how long it takes to do something:

- I learnt how to drive in six months => It took me six months to learn.

PREPOSITION

Definition: Prepositions are a class of words that indicate relationships between nouns, pronouns and other words in a sentence. Most often they come before a noun. They never change their form, regardless of the case, gender etc. of the word they are referring to.

Some common prepositions are:

about
above
across
after
against
along
among
around
at
before
behind
below
beneath
beside
between
beyond
but

by
despite
down
during
except
for
from
in
inside
into
like
near
of
off
on
onto
out

outside
over
past
since
through
throughout
till
to
toward
under
underneath
until
up
upon
with
within
without.

Prepositions typically come before a noun:

For example:

after class
at home
before Tuesday
in London
on fire
with pleasure

A preposition usually indicates the temporal, spatial or logical relationship of its object to the rest of the sentence.

For example:

The book is on the table.
The book is beside the table.
She read the book during class.

In each of the preceding sentences, a preposition locates the noun "book" in space or in time.

Prepositions are classified as simple or compound.

Simple prepositions
Simple prepositions are single word prepositions. These are all showed above.

For example:

The book is on the table.

Compound prepositions
Compound prepositions are more than one word. in between and because of are prepositions made up of two words - in front of, on behalf of are prepositions made up of three words.

For example:

The book is in between War and Peace and The Lord of the Rings.
The book is in front of the clock.

Examples:

The children climbed the mountain without fear.
There was rejoicing throughout the land when the government was defeated.
The spider crawled slowly along the banister.

The following table contains rules for some of the most frequently used prepositions in English:

Prepositions of Time:

English	Usage	Example
on	days of the week	on Monday
in	months / seasons time of day year after a certain period of time (when?)	in August / in winter in the morning in 2006 in an hour
at	for night for weekend a certain point of time (when?)	at night at the weekend at half past nine
since	from a certain point of time (past till now)	since 1980
for	over a certain period of time (past till now)	for 2 years
ago	a certain time in the past	2 years ago
before	earlier than a certain point of time	before 2004
to	telling the time	ten to six (5:50)
past	telling the time	ten past six (6:10)
to / till / until	marking the beginning and end of a period of time	from Monday to/till Friday
till / until	in the sense of how long something is going to last	He is on holiday until Friday.
by	in the sense of at the latest up to a certain time	I will be back by 6 o’clock. By 11 o'clock, I had read five pages.

Prepositions of Place:

English	Usage	Example
in	room, building, street, town, country book, paper etc. car, taxi picture, world	in the kitchen, in London in the book in the car, in a taxi in the picture, in the world
at	meaning next to, by an object for table for events place where you are to do something typical (watch a film, study, work)	at the door, at the station at the table at a concert, at the party at the cinema, at school, at work
on	attached for a place with a river being on a surface for a certain side (left, right) for a floor in a house for public transport for television, radio	the picture on the wall London lies on the Thames. on the table on the left on the first floor on the bus, on a plane on TV, on the radio
by, next to, beside	left or right of somebody or something	Jane is standing by / next to / beside the car.
under	on the ground, lower than (or covered by) something else	the bag is under the table
below	lower than something else but above ground	the fish are below the surface
over	covered by something else meaning more than getting to the other side (also across) overcoming an obstacle	put a jacket over your shirt over 16 years of age walk over the bridge climb over the wall
above	higher than something else, but not directly over it	a path above the lake
across	getting to the other side (also over) getting to the other side	walk across the bridge swim across the lake
through	something with limits on top, bottom and the sides	drive through the tunnel
to	movement to person or building movement to a place or country for bed	go to the cinema go to London / Ireland go to bed
into	enter a room / a building	go into the kitchen / the house
towards	movement in the direction of something (but not directly to it)	go 5 steps towards the house
onto	movement to the top of something	jump onto the table
from	in the sense of where from	a flower from the garden