At, On And In (time) - English Grammar Today - Cambridge Dictionary

At, on and in (time) Grammar > Prepositions and particles > At, on and in (time) from English Grammar Today

We use at:

• with particular points on the clock:

I’ll see you at five o’clock.

• with particular points in the day:

The helicopter took off at midday and headed for the island.

• with particular points in the week:

What are you doing at the weekend?

• with special celebrations:

At the New Year, millions of people travel home to be with their families (but we say on your birthday).

We don’t use at with the question What time …? in informal situations:

What time are you leaving? (preferred to At what time are you leaving?)

We use on:

• with dates:

We moved into this house on 25 October 1987.

• with a singular day of the week to refer to one occasion:

I’ve got to go to London on Friday.

• with a plural day of the week to refer to repeated events:

The office is closed on Fridays. (every Friday) In informal situations, we often leave out on before plural days:

Do you work Saturdays?

• with special dates:

What do you normally do on your birthday?

We use in:

• with parts of the day:

I’ll come and see you in the morning for a cup of coffee, okay?

• with months:

We usually go camping in July or August.

• with years:

The house was built in 1835.

• with seasons:

The garden is wonderful in the spring when all the flowers come out.

• with long periods of time:

The population of Europe doubled in the nineteenth century.

At or on?

We use at to talk about public holidays and weekends, but when we talk about a particular special day or weekend, we use on.

Compare

We never go away at the New Year because the traffic is awful.	On New Year’s Day, the whole family gets together.
I’ll go and see my mother at the weekend if the weather’s okay.	The folk festival is always held on the last weekend in July.

*Note that American English speakers usually say on the weekend.

In or on?

We use in with morning, afternoon, evening and night, but we use on when we talk about a specific morning, afternoon, etc., or when we describe the part of the day.

Compare

I always work best in the morning. I often get tired in the afternoon.	The ship left the harbour on the morning of the ninth of November.
In the evening they used to sit outside and watch the sun going down.	It happened on a beautiful summer’s evening.

At or in?

In the night usually refers to one particular night; at night refers to any night in general:

I was awake in the night, thinking about all the things that have happened.

‘It’s not safe to travel at night,’ the officer said.

At the end or in the end?

We use at the end (often with of) to talk about the point in time where something finishes. We use in the end to talk about things that happen after a long time or after a series of other events:

At the end of the film, everyone was crying.

Not: In the end of the film …

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

At the beginning or in the beginning?

We use at the beginning (often with of) to talk about the point where something starts. We usually use in the beginning when we contrast two situations in time:

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

In the beginning, nobody understood what was happening, but after she explained everything very carefully, things were much clearer.

See also:

• At

Other uses of in with time

We use in to say how long it takes someone to do something:

He was such a clever musician. He could learn a song in about five minutes.

We use an apostrophe -s construction (in a year’s time, in two months’ time) to say when something will happen. We don’t use it to say how long someone takes to do something:

I won’t say goodbye because we’ll be seeing each other again in three days’ time. We can also say in three days, without time, in this example.

He ran the marathon in six hours and 20 minutes.

Not: He ran the marathon in six hours and 20 minutes’ time.

Time expressions without at, on, in

We don’t normally use at, on or in before time expressions beginning with each, every, next, last, some, this, that, one, any, all:

He plays football every Saturday.

Are you free next Monday at two o’clock?

Last summer we rented a villa in Portugal.

See also:

• Time

• Next

At, on and in (time): typical errors

• We use on not at to talk about a particular day:

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

Not: … at the same day, 25 years ago.

• We don’t use at to refer to dates:

The General was killed on 26 August.

Not: … at 26 August.

• We use at, not in, with weekend(s):

What do you usually do at the weekend? Do you go away?

Not: What do you usually do in the weekend?

