Prepositions of Time - at, in, on

We use:

• at for a PRECISE TIME

• in for MONTHS, YEARS, CENTURIES and LONG PERIODS

• on for DAYS and DATES

 

at PRECISE TIME	in MONTHS, YEARS, CENTURIES and LONG PERIODS	on DAYS and DATES
at 3 o'clock	in May	on Sunday
at 10.30am	in summer	on Tuesdays
at noon	in the summer	on 6 March
at dinnertime	in 1990	on 25 Dec. 2010
at bedtime	in the 1990s	on Christmas Day
at sunrise	in the next century	on Independence Day
at sunset	in the Ice Age	on my birthday
at the moment	in the past/future	on New Year's Eve

Look at these examples:

• I have a meeting at 9am.

• The shop closes at midnight.

• Jane went home at lunchtime.

• In England, it often snows in December.

• Do you think we will go to Jupiter in the future?

• There should be a lot of progress in the next century.

• Do you work on Mondays?

• Her birthday is on 20 November.

• Where will you be on New Year's Day?

Notice the use of the preposition of time at in the following standard expressions:

Expression	Example
at night	The stars shine at night.
at the weekend*	I don't usually work at the weekend.
at Christmas*/Easter	I stay with my family at Christmas.
at the same time	We finished the test at the same time.
at present	He's not home at present. Try later.

*Note that in some varieties of English people say "on the weekend" and "on Christmas".

Notice the use of the prepositions of time in and on in these common expressions:

in	on
in the morning	on Tuesday morning
in the mornings	on Saturday mornings
in the afternoon(s)	on Sunday afternoon(s)
in the evening(s)	on Monday evening(s)

When we say last, next, every, this we do not also use at, in, on.

• I went to London last June. (not in last June)

• He's coming back next Tuesday. (not on next Tuesday)

• I go home every Easter. (not at every Easter)

• We'll call you this evening. (not in this evening)

 

Mini Quiz

Test your understanding with this quick quiz.

1. Choose the correct prepositions: "Let's meet _______ midday _______ Saturday."

 at, at
 in, on
 at, on

2. Choose the correct prepositions: "The manager isn't here _______ present, but she'll be back _______ half an hour."

 at, in
 at, at
 in, in

3. Which are correct? "You won't be working _______ Saturday nights _______ the future, will you?"

 at, in
 on, in
 on, at

4. Which are correct? "I'm busy _______ moment, but I'll be free ______ evening."

 at the, in this
 in the, at this
 at the, this