Learn English about IN - ON - AT - Learn about Prepositions of Time

Hello students, welcome back to the English Danny Channel. I am teacher Sara

Act on and in our prepositions that can be a little confusing

How do you know which to use?

Today we're going to learn how to use act on and in

correctly when talking about time

Let's get started

There are many phrases we can use when talking about time we can use specific times like one o'clock

4:15 and midnight

We can use parts of the day like morning and afternoon

Days like Monday and Tuesday months like January and February

Seasons holidays and so on

Let's begin with the word act

Act is used to talk about clock times the whole period of the holidays like Christmas

Easter and Thanksgiving and in British English at is used with weekends

Here are some examples

first clock times I

Usually get up at 6 o'clock

I'll meet you at 5:30

Call me at lunch time

Next the whole period of holidays

We do not use act to refer to the specific day

but rather to talk about something that happens in the time period

Surrounding a holiday. For example, I

Love seeing my family at Christmas

This means that I love seeing my family in the time period surrounding

Christmas not just on Christmas Day

We're getting the roof repaired at Easter this means that our roof will be repaired in the time period surrounding

Easter not just on Easter Sunday

Finally in British English you will often hear the term at the weekend

for example

What did you do at the weekend in?

American English, however, we say on the weekend. I'm going to see her on the weekend

Next let's consider the preposition on

on is used to talk about

specific particular days, for example

She will arrive on Tuesday

My birthday is on November 5th

They're having a party on Christmas Day. We

Can also use on to talk about repeated actions, for example

We usually go see our grandparents on Sundays

Lastly let's look at the preposition in M

is used to talk about parts of the day and

longer periods of time

parts of the day include words like morning afternoon and evening for

Example I work best in the morning

I'll see you in the afternoon

We like to go out in the evening

It is important to note that with the word night

There are two possible prepositions we can use in or act

We use in the night to refer to one particular night and at night to mean during any night

Compare the following sentences. I

Had to get up in the night

This means I had to get up in one particular night. I

Often work at night

This means I often work during any given night it is

Also used to talk about longer periods of time like weeks

months seasons years and centuries

Let's consider the following examples

It happened in the week after Thanksgiving. I

was born in June

Osaka is beautiful in spring

She finished college in 20:12

Our house was built in the 15th century

In can also be used in a few other circumstances

In can be used to say how soon something will happen and how long something takes to happen

For example, I will turn in the assignment in 3 days. I

Can run 200 meters in about 30 seconds last but not least

There are some time expressions that do not use any prepositions

act on and in are not

Normally used in expressions of time before the words next

last

this

one

any

each

every some all and sometimes that

Here are some examples

See you next week. Are you free this morning come anytime. I

Didn't feel very well that week

I'm home every evening

Let's meet one day

We stayed all day

Alright, let's summarize

Today's lesson here is a chart showing how we can use act on and in and when to not use these prepositions

Act is used to talk about clock times the whole period surrounding

holidays and in British English at is used with the weekend on is used to talk about

specific particular days in

Is used to talk about parts of the day and longer periods of time

In can also be used to say how soon something will happen and how long something takes to happen

We do not use these prepositions in expressions of time before these words

Ok students. That's it for today's lesson. Thanks for tuning in

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