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Prepositions of Time: at, in, on We use:   

at for a PRECISE TIME in for MONTHS, YEARS, CENTURIES and LONG PERIODS on for DAYS and DATES

at

in

on

PRECISE TIME

MONTHS, YEARS, CENTURIES and LONG PERIODS

DAYS and DATES

at 3 o'clock

in May

on Sunday

at 10.30am

in summer

on Tuesdays

at noon

in the summer

on 6 March

at dinnertime

in 1990

on 25 Dec. 2010

at bedtime

in the 1990s

on Christmas Day

at sunrise

in the next century

on Independence

Day at sunset

in the Ice Age

on my birthday

at the moment

in the past/future

on New Year's Eve

Look at these examples:         

I have a meeting at 9am. The shop closes at midnight. Jane went home at lunchtime. In England, it often snows in December. Do you think we will go to Jupiter in the future? There should be a lot of progress in the next century. Do you work on Mondays? Her birthday is on 20 November. Where will you be on New Year's Day?

Notice the use of the preposition of time at in the following standard expressions: Expression

Example

at night

The stars shine at night.

at the weekend*

I don't usually work at the weekend.

at Christmas*/Easter I stay with my family at Christmas. at the same time

We finished the test at the same time.

at present

He's not home at present. Try later.

Notice the use of the prepositions of time in and on in these common expressions: in

on

in the morning

on Tuesday morning

in the mornings

on Saturday mornings

in the afternoon(s) on Sunday afternoons in the evening(s)

on Monday evening

When we say last, next, every, this we do not also use at, in, on.    

I went to London last June. (not in last June) He's coming back next Tuesday. (not on next Tuesday) I go home every Easter. (not at every Easter) We'll call you this evening. (not in this evening)

Prepositions of Place: at, in, on In general, we use:   

at for a POINT in for an ENCLOSED SPACE on for a SURFACE

at

in

on

POINT

ENCLOSED SPACE SURFACE

at the corner

in the garden

on the wall

at the bus stop

in London

on the ceiling

at the door

in France

on the door

at the top of the page in a box

on the cover

at the end of the road in my pocket

on the floor

at the entrance

in my wallet

on the carpet

at the crossroads

in a building

on the menu

at the front desk

in a car

on a page

Look at these examples:             

Jane is waiting for you at the bus stop. The shop is at the end of the street. My plane stopped at Dubai and Hanoi and arrived in Bangkok two hours late. When will you arrive at the office? Do you work in an office? I have a meeting in New York. Do you live in Japan? Jupiter is in the Solar System. The author's name is on the cover of the book. There are no prices on this menu. You are standing on my foot. There was a "no smoking" sign on the wall. I live on the 7th floor at 21 Oxford Street in London.

Notice the use of the prepositions of place at, in and on in these standard expressions: at

in

on

at home

in a car

on a bus

at work

in a taxi

on a train

at school

in a helicopter

on a plane

at university

in a boat

on a ship

at college

in a lift (elevator) on a bicycle, on a motorbike

at the top

in the newspaper on a horse, on an elephant

at the bottom in the sky

on the radio, on television

at the side

in a row

on the left, on the right

at reception

in Oxford Street

on the way

In / At / On Son unas de las preposiciones más comunes que se pueden usar para indicar lugar o tiempo: in, at y on. IN Significado: en, dentro, dentro de Uso (lugar): Se usa para indicar tanto espacios cerrados como espacios abiertos. Lo utilizamos para indicar que algo está dentro de una cosa, en un lugar cerrado, o en el interior de algo físicamente. Sin embargo, como vemos en los ejemplos, también se utiliza para indicar que se está en un lugar geográfico. Ejemplos: PlayI live in Brighton. (Vivo en Brighton.) PlayThe cat is in the box. (El gato está dentro la caja.) PlayI found your address in the phone book. (He encontrado tu dirección en la guía telefónica.) PlayMy parents arrive in France on Monday. (Mis padres llegan a Francia el lunes.) Uso (tiempo): Lo utilizamos con meses, años, épocas, partes del día y períodos de tiempo (duración). Ejemplos: PlayWe went to Mexico in May. (Fuimos a Méjico en mayo.) PlayI always run in the mornings. (Siempre corro por las mañanas.) PlayI will see him in a week. (Le veré en una semana.) PlayShe was born in 1976. (Nació en 1976.)

