homework prepositions of time

Homework: Prepositions of Time

At, in or on? Whoever thought three tiny words could cause so much confusion! These three basic Time Prepositions are among the first your students are likely to encounter as they become more acquainted with the English language, so it's critical that they get them right before they encounter the plethora of less logical prepositions that await them as they progress to higher levels. This handy worksheet enables students to practise these essential parts of speech through three different types of exercises.

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Prepositions of time 1

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Worksheets - pdf exercises

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Grammar lessons / rules

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• A1-A2 grammar

Prepositions of time

Daisy is at home. She has a note for Sophie from the headmaster …

Instructions

As you watch the video, look at the examples of prepositions of time. They are in red in the subtitles. Then read the conversation below to learn more. Finally, do the grammar exercises to check you understand, and can use, prepositions of time correctly.

Daisy: Hi, Mum, How's it going?

Sophie: Fine thanks, honey. How was school?

Daisy: Good. I've got a note for you from Mr Oliveira.

Sophie: Who's Mr Oliveira? Your Portuguese teacher?

Daisy: I don't study Portuguese, Mum. You know that.

Sophie: True. But you could. It's a very useful language. They speak it in Brazil ...

Daisy: Mum, he's the new headmaster at college. And he isn't Portuguese – or Brazilian. He's British. But I think he said his parents are from Goa.

Sophie: Goa? Wow. The headmaster ... Ah yes, I remember him. I met him at Christmas when I went to your school for that concert. In December, anyway. A very nice man, yes.

Daisy: Mum ...

Sophie: It would be good to speak to him about his parents' country. I could interview him, then visit Goa in summer … no, too hot maybe ... in autumn ...

Daisy: Well, he'd like to see you again too.

Sophie: Really?

Daisy: He wants you to go into school on Monday or Tuesday next week.

Sophie: Oh? Have you done something wrong?

Daisy: No, of course not! You know me. He wants to ask if you can give a talk about your work and your blog, your travels, that sort of thing. One day in April, during Careers Week.

Sophie: So on Monday or Tuesday? What time?

Daisy: In the afternoon or in the early evening. At 5 o'clock, if you can.

Sophie: Hmm. I can go at half past four on Tuesday, if that's OK.

Daisy: I'll ask.

Sophie: Let me see. I'm away in Moscow for three days in April ... but during your school holidays, I think. I'm going to Russia to write about traditions at Easter – oh, and then I'm away again at the end of the month. But I'm at home for two or three weeks. I can't go on Monday evening, because I have a tai chi class, and then I have to work at night. I have a video call at midnight ... Yes, definitely. I'll go in on Tuesday afternoon.

Daisy: Can you write a note or send him an email, please?

Sophie: I'll phone him during the day tomorrow. I'm free for a few hours in the morning.

Daisy: OK, I'll tell him. Where are you?

Sophie: Here in town. I'm at the travel agent's. I'm chatting to your friend Jenna – I hadn't seen her for months! I didn't know she was working here; she's organising my flights to Russia. Do you want to speak to her? 

Daisy: No, it's OK, I'll see her at the weekend. We're going to a party on Saturday night.

Sophie: OK, well I'll be home in about an hour – at about 7 o'clock probably. Pizza and a DVD tonight?

We use many different prepositions for talking about time. Here we are looking at: in , on , at , during and for .

We use in , on and at for lots of different times. Here’s a table comparing the uses:

Wow! That’s a lot of uses! So I have to learn all those?

Yes, but you probably know most of them, don’t you?

Yes, maybe … Is that all of them? I mean, are there any exceptions?

Well, sometimes we don’t use a preposition of time, for example after next / this / last / every .

We go skateboarding every Saturday afternoon. I’ll see you next Friday.

Mm, but I could also say: “ I’ll see you on Friday .”

Oh yes, that's fine too. But we often leave out on with days of the week when we’re speaking.

I’ll see you Friday.

OK. Now, about dates ... You write “ on 8th July ” but how do you say that?

Good question! We say “ on the eighth of July ”.

OK, so I have to remember to say “ on THE eighth OF July ”.

One last question about in . Can I use it for the future, as in “ I’ll do it in a minute ”?

Yes, that’s very common. We use in for talking about something in the future a certain length of time from now.

She’ll be back in a moment .                                                                  We’re going away in two weeks .

And can I say, “ We’re going away for two weeks ”?

Yes, but the meaning is completely different.

We’re going away in two weeks .  (= we leave two weeks from now) We’re going away for two weeks . (= our holiday will be two weeks long)

Ah, and what about “We’re going away during two weeks”?

No, you can’t say that. We use for + a length of time , to say how long something goes on for, and during + a noun / noun phrase , to say when something happens.

It snowed for three hours. It snowed during the night.

OK, that’s a useful rule. But, hang on, I can also say “ It snowed in the night ”.

Yes, absolutely.

And: “ I did a lot of work in the holidays ” or “ I did a lot of work during the holidays ”?

Yes, you’ve got the hang of this.

Good, so now I’m going to study for a few hours . I’ll see you on Tuesday , in the morning , at about 10 o’clock .

