Hi.
I'm Rebecca from engVid. By the end of this lesson you will learn how to
use three of the most confusing prepositions in English, and they are: "at",
"on", and "in", as applied to time. Now, if you think you're alone in having problems
with these little words, you are not alone. Many students have difficulty with these words
because they're different in their native languages and probably in yours.
Right? So, what do you do? Well, keep watching because I have found a
solution which has helped many of my students, and I think it will help you, and that is
by using a pyramid or a triangle-okay?-to learn these three
important words. Let's see how it works. So, like the triangle: "at" is used in very
specific situations, very narrow situations. For example: "At 5:00", "At
12:30", "At midnight", right? It's very exact. It's very narrow. "On", like the triangle, is a little bit
broader and it's used for one day or one date. For example: "On Monday", or "On
January 25th", "On New Year's Day". Right?
Got it? Are you with me? Good.
Let's continue. Now, "in" is the widest of the lot, as you can
see, like in the triangle; "at", "on", "in". So, "in" covers things like months, seasons,
years, decades, centuries, and any kind of long period. For example, we say in English: "In July",
"In summer" or "In the summer", "In 2005", "In the 1960s", "In the 1800s", which
was a long time ago, or: "In the past". We can also say: "In
the future", okay? Because it's also a
long period of time. Did you get that? So: "at" for very narrow situations; "on" for
little bit wider, one day or one date-right?-and "in" for the widest situations of
all, more than one day or one date. Now, let's do a little practice to
see how well you've understood this. Okay, now let's fill in the blanks with
our three words: "at", "on", and "in". But before we fill them in here,
let's fill them in on our triangle. So, do you remember: What goes at the top, what's
very narrow and covers a very specific time? "At", very good. What's a little bit more than that,
covering one day or one date? "On", very good. And what's the widest of the lot, covering
months, and seasons, and years, and decades, and centuries? "In", okay? You've got it. Now let's apply what we've learned, because
otherwise there's no point, so let's do it. So: "_______ 6:00." What do we say? Do you remember? "At 6:00." Excellent. "_______ Sunday." One day, right? "On Sunday." Very good. "_______ winter." What do we say? It's a long period of time, especially
in Canada where I live, okay? So: "In winter." We can also say:
"In the winter." Same thing. And: "_______ Independence Day." It's one day, so we need to
say: "On Independence Day." Okay? Very Good. Now let's continue to some sentences, because
that's how you actually use the language. Number five: "See
you _______ noon." "See you..." Now, what's "noon"? "Noon" means 12 o'clock in the afternoon,
it's a precise, exact time, so we say: "See you at noon." Very good. Number six: "I'll call
you _______ Friday." "I'll call you on Friday." Very good, because
it was one day. Next one: "We have a
meeting _______ 4:30." "We have a meeting", specific
time, which one? "...at 4:30". Very good. And the last one: "They're getting
married _______ March 9th." It's one day, okay? One date. So, it is this one: "They're getting
married on March 9th." Okay? So, you can see that the triangle can help you
to remember which preposition to use when. Now, here's some more things you can do to
help you remember this really, really well. First of all, go to our website at www.engvid.com,
and there you'll find a resource which I've written which explains all of this, and also
you can print it out, you can download it for free. Everything is for free; no cost.
Okay? And there you'll find exercises and explanations of
this, and also an explanation of some exceptions and expressions that we use
with "at", "on", and "in". There are about more
than 50 of them. Okay? So you'll find the explanation
of the triangle, plus more. Second, while you're at the website, www.engvid.com,
you'll find hundreds of other lessons which can help you with your English.
Okay? Lots and lots of lessons at different levels;
beginner, intermediate, advanced, business English, pronunciation, grammar,
IELTS, TOEFL, you name it. Okay? It's all available and
it's all for free. And last, before you go away, don't forget
to subscribe to my YouTube channel so you can continue to get better and better in English,
because my lessons are based on 25 years of teaching, and whatever I put together as a
lesson is based on the mistakes that many of my students have made, and
hopefully you will never make again. Thanks very much for watching,
and good luck with your English.
