Prepositions - in, at & on (when and how to use them!)

Watch the video here.

https://youtu.be/hAIxdxRKZxk

Hi everyone and welcome back to English with Kathryn.

Today we're going to talk about those three pesky prepositions

“in, at and on”.

And you're going to finally learn how to use them correctly, when and where to use them.

Today we're going to discuss using in, at and on when talking about time and places.

Typical Mistakes

Okay, first we're going to look at some typical mistakes made by learners of English. I’m going to put them on the screen, I want you to spot the mistakes in each of these sentences.

- The two couples were married in two different cities at the same day 25 years ago.

- The general was killed at 26th August.

- What do you usually do in the weekend?

- They’re going to Australia on September for a conference.

Okay, did you spot the mistakes! If not, here are the answers:)

- The two couples were married in two different cities on the same day 25 years ago.

- The general was killed on 26th August.

- What do you usually do at/on the weekend?

- They’re going to Australia in September for a conference.

Okay! you might have found them easy or difficult or you're still confused about some aspects of these prepositions. Let's take a deeper look when using ‘in’, ‘at’ and ‘on’.

AT for time

When talking about time, we use at, when talking about points on the clock or clock time like 3am, 2pm, half past 4.

My meeting is at six o'clock

The plane takes off at 2pm

So here we use ‘at’ for times. We also use it for particular times in the day like at noon or midday or at night. And we use it for a particular point during the week which is at the weekend.

Now if you're in the United states and in Ireland, we often say on the weekend.

So you can use at or on here and we also use it for celebration days or periods like at Christmas, at Easter, at New years, at Halloween.

However, we say on your birthday.

And just a quick note, a lot of people in my classes ask this question,

At what time does the class begin?

Actually we don't really use ‘At what time?’. We don't really use prepositions at the beginning of sentences anymore. It’s a bit outdated, it's a bit old-fashioned.

In fact, we normally use them now at the end of the sentence or we don't use them at all.

For example:

What time does the class begin?

or

What time should I meet you at?

See how we put the ‘at’ at the end of the sentence here, but in this in this type of question, we can leave the preposition out altogether.

ON for time

Now when using on when talking about time, we use on for days-

on Tuesday, on Wednesday, on Thursday, etc.

On Tuesday I have a meeting.

I like to go to the gym on Friday or on Fridays.

Actually what is the difference between saying on Friday or on Fridays. With an ‘s’ it's quite interesting, if I say I’m going to the gym on Friday it means, I’m going to the gym next Friday. But if you say, I go to the gym on Fridays it means every Friday it's a regular thing when I add the s on the end of the day.

We also use on with dates:

I was born on the 4th of July

The wedding is on the 7th of December

IN for time

We use in when we talk about parts of the day

in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening

But remember, we say at night and at midday or at noon or at midnight.

So in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening but at night.

We use in for months and seasons:

I was born in July.

I love going skiing in winter.

and we use in for longer periods of time like years, decades and even centuries.

In the 18th century lots of people died due to hunger

The coronavirus first appeared in 2019.

QUIZ

Now before we go any further, I have a quick quiz for you.

We're going to compare in, at and on and I want you to put the correct preposition in the correct gap.

Go ahead, now it's over to you!!

We never go away ___ Christmas because it’s too expensive

___ Christmas Day, the whole family gets together.

I always work best ___ the morning.

I often get tired ___ the afternoon.

The ship left the harbour ___ the morning of the ninth of November.

___ the end of the film, everyone was crying.

I looked everywhere for the book but couldn’t find it, so ___ the end I bought a new copy.

___ the beginning of every lesson, the teacher told the children a little story.

___ the beginning, nobody understood what was happening, but after she explained everything.

Okay, let's look at the answers together.

We never go away at Christmas, because it's too expensive.

On Christmas day the whole family gets together.

Here, we use on because it's a day like Monday or Tuesday.

I always work best in the morning

I often get tired in the afternoon.

The ship left the harbour on the morning of the 9th of November.

So if it was just in the morning and it finished there then we would use in the morning but we're talking about the 9th of November which is a date so we say on the morning of the 9th of November.

So, we're more concerned about the date.

At the end of the film, all right. So, because we have of the film we need to put at here

So, At the end of the film, everyone was crying

However, in the end, I bought a new copy

Okay, so when we have in the end with nothing really after it would know of the something, we say in the end

Same with the beginning,

At the beginning of every lesson the teacher told the children the story

However, if it's just on its own

In the beginning, nobody understood what was happening

If you had in that example, in, if you had beginning of the lesson, we would have to say at the beginning of the lesson not in the beginning of the lesson

Okay, now we're going to look at the prepositions in, at and on when talking about places

AT for places

Let's first look at at.

