Video Transcript
Hello! This is Emma from mmmEnglish,back with another lessonon the mmmEnglish YouTube channel.
Now a few weeks agoI made a video lesson using articles in English.If you missed it, you can watch it up here.But in that video, I said thatarticles are one of thebiggest problems for English studentsbecause they are the cause ofso many grammar mistakes!
And itâs true!As a University English teacher,I saw these mistakes all the time!
Butcoming very close behind mistakes with articlesare mistakes with prepositions.Now, prepositions are wordslike these:
- In
- On
- At
- By
- With
- For
- Over
- Under
- Of
- To
There are many of them in English and like articles,prepositions are difficult to understand.Sometimes the reasons why you should choose oneover another,itâs not really obvious.And sometimes there areexceptions and differences depending on who you actually talk to âwhether they speak American English or British English.
So whatâs the secret to these prepositions?
How can you possibly knowwhen and how to use them properly?
Well, the answer might not be one that you like.Thereâs no simple rule,thereâs no one answer.
Prepositions need to be learnt in contextwith the other words that theyâre used with.Trying to understandwhy we sayâin the carâ andâon the busâwill only end in tears and frustrations!
By learning the phrase âin the carâ together, all together,will make it easier to remember itand also to get it right every time.Youâre not thinking about which prepositionbut youâre remembering the phrase.All of the words together.
Now last week I talked about these prepositions: in, on, at and by.But all when theyâre used to talk about placeor the position of something.
- Letâs meet at the library.
- Heâs in the kitchen.
- Iâll see you on the bus.
- Heâs waiting by the car.
If you missed that lesson,you can catch it up here.
But today weâre going to focus on thesesame prepositionsbut for when they give information about time.
- Iâll be there in five minutes.
- Iâll meet you at 3pm on Thursday.
- We need to be there by noon.
So first, letâs go over the main points that we need to remember.
âAtâ is used in reference to specific times on the clock or points of time in the day.
âInâ usually refers to period of time.
And âonâ is used with dates and named days of the week.
And âbyâ is used specifically with an end point of time and it means no later than.
At
Letâs start with âatâ.Use âatâ for very specific times.Clock times for example.
- The train arrives at 3:30.
- The party starts at midnight.
- The meeting will finish at 5:30.
- Iâll be there at noon or at midday / at dawn / at dusk.
All of these words refer to specific time but we can also use âatâ with other specific times of the day, like:
- He doesnât like driving at night.
- Iâm going shopping at lunchtime.
- I read my daughter a story at bedtime.
- Letâs talk about it at dinner (time) tonight.
So there, I just called the time dinner. Itâs not the meal name there, Iâm using the time.
- Weâll talk about it at dinner time, tonight. (But often itâs not spoken)
One thing that you must be careful about is with morning, afternoon, evening and night.
We say âat nightâbut for all of these other times of the day we say:
- in the morning
- in the afternoon
- in the evening
And donât forget the article as well, right?
Now thereâs also some really commonfixed expressionsthat use the preposition âatâ â when youâre referring to a specific point in time.
- Sheâs working at the moment.
So when youâre talking aboutan action that is happening around the present moment,youâre not using âin the momentââ all the Italians out there!
- In the moment, Iâm working on a very interesting project. NO!
Itâs âat the momentâ.
- At the moment,Iâm working on a very interesting project.
- Sheâs a little busy at present,can I get her to call you back?
Itâs quite formal but âat presentâ means at this time.
- I finish the course at the end of April.
So âat the end ofâ or âat the start ofâ a period of time is also a common way to refer to a specific point in time.
Note that if you say something happened in the middle of a period of time, you need to use the preposition âinâ. But Iâll talk more about that in a moment.
- We arrived at the same time.
So we use âat the same timeâ to say that two separate actions happened simultaneously â at one time.
In
Okay letâs talk about the preposition âinâ.âInâ is used for periods of time,so seasons or monthsor even longer periods of timelike centuries or decades or years.
- I was born in 1986.
- Heâll visit them in October.
- The ski resort is closed in summer.
- He grew up in the seventies.Thatâs the period of time between 1970 and 1980.
- It happened in the 16th century.
- Donât worry,it all happened in the past.
Just as we use âinâ for periods of timewe also use it for periods of timeduring the daywhen weâre not being specific. SoâŚ
- Theyâre leaving in the evening.
