Everyday Grammar: In, On | on every day
WhenEnglishspeakerstalkabouttimeandplace,therearethreelittlewordsthatoftencomeup:in,on,andat.Thesecommonwordsareprepositionsthatshowarelationshipbetweentwowordsinasentence.SomeprepositionsarerathereasyforEnglishlearnerstounderstand:behind,over,under,nextto,etc…Buttheselittletwo-letterprepositionsseemtocreateconfusion.Hereareafewrulestohelpyouunderstandwhentousein,on,andatinasentence.Fordescribingtimeandplace,theprepositionsin,on,andatgofromgeneraltospecific.PrepositionsandTimeLet’sstartbyloo...
When English speakers talk about time and place, there are three little words that often come up: in, on, and at. These common words are prepositions that show a relationship between two words in a sentence.
Some prepositions are rather easy for English learners to understand: behind, over, under, next to, etc…
But these little two-letter prepositions seem to create confusion. Here are a few rules to help you understand when to use in, on, and at in a sentence.
For describing time and place, the prepositions in, on, and at go from general to specific.
Prepositions and Time
Let’s start by looking at how we talk about time. English speakers use in to refer to a general, longer period of time, such as months, years, decades, or centuries. For example, we say “in April,” “in 2015” or “in the 21st century.”
Moving to shorter, more specific periods of time, we use on to talk about particular days, dates, and holidays . You may hear, “I went to...