AT Significado: en, a, al, cerca de, tocando Uso (lugar): Se usa delante de edificios como casas, aeropuertos, universidades (para indicar que estamos dentro), antes de "top" (parte superior), "bottom" (parte inferior), "the end of" (al final de), para indicar acontecimientos como reuniones, fiestas, conciertos, deportes, etc..., detrás de "arrive" (llegar) cuando nos referimos a lugares que no sean ciudades o países. Ejemplos: PlayHe is at home. (Él está en casa.) PlayI always visit my sister at work. (Siempre visito a mi hermana en el trabajo.) PlayWe eat at the table. (Comemos en la mesa.) PlayShe will see him at the theatre. (Le verá en el teatro.) PlayHer name is at the bottom of the page. (Su nombre está en la parte inferior de la página.) PlayWhen did you arrive at the airport? (¿Cuándo llegaste al aeropuerto?) Uso (tiempo): Lo utilizamos delante de la hora y de fiestas. Ejemplos: PlayHe runs every morning at 6. (Él corre cada mañana a las 6.) PlayI will see them at Christmas. (Les veré en Navidad.) ON Significado: sobre, encima de algo, tocando Uso (lugar): Se coloca delante de nombres de lugares con base como mesas, suelos, etc…, cuando nos referimos a lugares de una habitación como techo o pared y para indicar que alguien está dentro de un transporte público o en una planta de un edificio. Ejemplos: PlayThe pen is on the table. (El bolígrafo está sobre la mesa.) PlayThey have a photograph of Paris on the wall. (Tienen una foto de París en la pared.) PlayI am on the bus. (Estoy en el autobús.) PlayHer apartment is on the second floor. (Su piso está en la segunda planta.) Uso (tiempo): Lo utilizamos con días de la semana, fechas y fiestas. Ejemplos: PlayThey went to Mexico on the first of May. (Fueron a Méjico a primeros de mayo.) PlayHe runs on Mondays and Fridays. (Él corre los lunes y los viernes.) PlayI will see Luis on his birthday. (Veré a Luis en su cumpleaños.) Some advanced examples: If the boys are attending classes at the moment you can say: The boys are AT school. But it would also be correct to say: The boys are IN school. However, if they were not attending classes at the moment but were there for a basketball game you would say: The boys are AT THE school.

But, if you were standing outside of the school you would say: The boys are IN THE school. Not to confuse you, but the use of "at" or "to" can give a sentence a completely different meaning. John threw the ball TO Juan. John threw the ball AT Juan. The first sentence indicates that they were playing ball and John threw the ball so Juan could catch it. The second sentence indicates that John was angry at Juan and threw the ball in anger or to hurt him! So if you were at the beach and someone threw sand towards you, you would say: He threw sand AT me. So you would say, "She threw the snowball AT him." Unless, of course, she was tossing him the snowball so he could throw it at someone else, then you would say: "She threw the snowball TO him". Hope that helps!

Usamos "at" para: At + lugares comunes At home - En casa At school - En la escuela At work - En el trabajo At university - En la universidad At the dentist's - En el dentista At the movies - En el cine At the theater - En el teatro At the airport - En el aeropuerto At the library - En la biblioteca At the doctor's - En el doctor At the bank - En el banco At a concert - En el concierto At a meeting - En la reunión At a party - En la fiesta At John's - En lo de John At Laura's - En lo de Laura At + lugares específicos

At Madison Square Garden At Kennedy Airport At Buckingham Palace At the University of Florida At + direcciones y domicilios At 2354 Rivadavia Avenue At 3456 Belgrano Street At + ciertas cosas o posiciones

At the top - En la cima / arriba de todo At the bottom - En el fondo / debajo de todo At the side - A un lado/costado At the front - En el frente At the back - En la parte de atrás At the end - Al final At the door - En la puerta At the window - En la ventana At the reception - En la recepción Usamos "on" para: On + superficies

