Hello students, welcome back to the English Danny Channel. I am teacher Sara
Act on and in our prepositions that can be a little confusing
How do you know which to use?
Today we're going to learn how to use act on and in
correctly when talking about time
Let's get started
There are many phrases we can use when talking about time we can use specific times like one o'clock
4:15 and midnight
We can use parts of the day like morning and afternoon
Days like Monday and Tuesday months like January and February
Seasons holidays and so on
Let's begin with the word act
Act is used to talk about clock times the whole period of the holidays like Christmas
Easter and Thanksgiving and in British English at is used with weekends
Here are some examples
first clock times I
Usually get up at 6 o'clock
I'll meet you at 5:30
Call me at lunch time
Next the whole period of holidays
We do not use act to refer to the specific day
but rather to talk about something that happens in the time period
Surrounding a holiday. For example, I
Love seeing my family at Christmas
This means that I love seeing my family in the time period surrounding
Christmas not just on Christmas Day
We're getting the roof repaired at Easter this means that our roof will be repaired in the time period surrounding
Easter not just on Easter Sunday
Finally in British English you will often hear the term at the weekend
for example
What did you do at the weekend in?
American English, however, we say on the weekend. I'm going to see her on the weekend
Next let's consider the preposition on
on is used to talk about
specific particular days, for example
She will arrive on Tuesday
My birthday is on November 5th
They're having a party on Christmas Day. We
Can also use on to talk about repeated actions, for example
We usually go see our grandparents on Sundays
Lastly let's look at the preposition in M
is used to talk about parts of the day and
longer periods of time
parts of the day include words like morning afternoon and evening for
Example I work best in the morning
I'll see you in the afternoon
We like to go out in the evening
It is important to note that with the word night
There are two possible prepositions we can use in or act
We use in the night to refer to one particular night and at night to mean during any night
Compare the following sentences. I
Had to get up in the night
This means I had to get up in one particular night. I
Often work at night
This means I often work during any given night it is
Also used to talk about longer periods of time like weeks
months seasons years and centuries
Let's consider the following examples
It happened in the week after Thanksgiving. I
was born in June
Osaka is beautiful in spring
She finished college in 20:12
Our house was built in the 15th century
In can also be used in a few other circumstances
In can be used to say how soon something will happen and how long something takes to happen
For example, I will turn in the assignment in 3 days. I
Can run 200 meters in about 30 seconds last but not least
There are some time expressions that do not use any prepositions
act on and in are not
Normally used in expressions of time before the words next
last
this
one
any
each
every some all and sometimes that
Here are some examples
See you next week. Are you free this morning come anytime. I
Didn't feel very well that week
I'm home every evening
Let's meet one day
We stayed all day
Alright, let's summarize
Today's lesson here is a chart showing how we can use act on and in and when to not use these prepositions
Act is used to talk about clock times the whole period surrounding
holidays and in British English at is used with the weekend on is used to talk about
specific particular days in
Is used to talk about parts of the day and longer periods of time
In can also be used to say how soon something will happen and how long something takes to happen
We do not use these prepositions in expressions of time before these words
Ok students. That's it for today's lesson. Thanks for tuning in
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See you next time