PREPOSITION OF PLACE AND TIME

PREPOSITION OF PLACE  ( At / On / In )

v  Addresses

Generally, we use at to talk about complete addresses.

Ex :

·         She lives at 73 Albert Street.

·         Are you still at the same address ?

·         We use in ( US on ) if we just give the name of the street.

·         We use in / on Albert Street.

·         We use in if we just give the name of a large area.

·         She lives in Swaziland.

v  In

Generally, we use in for position inside large areas and in three dimensional space (when something is surrounded on all sides).

-           in a room

-          in a shop

-          in a car

-          in the water

Ex :

·         Where’s Jim ? “ In the kitchen / In the garden / In the living room “

·         What is in your bag / in that cupboard / in the box ?

v  On

On is used for position on a surface or ‘attached to’.

-          on the box

-          on the floor

-          on a shelf

-          on a plate

Ex :

·         There are some books on the shelf and some pictures on the wall.

·         Don’t sit on the floor. It’s still wet.

v  At

At is used to talk about position at a point.

-          at the desk

-          at the bus stop

-          at the door

-          at the traffic lights

Ex :

·         She is working at her desk.

PREPOSITION OF TIME  ( At / On / In )

v  At

We use ‘ at ‘ when we talk about clock times.

Ex :

·         I get up at 6 o’clock every day.

·         The shops close at 5.30.

·         She often watch TV at midnight.

We also use ‘ at ‘ for public holidays and these situations :

·         What did you do at the weekend ?

·         I can’t sleep at night.

·         Where will you be at Christmas ?

·         Are you busy at the moment ?

v  On

We use ‘ on ‘ for days, dates, and particular days.

Ex :

·         I’ll ring you on Tuesday.

·         My birthday is on March 21^st.

·         They are having a party on Christmas day.

·         What are you doing on Easter day ?

·         I have nothing to do on Sunday morning.

v  In

We use ‘ in ‘  for months, year, seasons, and part of days.

Ex :

·         I’m going to New York in April.

·         She was born in 1989

·         The garden is lovely in spring.

·         We usually go out in the evening.

We also use ‘ in ‘ to talk about duration / period.

·         I’ll be back in 30 minutes.

·         He wrote the book in a month.

·         Hurry! The train leaves in five minutes.

·         Goodbye! I’ll see you in a few days.

We don’t use at / on / in before :

-          this.....( this morning / this week / this Tuesday, etc )

-          last.....( last August / last week / last year, etc )

-          next....( next Monday / next month / next summer, etc )

-          every...( every day / every week / every Thursday, etc ).

Ex :

·         Are you going out this evening ?

·         I had a nice holiday last summer.