On the floor - En el piso On the ceiling - En el techo On the table - En la mesa On the chair - En la silla On the list - En la lista On the map - En el mapa On the beach - En la playa On the shelf - En el estante On + medios de transporte On a ship - En un barco On a train - En un tren On a plane - En un avión On a bus - En un autobús On a bicycle - En una bicicleta

On a motorcycle - En una motocicleta On a horse - A caballo On a ferry - En un transbordador On + partes del cuerpo On my leg - En mi pierna On your arm - En tu brazo On his shoulder - En su hombro On + direcciones On the left - A la izquierda On the right - A la derecha On the way - En el camino On + ciertas cosas y lugares

On the radio - En la radio On television - En la TV On a farm - En una granja Usamos "in" para: In + países In Argentina In Spain In Mexico In + ciudades In New York In Madrid In Mexico City In + habitaciones

In the bathroom - En el baño In the kitchen - En la cocina In the bedroom - En el dormitorio In + cuerpos de agua In the sea - En el mar

In the water - En el agua In a river - En un río In the ocean - En el océano In + clima/tiempo In the rain - En la lluvia In the sun - En el sol In the wind - En el viento In the fog - En la neblina In + ciertos lugares y expresiones In prison - En prisión In hospital - En el hospital In bed - En la cama In Oak Street - En la calle Oak In a line - En una cola In a row - En fila In a queue - En una cola In the sky - En el cielo In a book - En libro In a magazine - En una revista In a letter - En una carta In a mirror - En un espejo In a car - En un auto In a taxi - En un taxi In a helicopter - En un helicóptero ¿Quieres otra forma de aprender inglés? Ingresa a nueva Comunidad de Sherton English >> Aquí podrás: Aprender y enseñar / Conocer gente / Crear grupos / Participar en foros / Subir tus fotos y videos / Escribir tu propio blog / Trabajar en forma colaborativa / Conversar con otros miembros / y mucho más!

Prepositions of time

At

We use at with times ( hours, at midnight, and some meals such as at suppertime and at lunchtime )

At

Usamos at ( a la, las, en la, en etc) con algunos horarios (horas, la medianoche, y con algunas comidas como a la hora de la cena o a la hora del almuerzo, )

at three, at four (The train leaves at five o 'clock)

a las tres, a las cuatro

at luchtime

a la hora del almuerzo (Por favor vuelve a casa a la hora del almuerzo)

(Please be home at lunchtime)

at suppertime

(El tren sale a las cinco)

a la hora de la cena

We also use at with some fixed expressions such as: at sunrise, at noon, at sunset, at night.

También usamos at con algunas expresiones fijas tales como al amanecer, al mediodía, al anochecer y a la noche.

at night (Bats sleep at night. Batman too)

a la noche (Los murciélagos duermen a la noche) Batman también.

at midnight

a la medianoche

at noon at sunrise at sunset

al mediodía al amanecer (Va a matar al presidente al amanecer) al anochecer

(He is going to kill the president at sunrise!)

at the week-end

en el fin de semana

at the moment at present at Christmas

(Sorry, the boss is not here at the moment)

ahora (Lo lamento, el jefe no se encuentra aquí ahora) en este momento en Navidad

at Easter

(I want a chocolate bunny at Easter...)

en Pascua

at the age of three, at the age of fity-two at the same time (We arrive at the station at the same time)

(Quiero un conejo de chocolate para Pascua)

a la edad de tres años a los cincuenta y dos años etc al mismo tiempo (Llegamos a la estación al mismo tiempo)

In

In

We use in for longer periods of time (months, years, seasons)

Usamos in para períodos de tiempo largos (tales como meses, años y estaciones del año) ...en enero, en abril, en septiembre, en octubre, en noviembre etc.

in January, in February, in March in 1979, in 2001 in summer in winter in autumn

en enero, en febrero, en marzo etc en 1979, en 2001 en verano en invierno en otoño

in spring

en primavera

in the Middle Ages in the 19 th century

en la edad media en el siglo diecinueve

We also use in for parts of the day: be careful if you add the name of the day...