- The baby sleeps in the afternoon.
- I work most productively in the morning.
But compare this to:
- I start work at 9am.
So thereâs specific time and thereâs kind of general time.We can also use âinâ to describethe amount of time needed to do something.So again, weâre talking about aperiod of time. Aperiod of time.
- They managed to complete the job in two weeks.
- You can drive around the island in a day.
We can also use âinâ to explainwhen something will happen in the future.
- Iâll be ready in five minutes.
- Heâs gone away but heâll be back in a couple of days.
- You can collect your parcel in a week.
Now remember I told you earlierthat if youâre using the expressionat the end of or at the start of somethingyou need to use the preposition âatâ.
- At the start of July.
- Return it to me at the end of the day.
But, if youâre referring to the middle of a period of timeyour preposition needs to be âinâ,âin the middleâ.
- In the middle of June.
- Itâs too hot to go out in the middle of the day.
Okay, hereâs another really common fixed expression.âIn timeâ â Youâll hear it all the time!
- We made it in time.
- Luckily, we arrived just in time.
This means that you werenât lateor you arrived just before the event started.
Donât confuse this with âon timeâ which is another fixed expression.
- Please arrive on time.
This means at the starting time, not later.If youâre told to arrive on time, donât be late!
- The teacher told them to arrive on time.
- And even though they slept in, they arrived just in time!
On
Now letâs explore more about this preposition now.In English we can use this preposition forspecific descriptions of time.Most commonly with days of the week and parts of the week.
- Sheâs working on Monday.
Thatâs a specific and a unique time.
- She usually works on Mondays.
By using the plural form there,Iâm suggesting that this is a regular event.It happens every week.
- Weâre going to the theatre on Wednesday evening.
- Letâs have a coffee on Friday morning.
- Itâs his birthday on Saturday.
So note that in spoken Englishâonâ is often omitted in context like this:
- Sheâs working Monday.
So donât be confused ifsuddenly when someone says a sentence like thisyou canât hear the preposition.In spoken English, itâs often dropped.
âOnâ is also used with dates.
- The interview is on the 29th of April.
- He was born on February 14th.
Itâs also used with special days.
- She was born on Valentineâs Day.
- Weâre moving house on Christmas Eve.
- I have an exam on my birthday.
But hereâs another little exception that you need to keep in mind.When youâre talking about festivals andabout special periods of time,you can use âatâ.
- Are you going home at Christmas?
So thatâs talking about the time around Christmas.
If youâre referring to the specific day,you need to use âonâ.
- On Christmas Day.
- On New Yearâs Eve.
- What are you doing on New Yearâs Day?
- What are you doing at New Yearâs?
Now this question is more general,youâre referring to the period of timearound this holiday â usually there is a few days whereeveryoneâs not working andtheyâre relaxing and hanging out soâon Yearâs Dayâ means specifically that day.
But if you sayâat New Yearâsâyou just mean the time around that day.
Another fixed expression that can be a little bit confusing is âat/on the weekendâ
What are you doing on the weekend? is more common in American English.
What are you doing at the weekend? is more common in British English.
But either way, youâll be understood. Both of them mean the same thing. But itâs good to know that there are two different ways to express this.
By
And lastly, âbyâ. Our last little preposition is very useful to give information about time.You can use âbyâ with the end time of an activity.
- The show should be finished by 9pm.
It means no later than.So when itâs used with a specific time,it can mean on or before that time.
- Please return these books by Friday.
That means no later than Friday.
So letâs recap.Letâs go over everything that we learnt in this lesson because it was a lot to take in!
- âAtâ is generally used in reference to specific times on the clock or points of time in the day.
- âInâ generally refers to longer periods of time.
- âOnâ is used with dates and named days.
- âByâ is used with times and named days of the week, but specifically, telling us an end time.
Well thatâs it for this lesson!I hope that itâs been good revision for youto remind yourself about the correct way touse these really common English prepositions that give more information about time.
Now if youâve got any questions at all,put them in the comments belowand I will try to answer them as soon as I can.
If you really love the mmmEnglish Channel and you enjoy my lessons, then please make sure you subscribe just here or here. And check out some of the other lessons that Iâve prepared. This playlist here is full of grammar videos and this one here will help you to practise your speaking skills.
Thanks for watching and I will see you in the next lesson. Bye for now!