At is used to indicate a specific point or place not the name of a town or a village or a city or a country. but just a specific place like a train station or a café

For example

I’ll meet you at the café

I have lunch at my desk

He lives at the end of the road

We also use at to indicate that you go to a school or university or college

I study at London university

or

Where are you? I’m at school or I’m at college or I’m at university

At is also used to give your address

I live at 15 Paul street you could say, I live on Paul street if you don't give the exact address, but if you do give the number,

I live at 15 or 20 Paul street or whatever the street name is.

Now, at can also be used to indicate where you work.

I work at google

I work at Microsoft

I work at an accountancy office

And so we wouldn't say I work at London. Be careful about that, it’s the actual company or the firm that we're talking about

ON for places

So, on is used to indicate when something is on the surface of something else like

The cup is on the table

The carpet is on the floor

on is also used to indicate a floor in a building

I live on the 15th floor

If you are lucky enough to live near the beach, we can say

I live on the coast

Okay, normally that means you're within maybe a kilometre of the coast.

So we would say

I live on the coast

otherwise if you're a bit further um back from the beach you would say

I live near the coast

On is also used to indicate travelling. On modes of transport you could say:

I’m on a bus

I’m on a plane

I’m on a train

I’m on a motorcycle

Or

I’m on a bike

However, we use in for taxis, for cars, for helicopters

IN for places

Now, in is used to indicate an actual place name or country name

I live in London, in England, in Europe

But always remember, if you're talking about going somewhere or coming back from somewhere we have to use to as the preposition here

We don't say I’m going in London

we would say I’m going to London

specifically because we're using that verb go- going to somewhere.

It’s not just with the verb go, it's also with other movement verbs

I’m coming to London, I’m moving to London and so on

QUIZ

Okay, another quick quiz

I’m going to give you some locations and I want you to put the correct preposition in at or on before these locations

Good luck!

__ home

__ a car

__ a bus

__ work

__ a taxi

__ a train

__ school

__ a helicopter

__ a plane

__ university

__ a ferry

__ a boat

__ a ship

__ the way

__ college

__ a lift (elevator)

__ a bicycle, __ a motorbike

__ the top of the building

__ the newspaper

I heard X __ the news

It has been __ the news lately

__ a horse, __ an elephant

__ the bottom of the lake

__ the sky

__ the radio, __ television,

__ the internet

__ the side

__ a row

__ the left, __ the right

__ reception

__ Oxford Street

Okay, let's go through the answers together

It’s at home

in a car

on a bus

at work

in a taxi

on a train

at school

in a helicopter

on a plane

at university

on a ferry

you could say in or on a boat- both of them are fine but you would say on a ship

I’m on the way

This is more like an expression basically, it's basically saying

I’m coming, I’m on the way

I’m at college or in college - both of them are okay

in an elevator or a lift

on a bicycle

on a motorbike

at the top of the building

in the newspaper

I heard it on the news, It has been in the news lately

I know it's confusing with these different

so it's in the newspaper and in the news but I heard it on the news so you're on a horse or on an elephant

at the bottom of the lake

in the sky

on the radio

on television

on the internet

on the side - this is like when you order something in a restaurant and you want something not in the meal but on the side like I’ll have a salad on the side

in a row- this is when you do something consecutively like

I do five squats in a row

on the left

on the right at reception

and the last one I am on oxford street

If someone asks you, Where you live? or Where you are?

you would say, "Oh I’m on Oxford street” or “I live on Oxford street.”

Okay, how did you go with all of those!

Did you learn a few new things?

Fantastic.

I’m gonna leave you there but I have an extra little quiz in the description below. I want you to do the exercises and write the answers in the comments and I will actually take a look.

So Good luck with that!

Thanks again for joining me and see you again for Grammar Tuesday ☺

1. What floor do you live _____?

2. I am ____ the office.

3. Are you ____ your room?

4. Meet me ____ the bus stop.

5. I am _____ the city.

6. I sit _____ the bed.

Say hi on social media:

→ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/learnenglishwithkathryn

→ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/learnenglishwithkathryn

→ Website: http://www.englishwithkathryn.com​

→ Business Inquiries: contact@englishwithkathryn.com