También usamos in para partes del día: pero ten cuidado si le agregas el nombre del día

in the morning(s) but on Sunday morning(s) in the afternoon(s) but on Monday afternoon(s)

a la mañana a la tarde

(por las mañanas) (por las tardes)

in the evening (s)

a la noche

(por las noches)

but on Tuesday evening(s)

singular o plural

On

On we use on mostly for days of the week and dates.

Utilizamos on principalmente con los

días de la semana y fechas.

on Monday on Tuesday

el lunes el martes

on Wednesday morning

el miércoles a la noche

on Thursday night on July 10 th on December 25 th

el jueves a la noche el 10 de julio el 25 de diciembre

We say on Christmas day but at Chritmas

http://www.clafoti.com/imagenes10/time_prep.htm

PREPOSITIONS: LOCATORS IN TIME AND PLACE

Select from the follow ing

A preposition describes a relationship between other words in a sentence. In itself, a word like "in" or "after" is rather meaningless and hard to define in mere words. For instance, when you do try to define a preposition like "in" or "between" or "on," you invariably use your hands to show

how something is situated in relationship to something else. Prepositions are nearly always combined with other words in structures called prepositional phrases. Prepositional phrases can be made up of a million different words, but they tend to be built the same: a preposition followed by a determiner and an adjective or two, followed by a pronoun or noun (called the object of the preposition). This whole phrase, in turn, takes on a modifying role, acting as an adjective or an adverb, locating something in time and space, modifying a noun, or telling when or where or under what conditions something happened. Consider the professor's desk and all the prepositional phrases we can use while talking about it. You can sit before the desk (or in front of the desk). The professor can sit on the desk (when he's being informal) or behind the desk, and then his feet are under the desk orbeneath the desk. He can stand beside the desk (meaning next to the desk), before the desk, between the desk and you, or even on the desk (if he's really strange). If he's clumsy, he can bump into the desk or try to walk through the desk (and stuff would fall off the desk). Passing his hands over the desk or resting his elbows upon the desk, he often looks across the desk and speaks of the desk or concerning the desk as if there were nothing else like the desk. Because he thinks of nothing except the desk, sometimes you wonder about the desk, what's in the desk, what he paid for the desk, and if he could live without the desk. You can walk toward the desk, to the desk,around the desk, by the desk, and even past the desk while he sits at the desk or leans against the desk. All of this happens, of course, in time: during the class, before the class, until the class, throughout the class, after the class, etc. And the professor can sit there in a bad mood [another adverbial construction].

Those words in bold blue font are all prepositions. Some prepositions do other things besides locate in space or time — "My brother is like my father." "Everyone in the class except me got the answer." — but nearly all of them modify in one way or another. It is possible for a preposition phrase to act as a noun — "During a church service is not a good time to discuss picnic plans" or "In the South Pacific is where I long to be" — but this is seldom appropriate in formal or academic writing. Click HERE for a list of common prepositions that will be easy to print out.

You may have learned that ending a sentence with a preposition is a serious breach of grammatical etiquette. It doesn't take a grammarian to spot a sentence-ending preposition, so this is an easy rule to get caught up on (!). Although it is often easy to remedy the offending preposition, sometimes it isn't, and repair efforts sometimes result in a clumsy sentence. "Indicate the book you are quoting from" is not greatly improved with "Indicate from which book

you are quoting." Based on shaky historical precedent, the rule itself is a latecomer to the rules of writing. Those who dislike the rule are fond of recalling Churchill's rejoinder: "That is nonsense up with which I shall not put." We should also remember the child's complaint: "What did you bring that book that I don't like to be read to out of up for?" Is it any wonder that prepositions create such troubles for students for whom English is a second language? We say we are at the hospital to visit a friend who is in the hospital. We lie in bed but on the couch. We watch a film at the theater but on television. For native speakers, these little words present little difficulty, but try to learn another language, any other language, and you will quickly discover that prepositions are troublesome wherever you live and learn. This page contains some interesting (sometimes troublesome) prepositions with brief usage notes. To address all the potential difficulties with prepositions in idiomatic usage would require volumes, and the only way English language learners can begin to master the intricacies of preposition usage is through practice and paying close attention to speech and the written word. Keeping a good dictionary close at hand (to hand?) is an important first step.

