Lesson 1 : Prepositions for Time and Place
Time
We use:
‘At’ for the time of day
At five o’clock at 11.45 at midnight at lunchtime at sunset
‘On’ for days and dates
On Friday/on Fridays on 16 May 1999 on Eid day on my birthday
‘In’ for longer periods (for example: month/year/seasons)
In October in 1998 in the 18th century in the past
In (the) winter in the 1990s in the middle Ages in (the) future
We use ‘at’ with these expressions:
At night I don’t like going out at night.
At the weekend/ at weekends Will you be here at the weekend?
At Christmas Do you give each other presents at Christmas?
At the moment / at present Mr. Benn is busy at the moment/at present.
At the same time Emily and I arrived at the same time.
We say:
In the morning (s) but on Friday morning (s)
In the afternoon (s) but on Sunday afternoon (s)
In the evening (s) but one Monday evening (s)
I’ll see you in the morning. but I’ll see you on Friday morning.
Do you work in the evenings? but Do you work on Sunday evenings?
We do not use at/on/in before ‘last/this/every’:
I’ll see you next Friday. (not on next Friday)
They got married last March.
In a few minutes / in six months etc.:
The rain will be leaving in a few minutes. (= a few minutes from now)
She’ll be here in a moment. (=a moment from now)
On time = punctual, not late. If something happens on time, it happens at the time which
was planned:
The 11:45 train left on time. (=it left at 11:45)
“I’ll meet you at 7.30.” “Ok, but please be on time.” (= don’t be late, be there at 7:30)
The conference was well-organized. Everything began and finished on time.
In the time (for something / to do something) = soon enough:
Will you be home in time for dinner? (=soon enough for dinner)
I’ve sent Roy a birthday present. I hope it arrives in time. (=on or before her birthday)
I’m in a hurry. I want to go home in time to see the game on television. (=I got home too late to
see the game on television.)
You can say just in time. (=almost too late):
We got to the station just in time for our train.
A child ran into the road in front of the car. I manage to stop just in time.
At the end (of something) = at the time when something ends
For example:
At the end of the month at the end of January at the end of the game
At the end the film at the end of the course at the end of the concert
I’m going away at the end of January /at the end of the month.
At the end of the concert, there was great applause.
The players shook hands at the end of the game.
In the end = finally
We use in the end when we say what the final result of a situation was.
He got more and more angry. In the end he just walked out the room.
Alan couldn’t decide where to go for his holidays. He didn’t go anywhere in the end.
(not at the end)
The opposite of in the end is usually at first:
At first we didn’t get on very well, but in the end we became good friends.
Place
In
In a room in a garden in a pool
In a building in a town/country in the sea
In a box in the city center in a river
There’s no-one in the room / in the building / in the garden.
What have you got in your hand / in your mouth?
When we were in Italy, we spent a few days in Venice.
I have a friend who lives swimming in the pool / in the sea / in the river.
At
at the bus stop at the door at the window at the roundabout at
reception
Do you know that man standing at the door / at the window?
Turn left at the traffic light / at the church / at roundabout.
We have to get off the bus at the next stop.
When you leave the hotel, please leave your key at reception. (= at the reception)
On
I sat on the floor / on the ground / on the grass / on the beach / on a chair.
There’s a dirty mark on the wall / on the ceiling / on your nose / on your shirt.
Have you seen the notice on the notice board / on the door?
You’ll find details of TV programmes on page seven of the newspaper.
The hotel is on a small island in the middle of the lake.
• Compare in and at:
There were a lot of people in the shop. It was very crowded.
Go alone this road, then turn left at the shop.
I’ll meet you in the hotel lobby.
I’ll meet you at the entrance to the hotel.
• Compare in and on:
There is some water in the bottle.
There is a label on the bottle.
• Compare at and on:
There is somebody at the door. Shall I go and see who it is?
There is a notice on the door. It says ‘Do not Disturb’.