See you at some time during the morning!

Check your grammar: grouping - prepositions of time

Check your grammar: gap fill - prepositions of time, check your grammar: multiple choice - prepositions of time, worksheets and downloads.

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Prepositions of Time

Prepositions of time (at, in, on).

"At" is used for precise times.

"On" is used with days and dates.

"In" is used for months, years, centuries (i.e., long periods)

More Examples with "At"

More examples with "on", more examples with "in", set time phrases.

Set Phrases with "At":

Set Phrases with "On":

Set Phrases with "In":

No Preposition

Set Phrases with No Preposition:

This page was written by Craig Shrives .

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Prepositions of Time

Perfect english grammar.

In, at, on and no preposition with time words:

Prepositions of time - here's a list of the time words that need 'on', 'in', 'at' and some that don't need any preposition. Be careful - many students of English use 'on' with months (it should be 'in'), or put a preposition before 'next' when we don't need one.

• Click here to download this explanation as a pdf.
• Try an exercise about prepositions of time here.
• Try another exercise about time prepositions here.
• Click here for all exercises about prepositions.

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• A1-A2 grammar

Prepositions of time: 'at', 'in', 'on'

Do you know how and when to use at , in and on to talk about time? Test what you know with interactive exercises and read the explanation to help you.

Look at these examples to see how we use at , in and on to talk about time.

At weekends, I love to go skiing. In spring, the weather is warmer. On Mondays, I work from home. In the afternoon, I do activities. On weekdays, I work until 12. At 5 o'clock, I do two or three more hours of work.

Try this exercise to test your grammar.

Grammar A1-A2: Prepositions of time – 'at', 'in' and 'on': 1

Read the explanation to learn more.

Grammar explanation

We use the prepositions in , on or at to say when something happens.

We usually use at  with clock times and mealtimes.

I get up at 6.30 a.m. and go for a run. She doesn't like to leave the office at lunchtime.

We also use at with some specific phrases such as at the weekend and at night .

At the weekend, I can spend the days how I like.

We can also say on weekends  or  on the weekend . This is more common in American English.

We say at night when we mean all of the night. But we say in the night when we want to talk about a specific time during the night.

She's a nurse and she works at night . The baby often wakes up in the night .

We use at with Christmas and other holidays that last several days.

The weather is very cold here at Christmas . At Chinese New Year , many people go home to their families.

We usually use in  with parts of the day and longer periods of time such as months, seasons and years.

I usually relax in the evening. In summer it's too hot to do anything. I'm always really busy in December.

We usually use on with days and dates.

On Fridays, I have a long lunch. It's his birthday on 19 October.

Do this exercise to test your grammar again.

Grammar A1-A2: Prepositions of time – 'at', 'in' and 'on': 2

Hello I would like to ask about for/in I was talking with my mentor about not being in a Theatre for at least three years the exact sentence was: "I haven't been to a Theatre in a long time" and afterward she corrected me that stead of in I should have used for. Would you mind explaining please?

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Hello vosik121,

When the sentence is affirmative you can use only 'for':

I have been going to this theatre for a long time.

However, when the sentence is negative both are possible:

I haven't been to this theatre for a long time. I haven't been to this theatre in a long time.

In your example both 'in' and 'for' are possible.

The LearnEnglish Team

Hi, if I want to talk about certain kind of days, such as windy days or sunny days, which preposition should I use? For example, ‘on windy days I feel funny’, or ‘in windy days I feel funny’? I would instinctively use ‘on’, but I’d like to understand better.

Thanks in advance (:

Hello vantina,

Yes, you are right in thinking that we use 'on'. In general, if the word or phrase we're referring to has the word 'day' in it somewhere (e.g. 'windy days', 'holidays', 'Christmas Day', 'weekdays'), we use 'on'.

I hope that helps you make sense of it.

All the best, Kirk LearnEnglish team

Why do we use "on" with "holidays"? "On" should be used with days and dates...If we follow the grammar rules, we should say "at holidays", which sounds wrong :) Thanks!

Hello Claire,

While what I'm about to say is probably not always true, in general we use 'at' + a holiday when we're talking about a holiday season. For example, 'at Christmas' can refer not just to Christmas Day, but the days surrounding it.

But there's a strong tendency to use 'on' with the word 'day', so we say 'on Christmas Day' (not 'at Christmas Day'). The same could be said of the word 'holiday', which has the word 'day' in it.

I hope that helps you make sense of it, but please also consider that what we call 'rules' are really just observations of the way native speakers have come to use the language over time.

Thanks for the authority, I completely understand the usage of prepositions of time.

Which preposition must we use with this phrase ( Saturday lunchtime) ?

Hi enigma4ever25,

It should be "on", but it's quite common to drop the preposition too, e.g.  I'll see you Saturday lunchtime .

I hope that helps!

LearnEnglish team

Hello, I have a sentence "I am completing competitive programming fundamental ... Coursera". What should I fill? In or at? Thank you

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HOMEWORK - PREPOSITIONS OF TIME

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