One area of English that often causes problems for learners is prepositions.
Below are some examples of prepositions of time (on/at/in) and some rules for when to use them.
We use ‘at’ with times of the day.
The meeting starts at 9 o’clock tomorrow morning.
I’ll see you at lunchtime.
The loud music finally stopped at midnight.
We use ‘on’ with days and dates.
The conference starts on Monday.
I have an appointment with him on the 12th June.
I’m visiting my family on Christmas day.
We use ‘in’ with longer periods of time such as months, years and seasons.
Her birthday is in September.
We first met in 2014.
I prefer the weather in summer.
She was born in the 1980s.
In the future things will hopefully be better than in the past.
We also use ‘at’ with the following expressions:
- at night
- at the weekend (on the weekend in American English)
- at Christmas and at Easter
- at the moment / at present
- at the same time
Have fun learning English!
Louise