University of Bejaia Automatic/ Telecommunication/ electronic department

Level: 2nd year LMD students Teacher: Miss Aissi

Module: English Specialty: Automatic, Telecommunications and

Electronic

The prepositions IN, ON, and AT

The three most commonly used prepositions are at, on and in.

The preposition At:

The preposition at commonly refers to a position or a location that implies a function. It represents one
dimension (i.e., a point or goal).

Position of Time, Place, or Measure

Examples:

1. The rocket was launched at 5:93 A.M.

2. The neutron is at the center of the atom.

3. Sulfur melts at a temperature of 113° C. (at + a measurement noun is a common structure).

Other uses:

At the age at a level at the surface

At the beginning at a node at the terminal

At the bottom at a point at the top

At the end at a stage

Location that implies function

Examples:

1. The professor is at the lab today. (The professor may be inside or outside the actual lab. This
sentence indicates that the professor is doing the things one normally does in a lab).

2.The assistant is at the post office (i.e., the assistant is doing what one normally does at a post office,
such as buying stamps, mailing a letter, or picking up a package).

Other uses:

At the airport at the garage at school

At the bank at home at the store

At court at the hospital at work

The preposition On
The preposition on is commonly refers to a line or a surface. It represents one dimensions (a line) or
two dimensions (i.e., a surface or a plane).

Line examples:

1. Building on a fault line is not advised.

2.32° F is 0° on the Centigrade scale.

Other uses:

On the average on a line

On the edge on a path

On the gauge on the verge (of)

Surface

Examples:

1. Check the reading on the barometer.

2. Oxides on the surface prevent the metal from corroding.

Other uses:

On the affected area on a plane

On the face on a side

The preposition In

The preposition in is commonly refers to containment or mode. It represents three dimensions (i.e., a
cube or containment in three- dimensional space).

Containment

Examples:

1. The sample is in the test tube.

2. Ozone occurs in the upper atmosphere (a limited area).

3. The program failed because of bugs in the system.

Other uses:

In the body in a manometer in a position

In this cade in the ocean in a range

In the circuit in a plane in a situation

In a liquid in this problem in a tank

Mode: Measure, Direction, Action

Examples:

1. The box is two feet in length.

2. The lava flowed in a westward direction.
3. The blood is constantly in motion.

At, on, and In relation to time

In relation to time, the following diagram may help you to remember the uses of at, on, and in:

at Time: the rocket was launched at 5:39.

On Day: the meeting is on Tuesday.
Date: the first atomic explosion took place on July 16, 1945.
In Month: sunspots are most active in May.
Season: it usually snows in winter.
Year: the cyclotron was built in 1931.
Decade: computers became miniaturized in the 70s.
Century: sir Isaac newton was born in the 17th century.

Exercise: add at, on and in to the blanks.

1. The great San Francisco earthquake occurred on… April 18, 1906.

2. The pressure at……………… the bottom of the deepest part of the Pacific Ocean is 16,380 pounds
per square inch.

3. The planets in………… the solar system lies for the most part a plane.

4. Hydrogen boils at ……… a temperature of -252.87° C.

5. The specimen was mounted on……….. a glass slide for microscopic analysis.

6. Hibernation in the northern hemisphere usually ends in……. March.