Hi everyone, welcome back to English with Max. In this video we are
going to look at prepositions.
Yes, along with phrasal verbs, prepositions are one
of the most frustrating things for people learning English.
Is it "on Christmas" or "at Christmas"? Is it "in June" or "on June"?
English is stupid.
Thanks, Frank. Today we are going to look at the most common prepositions of time: in, at
and on. Prepositions of time are actually a lot easier than prepositions of place
because there are some very concrete rules. Yay!
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We're first going to look at "in".
Generally speaking, we use "in" for periods of time, for example, months. In June.
George met his girlfriend in June. We also use it for seasons. For example:
in winter. George met his girlfriend in winter. Yes, in Australia June is in
winter. We use it for weeks as well. For example: George met his girlfriend in the
second week of winter. We use it for years.
In 1986. I was born in 1986.
If you were wondering about my age,
now you know. We also use it for decades and centuries. In the 1980s, for example.
You can also just say: in the eighties. In the 20th century. One way to help you
remember this is to perhaps imagine it physically. For example, we say "in the
swimming pool". We say "in" because you are surrounded by something. In this case you
are surrounded by the water and the walls of the pool. If you say "in June", you
are (in a way) surrounded by the month. We haven't quite finished with "in" yet. There
are a few more things to know. We use it for periods of the day. We say:
in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening. An exception to that rule is with the
word "night". We say "at night". We also use "in" for historical periods of
time. We say: in the Ice Age, in the Middle Ages, in ancient times. Then there are
periods of time that aren't as clearly defined. We say: in the past and in the
future. If you can believe it, Frank was naughtier in the past than he
is today. Just a couple more points. We use "in" to talk about how long we need to
do something. For example: They finished the job in a month.
That means that it took them a month to finish the job. The report took me four
hours, but I'm sure I could've done it in two hours if I hadn't checked my
email every ten minutes. We also use it to talk about the end of a period of
time in the future. For example: I'll be at the bar in half an hour. That means
that if it is now 8 o'clock, I'll be there at 8:30.
Another example: George is going to Sydney in two weeks. That means that if
today is the first of April, he's going to Sydney around the 15th of April.
Okay, now let's look at "at". Firstly, we use "at" for precise moments, such as
times of the day. At 5:00 o'clock. At 3:30. Many people finish work at 5:00 o'clock.
Frank finishes work at 3:30.
Yup.
At noon. At midday.
In case you didn't know, noon and midday mean exactly the same thing.
At midnight. At sunrise. At sunset.
At dawn. At dusk. At lunchtime.
In informal language we often just say "at lunch". I'll see you at lunch.
We also use "at" for holidays and festivals if they
last more than one day. For example: at Christmas, at Easter, at New Year's.
When we think of Christmas, we don't normally just think of the 25th of December.
Christmas celebrations often last two or three days. Just like if we say "New Year's".
We normally mean the 31st of December and the 1st of January.
If we're talking about a specific day, we use "on". On Christmas Day, for example.
As usual, Frank drank too much on Christmas Day.
But we'll look at that more closely when we see the rules for "on". In British English
"at" is also used before "weekend". I'll see you at the weekend. In American English
it's normally "on the weekend" and in Australia we also usually say "on the weekend".
There are also a few expressions that we always use with "at" and you just
have to know them. For example, if two things happen concurrently, we say "at the
same time". Frank and George never wake up at the same time. Frank always sleeps in.
We also say "at the moment", which means now or at present.
For example: Call him later because he's working at the moment.
She's from New York, but at the moment she's living in Los Angeles.
You can say "in the moment", but it has a different meaning.
We say "in the moment" if there is a focus on the present. A common phrase
is "to live in the moment". To live in the moment means to pay special
attention to what is happening right now without thinking about the past or the
future. Similarly we say "at present", which is another way of saying "at the moment".
It's just a little more formal than "at the moment". We can say "in the present",
but the meaning is different. "In the present" is just like saying "in the moment".
For example:
You should try to live in the present and not worry so much about the future.
To summarise: "at the moment" and "at present" mean now, and we use
"in the moment" and "in the present" if we are actively focusing on what is currently happening.
And now it's time for "on"!
Apart from in a few fixed expressions, we basically just use "on" for days and dates.
So we say "on Monday". Frank got arrested on Monday. If you sometimes forget which
preposition to use with days, try to think of Monday, because it also has O N
in the middle. On Monday.
On Sundays. On Sundays I often go to the beach.
We usually use the plural - so "Sundays" and not "Sunday" - if it's for a habit or
something that happens regularly. Now here is something that can be a bit
confusing. We also use "on" for parts of the day if a day of the week comes
before it. For example: on Monday morning.
I have an appointment on Monday morning.
We don't say "in Monday morning".
On Wednesday afternoon. On Friday evening. On Saturday night.
Another thing that can be a bit confusing is that in spoken and
informal English, we often drop the "on" when it's in front of a day.
Let's look at these sentences again.
We can also say: Frank got arrested Monday.
Sundays I often go to the beach.
I have an appointment Monday morning.
As I said, we also use it in front of dates. For example: on the 1st of April.
Many people play jokes on their neighbours on the 1st of April.
On the 23rd of October.
Be careful. In British English we normally write dates like this,
but we don't say them that way. For the first one here, we would say:
on the 1st of April. On the 1st of April.
For the second one we would say: on the 23rd of October.
On the 23rd of October.
Here are some more examples with "on". On my birthday.
My boyfriend broke up with me on my birthday.
On Christmas Day. On Year's Eve.
Remember that for special holidays and
festivals we also use "at", but we use "at" when we are talking about the general
period. For example, if you say "I saw Frank at Christmas," it might mean that
you saw him on the 24th of December, on the 25th, on the 26th,
or if you were really lucky, maybe you saw him on all of those days.
We use "on" for specific dates, so we say "on Christmas Day" and not "at Christmas Day"
because Christmas Day is the 25th of December. Just like we say "on New Year's Eve"
because that's the 31st of December. We don't say "at New Year's Eve".
Now we're going to look at what we use with "beginning", "middle" and "end". With "beginning"
you can either use "at" or "in", so "at the beginning" or "in the beginning". You can
also say "at the end" or "in the end", but there's a small difference in meaning.
We use "at the end" to talk about the last part of something.
For example: At the end of the book, the two main characters get married.
The motorcycle was invented at the end of the 19th century.
"In the end" is similar to "finally" or "eventually".
Frank was considering becoming a K-pop singer, but in the end he decided not to.
Good choice, Frank.
We looked everywhere for George and in the end we found him in the library.
For "middle" we always use "in". In the middle. We're going on holiday
in the middle of the year. Before we finish, I'd just like to mention one point
that's very important. When we use "last", "next", "every", "this" or "that",
we don't use "in", "at" or "on".
For example: Ethel went to Sydney last October.
We don't say "in last October".
He is starting his new job next Monday.
We don't say "on next Monday".
Here it's just "next Monday".
She goes home every Christmas.
I'm going to a party this weekend.
Thanks very much for watching, everyone.
Don't forget to subscribe if you don't want to miss any new videos,
and if you'd like to practise using these prepositions, please write
some sentences in the comments.
See you next time!
As I...
Okay, now...
Just a quick...
... the water and the...
Fuck's sake!
Fuck.
Prepositions...
... winter...
Now let's see the words...
...on my birthday!
English is dumb.