• We say that somebody/something is:
(In)
in a line / in a row / in a queue
in bed
in the sky / in the world
in the country / in the countryside
in an office / in a department
in a photograph / in a picture
in a book / in a (news) paper / in a magazine / in a letter
(On)
On the left / on the right / on the left-hand side / right-hand side
On the ground floor / on the first floor / on the second floor
On a map / on a menu / on a list
On a farm
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Unit 2 Page # 31
We say that a place is on a river / on a road / on the coast:
Budapest is on the (river) Danube.
Portsmouth is on the south coast of England.
At Vs On
At
We stopped at a small village on the way to Dhaka.
At the top (of) at the bottom (of) at the end (of)
Write your name at the top of the page.
Jan’s house is at the other end of the street.
In the front / at the back of the house.
Let’s sit at front (of the cinema).
We were at the back, so we couldn’t see very well.
On
On the front / on the back of a letter / piece of paper etc.
I wrote the date on the back of the photograph
In the corner or on the corner of a street
There is a post box at / on the corner of the street.
In Vs At
In hospital / at home etc.
We say that somebody is---
in hospital / in prison / in jail.
Ann’s mother is in hospital.
We say that somebody is---
at home / at work / at school / at university / at college:
I’ll be at work until 5:30, but I’ll be at home all evening.
Julia is studying chemistry at university.
• Compare at sea and in the sea:
It was a long voyage. We were at sea for 30 days.
I love swimming in the sea.
At
• We usually say at when we say where an event takes place a (for example: a concert, a
film, a party, a meeting):
We went to a concert at Basundhara Convention Hall.
The meeting took place at the company’s head office in Dhaka.
We say at the station. I can get taxi.
• We stay at somebody’s house.
I was at Sue’s house last night.
Or
I was at Sue’s last night.
at the doctor’s
at the hairdresser’s
• We use ‘in’ when we are thinking about the building itself.
Compare:
We had dinner at the hotel. All the rooms in the hotel have air conditioning. (not the hotel)
I was at Salam’s (house) last night.
It’s always cold in Salam’s house. The heating doesn’t work very well. (not at Sue’s house)
On
We usually say on bus/ on a train / on a plane / on a ship
but
in a car / in a taxi
Example:
The bus was very full. There were too many people on it.
Mary arrived in a taxi.
We say---
on a bike (=bicycle) / on a motorbike / on a horse:
Jane passed me on her bike.
• We say go / come / travel to a place or event
For example:
go to Chittagong go to bed come to my house
go back to Italy go to the bank be taken to hospital
return to London go to concert be sent to prison
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Welcome (somebody) to (a place) drive to the airport
• Been to
We say---
‘been to Italy four times, but I’ve never been to Rome.
Amanda has never been to a football match in her life.
• Get and arrive
We say get to (a place):
What did they get to London / to work / to the party?
But we say arrive in … or arriver at …. (not arrive to). We say arrive in a town or
country:
They arrived at Dhaka / in Bangladesh a week ago.
For other places (building etc) or events, we say arrive at:
When did they arrive at the hotel / at the airport / at the party?
• Home
We say: go home / come home / get home / arrive home / on the way home etc. (no preposition).
We do not say ‘to home’:
I’m tired. Let’s go home now. (not go to home)
I met Nisa on my way home. (not my way to home)
• Into
Go into, get into … etc. = enter (a room / a building / a car etc.)
I opened the door, went into the room and star down.
A bird flew into the kitchen through the window.
With some verbs (especially go/get/put) we often use in (instead of into):
She got in the car and drove away. (or She got into the car…)
I read the letter and put it back in envelope.
The opposite of into is ‘out of’:
She got out of the car and went into a shop.
We usually say ‘got on/off a bus / a train / a plane’ ( not usually get into / out of ):
She got on the bus and I never saw her again.
Exercise
Fill the gaps with appropriate prepositions:
1. My last train leaves ___10:30.
2. Are you going home ___ Eid?
3. I was born ___ 1999.
4. He’s leaving ___ the morning.
5. I’ll see you ___ Friday.
6. The interview is ___ 29th April.
7. Turn right ___ the traffic lights.
8. They live ___ 70, Indira road.
9. There was a beautiful painting ___ the wall.
10. Do you like living ___ Dhaka?
Answer Key
1. at
2. at
3. in
4. in
5. on
6. on
7. at
8. at
9. on
10. in