Prepositions of Time: at, on, and in We use at to designate specific times. The train is due at 12:15 p.m. We use on to designate days and dates. My brother is coming on Monday. We're having a party on the Fourth of July. We use in for nonspecific times during a day, a month, a season, or a year. She likes to jog in the morning. It's too cold in winter to run outside. He started the job in 1971. He's going to quit in August.

Prepositions of Place: at, on, and in We use at for specific addresses. Grammar English lives at 55 Boretz Road in Durham. We use on to designate names of streets, avenues, etc. Her house is on Boretz Road. And we use in for the names of land-areas (towns, counties, states, countries, and continents). She lives in Durham. Durham is in Windham County. Windham County is in Connecticut.

Prepositions of Location: in, at, and on and No Preposition IN (the) bed* the bedroom the car (the) class* the library* school*

AT class* home the library* the office school* work

ON the bed* the ceiling the floor the horse the plane the train

NO PREPOSITION downstairs downtown inside outside upstairs uptown

* You may sometimes use different prepositions for these locations.

Prepositions of Movement: to and No Preposition We use to in order to express movement toward a place. They were driving to work together. She's going to the dentist's office this morning.

Toward and towards are also helpful prepositions to express movement. These are simply variant spellings of the same word; use whichever sounds better to you. We're moving toward the light. This is a big step towards the project's completion. With the words home, downtown, uptown, inside, outside, downstairs, upstairs, we use no preposition. Grandma went upstairs Grandpa went home. They both went outside.

Prepositions of Time: for and since We use for when we measure time (seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years). He held his breath for seven minutes. She's lived there for seven years. The British and Irish have been quarreling for seven centuries. We use since with a specific date or time. He's worked here since 1970. She's been sitting in the waiting room since two-thirty.

Prepositions with Nouns, Adjectives, and Verbs. Prepositions are sometimes so firmly wedded to other words that they have practically become one word. (In fact, in other languages, such as German, they would have become one word.) This occurs in three categories: nouns, adjectives, and verbs.

NOUNS and PREPOSITIONS approval of awareness of belief in concern for confusion about desire for

fondness for grasp of hatred of hope for interest in love of

need for participation in reason for respect for success in understanding of

ADJECTIVES and PREPOSITIONS afraid of angry at aware of capable of careless about familiar with

fond of happy about interested in jealous of made of married to

proud of similar to sorry for sure of tired of worried about

VERBS and PREPOSITIONS apologize for ask about ask for belong to bring up care for find out

give up grow up look for look forward to look up make up pay for

prepare for study for talk about think about trust in work for worry about

A combination of verb and preposition is called a phrasal verb. The word that is joined to the verb is then called a particle. Please refer to the brief section we have prepared on phrasal verbs for an explanation.

Idiomatic Expressions with Prepositions      

agree to a proposal, with a person, on a price, in principle argue about a matter, with a person, for or against a proposition compare to to show likenesses, with to show differences (sometimes similarities) correspond to a thing, with a person differ from an unlike thing, with a person live at an address, in a house or city, on a street, with other people

Unnecessary Prepositions In everyday speech, we fall into some bad habits, using prepositions where they are not necessary. It would be a good idea to eliminate these words altogether, but we must be especially careful not to use them in formal, academic prose.       

She met up with the new coach in the hallway. The book fell off of the desk. He threw the book out of the window. She wouldn't let the cat inside of the house. [or use "in"] Where did they go to? Put the lamp in back of the couch. [use "behind" instead] Where is your college at?

Prepositions in Parallel Form (Click HERE for a definition and discussion of parallelism.) When two words or phrases are used in parallel and require the same preposition to be idiomatically correct, the preposition does not have to be used twice. You can wear that outfit in summer and in winter. The female was both attracted by and distracted by the male's dance. However, when the idiomatic use of phrases calls for different prepositions, we must be careful not to omit one of them. The children were interested in and disgusted by the movie. It was clear that this player could both contribute to and learn from every game he played. He was fascinated by and enamored of this beguiling woman.