• We use in with months, not on:

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

Not: They’re going to Australia on September …

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Choose your language English (UK) English (US) Español Português 中文 (简体) 正體中文 (繁體) Dansk Deutsch Français Italiano Nederlands Norsk Polski Русский Türkçe Tiếng Việt Svenska Українська 日本語 한국어 ગુજરાતી தமிழ் తెలుగు বাঙ্গালি मराठी हिंदी Contents Adjectives Adjectives: forms Adjectives: order Adjective phrases: functions Adjective phrases: position Adjectives and adjective phrases: typical errors Comparison: adjectives (bigger, biggest, more interesting) Comparison: clauses (bigger than we had imagined) Comparison: comparisons of equality (as tall as his father) As … as Adverbs Adverb phrases Adverbs and adverb phrases: position Adverbs and adverb phrases: typical errors Adverbs: forms Adverbs: functions Adverbs: types Comparison: adverbs (worse, more easily) Fairly Intensifiers (very, at all) Largely Much, a lot, lots, a good deal: adverbs Pretty Quite Rather Really Scarcely Very About Ago Already Always Early Ever Hardly ever, rarely, scarcely, seldom Next No longer, not any longer No more, not any more Now Often Once Soon Still Then Usually Eventually Adverbs as discourse markers (anyway, finally) Adverbs as short responses (definitely, certainly) Afraid Alike Hard Long Only Same, similar, identical Likely and unlikely As well (as) Even Hardly Hopefully Surely Too Ultimately Above or over? 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A/an and the Determiners (the, my, some, this) Determiners and types of noun Determiners: position and order Determiners: typical errors Determiners used as pronouns Every Possession (John’s car, a friend of mine) Such This, that, these, those Whole Nouns Nouns: form Nouns and prepositions Nouns: compound nouns Nouns: countable and uncountable Nouns: forming nouns from other words Nouns: singular and plural Accommodation Equipment Furniture Information Luck and lucky News Progress Weather Noun phrases: dependent words Noun phrases: order Noun phrases: uses Noun phrases: noun phrases and verbs Noun phrases: two noun phrases together Pronouns Each other, one another Everyone, everybody, everything, everywhere It Gender No one, nobody, nothing, nowhere One One and one’s Pronouns: personal (I, me, you, him, it, they, etc.) Pronouns: possessive (my, mine, your, yours, etc.) Pronouns: reflexive (myself, themselves, etc.) Pronouns: indefinite (-body, -one, -thing, -where) Pronouns: one, you, we, they Relative pronouns Questions: interrogative pronouns (what, who) Someone, somebody, something, somewhere That A bit All Any Both Either Enough Least, the least, at least Less Little, a little, few, a few Lots, a lot, plenty Many More Most, the most, mostly Much, many, a lot of, lots of: quantifiers No, none and none of Plenty Some Some and any How What When Where Which Who, whom Whose Why Piece words and group words Comparison: nouns (more money, the most points) Nouns and gender Reported speech: reporting nouns Age Half Holiday and holidays Mind Opinion Promise Reason Sort, type and kind Thing and stuff View Way Work (noun) Prepositions Prepositional phrases Above After, afterwards Against Among and amongst As At At, in and to (movement) At, on and in (place) At, on and in (time) Below Beneath Beyond By During For For + -ing From In front of In spite of and despite In, into Near and near to Of On, onto Over To Under Until With Within Without Collocation Commands and instructions Commentaries Invitations Offers Requests Greetings and farewells: hello, goodbye, Happy New Year Suggestions Telephoning Warnings Dates Measurements Number Time Geographical places Names and titles: addressing people Nationalities, languages, countries and regions Place names Abroad Away and away from Back Inside Nearby Outside Up Politeness Reported speech Reported speech: direct speech Reported speech: indirect speech Sexist language Pronunciation Intonation Politeness Interjections (ouch, hooray) Tags Chunks Ellipsis Headers and tails Hyperbole Vague expressions Downtoners Hedges (just) Substitution All right and alright Please and thank you Here and there Just Kind of and sort of Oh So and not with expect, hope, think, etc. So Yes Anyway Discourse markers (so, right, okay) In fact Okay, OK Well You know You see British and American English Dialect Double negatives and usage Formal and informal language Newspaper headlines Register Slang Standard and non-standard language Swearing and taboo expressions According to Actual and actually Approximations (around four o’clock) At all Else Hear that, see that However, whatever, whichever, whenever, wherever, whoever It’s time May as well and might as well More or less Of course Point of view Apostrophe (’) Apposition Contractions Contrasts Detached impersonal style Internet discourse and text messages It, this and that in paragraphs Paragraphs Punctuation Speech into writing Spelling Such as Past simple (I worked) Past continuous (I was working) Past continuous or past simple? 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