COURSE : ENGLISH IV

CODE : IN304

CYCLE : VI

PROFESSOR : MG. GRACIELA BRITTO GUTIÉRREZ

SUBJECT : PREPOSITIONS OF TIME

 AT/ ON/ IN (TIME)

Compare at, on and in:

 They arrived at 5 o´clock.

 They arrived on Friday.
 They arrives in October. /They arrived in 1990.

We use:

At for the time of day.

at five o´clock at 11.45 at midnight at luchtime at sunset

On for days and dates.

On Friday/ on Fridays on 16 May 2010 on Christmas Day, on
my birthday etc.

In for longer periods (for example: months/ years / seasons)In

October in 1998 in the 18th century in the past
In (the) winter in the 1990s in the Middle Ages in (the)
future.
We use at in these expressions:

At night I don´t like going out at night.

At the weekend/ at Will yu be here at the

weekends weekend?

At Christmas Do you give each other

presents at Christmas?

At the moment/ at present Mr. Benn is busy at the

moment/ at present.

At the same time Emily and I arrived at the

same time.
We say:

In the morning(s) On Friday morning(s)

In the afternoon(s) On Sunday (afternoon(s)

In the evening(s) but On Monday evening(s) etc.

 I´ll see you in the  I´ll see you on Friday

morning. morning.

 Do you work in the  Do you work on Saturday

evenings? evenings?
We do not use at/ on/ in before last/ next/ this/ every:
 I´ll see you next Friday.
(not on next Friday)
In spoken English we
often leave out on before
days (Sunday/ Monday,
etc.) So you can say:
In a few minutes/ in six
months etc.
 They got married last
March.
 I´ll see you on Friday. Or
I´ll see you Friday.
 I don´t go out on Monday
mornings. Or I don´t go
out Monday mornings.
 The train will be leaving
in a few minutes. (=a
week from now)
 Andy has gone away. He
´ll be back in a week. (=
a week from now)
You can also say «in six months´ time, «in a week´s time,
etc. :

 They´re getting married

in six months´time. Or …
in six months.

We also use in…to say

how long it takes to do
something:

 I learnt to drive in four

weeks. (= it took me four
weeks to learn)
On time and in time. At the end and in the end
On time and in time  The 11.45 train left on
time. (= it left at 11:45)

On time = punctual, not  «I´ll meet you at 7:30».

late. If something happens «Ok, but please be on
on time, it happens at the time». (= don´t be late,
time which was planned: be there at 7:30)

 The conference was

well-organised.
Everything began and
finished on time.

The opposite of on time is

 Be o time. Don´t be late.
late.
In time (for something/ to do something) = soon enough:
 Will you be home in time
for dinner? (=soon
enough for dinner)
 I´ve sent Emma a
birthday present. I hope
it arrives in time (for her
birthday). (=on or before
her birthday).
 I´m in a hurry. I want to
be home in time to see
the game on tv. (=soon
enough to see the
game).
The opposite of in time is
too late:
 I got home too late to
see the game on tv.
You can say just in time.
(= almost too late)
 We got to the station
just in time for our train.
 A child ran into the road
in front of the car – I
managed to stop just in
time.
At the end and in the end

At the end (of something) =  I´m going away at the end

at the time when of January/ at the end of
something ends. For the month.
example:
 At the end of the concert,
 At the of the month. there was great applause
 At the end of the film.
 At the end of January.  The players shook hands
 At the end of the course. at the end of the game.
 At the end of the game.
 At the end of the concert. The opposite of at the end
(of…) is at the beginning
(of…):
You cannot say «in the end
of…». So you cannot say
«In the end of January. Or  I´m going away at the
«In the end of the concert» beginning of January.
(not in the beginning).
In the end = finally
We use in the end when
we say what the final
result of a situation was:
 We had a lot of problems
with our car. We sold it
in the end. (= finally we
sold it).
The opposite of in the end
is usually at first:
 At first we didn´t get on
very well, but in the end
we became good
friends.

 He got more and more

angry. In the end he just
walked out of the room.

 Alan couldn´t decide

where to go for his
holidays. He didn´t go
anywhere in the end.
(not at the end)