hi I'm Ali welcome to Oxford online
English in this lesson you can learn how
to talk about time in English you'll
learn how to use prepositions
conjunctions and other useful words and
phrases to talk about time if you're
watching on YouTube don't forget to
check out the full version of this
lesson on our website Oxford online
English calm the full lesson contains
the script and a quiz to help you
practice what you've learned go to
Oxford online English comm and try it
the things you'll learn in this lesson
will help you in many situations telling
stories saying when things happen
talking about the future describing how
long something last it and many more
let's start with one of the most basic
ways to talk about time
when's her birthday how many times have
you asked me that it's in December are
you sure
I thought it was in January no it's
definitely in December on the 23rd but
that can't be right
her birthday was on a Saturday last year
and this year the 23rd is Wednesday
thinking of her birthday party she had
it on the weekend before her birthday
don't you remember our car broke down
and we got there at 11:00 oh yeah and
then we had to stay the night that
because we couldn't drive back that's
right
then in the morning remember that we had
to try to call a tow truck and we
couldn't find anyone who was working of
course what a nightmare what time did we
get home in the end five six it was in
the evening but not too late maybe at
6:00 yeah was that the second time we
went know we've been three times the
first was in 2015 we were away in 2016
and then we went in 2017 and 2018 so if
we go this year it'll be the fourth time
has she invited us yeah she's having her
party on the Friday before her birthday
so on the 18th
that's bright in the dialogue you heard
many examples of using at on and in to
talk about when things are can you
remember any do you know any rules about
using at on an in to talk about time use
in for months and years for example in
December in January in 2016 or in 1999
you can also use in four parts of the
day in the morning in the afternoon or
in the evening use on with days and
dates for example on Saturday on Friday
on the third or on the 20th of November
use
with times for example at six o'clock at
5:30 or at 12:45 there are a few
exceptions and flexible cases in British
English you say at the weekend at
Christmas but in American English you
say on the weekend and on Christmas also
although you say in the morning in the
afternoon and in the evening you also
say at night it's an exception
let's practice quickly we're going to
ask you four questions after each
question pause the video and answer with
a full sentence
ready when's your birthday what time did
you get up this morning when's the last
time you went on vacation when's your
next day off how was that could you
answer all the questions of course there
are many possible answers but here are
some suggestions you could say my
birthday's on the 8th of June you could
say I got up at half-past seven you
could say the last time I went on
vacation was in May you could say my
next day off is on Saturday could you
answer all the questions remember that
you can go back and review this section
if you need to let's move on to our next
point
I can't work like this this is
ridiculous
what's the problem now the network's not
working again I've spent the whole
morning dealing with it I can't even
login
how am I supposed to work have you
called the IT department of course
they're useless they told me is be fixed
in an hour but it wasn't I called again
and they promised that it be done by
midday at the latest but now it's nearly
2:00 and so far nothing seems to have
happened well I'm sure it'll be fixed in
the next few hours can't you do some
other work in the meantime I need the
image files which are in a shared folder
I promised my client this would be done
by the end of today
now I'm going to have to look bad
because we can't make our computer
systems work you should take this more
seriously you know I am taking it
seriously but we don't have these
problems all the time until recently
everything worked pretty well right I
wouldn't say that we've had at least
five days this month when things were
available for an hour or more in the
long run that last time adds up I agree
it's not ideal but look in the short
term there's not much I can do I'll talk
to the IT department and try to move
things along I can also call your client
to explain the situation and apologize
if you like how does that sound sounds
good
okay so we'll talk in an hour and I'll
give you an update sure in this section
you're going to learn how to use the
preposition in bye and until in the
dialog you saw a different way to use in
do you remember what you heard you heard
they told me it to be fixed in an hour
and we'll talk in an hour
what does in mean here you can use in
plus a time period to say when something
will happen it's most often used to talk
about the future
although
might use it in the past if you're
talking about what someone said for
example will arrive in three days
this means that will arrive three days
from now if today is Tuesday I mean will
arrive on Friday here's another example
your car will be ready in thirty minutes
that means if it's one o'clock now your
car will be ready at 1:30 there are also
phrases within like in the short term or
in the long run in the short term means
you're talking about the near future in
the long run has the opposite meaning
you're talking about the distant future
for example in the short term you needs
to focus on getting out of debt this
means that in the near future paying off
his debt should be his priority next
let's think about bye and until do you
know the difference between these two
prepositions look at two sentences
she'll be here by Friday
she'll be here until Friday what's the
difference by Friday means anytime
before Friday if you say she'll be here
by Friday
you mean that she's not here now and
she'll arrive sometime between now and
Friday you don't know exactly when
she'll arrive but you're sure that you
won't arrive later than Friday until
Friday means continuously from now up to
Friday if you say she'll be here until
Friday
you mean that she's here now but she'll
leave on Friday so the two sentences
have very different meanings does your
language have different words for bye
and until with these meaning some
languages use one preposition for both
means
if this is the case in your language
you'll need to be careful using bye and
until in English let's do a quick test
look at four sentences pause the video
if you need more thinking time ready
let's look at the answers did you get
them all right if so well done if not
remember that you can review each
section as many times as you need to
what's next
where's Georgia when you're meeting her
at the airport
ah it's a nightmare Oh what happened I
was waiting for her in the arrivals hall
but I needed the toilet I guess while I
was in there she came out didn't see me
and went outside these things happen
anyway I went back and waited for a
while then I realized that she must have
arrived already so I went outside to
look for her you won't believe this as I
was going down the elevator she was
going up in the elevator on the other
side trying to find me how do you know
she called me later we'll get to that so
I looked around for her near the train
station but I couldn't see her just as I
was going to go back to arrival she
called me mmm the signal was really bad
so I couldn't really hear her I ran
outside to get a better signal and at
the exact moment I got out the door my
battery died that's bad luck
so I went back up to arrivals but it
turns out she was going down at the same
time so we missed each other again it's
like a comedy film I wasn't laughing at
the time I figured that she catched the
train into the city so I decided to just
go to her hotel and wait for her there
so did you meet her no but I did find
somewhere to charge my phone so I called
her she was still at the airport and
where is she now
she said she'd take the train into the
center so she'll call me as soon as she
arrived I hope she doesn't fall asleep
during the journey and miss her stop
don't even joke about it look at two
sentences you heard in a dialogue here's
a question what's the difference between
during and while both words are used to
say when something happened specifically
you use them to talk about two things
which happens at the same time or
something that happens in the middle of
something else however they're used in
different ways
during use a noun for example my phone
rang during the film during my
presentation there was a power cut I
just met my husband during my trip to
Corsica after while use a clause that
means you use a subject and a verb for
example I wasn't paying attention while
he was explaining what to do while I'm
out
can you tidy up the living room I like
listening to music while I'm working you
can also use at to talk about things
which happens at the same time for
example at the exact moment I got out of
the door my battery died I went back up
to arrivals but it turns out she was
going down at the same time you could
use these in different ways for example
at the exact moment the train left
I thought her running into the station
you can't study and watch TV at the same
time finally you can use as to talk
about the moment when something happened
in the dialogue you heard these as means
at the moment when so the first sentence
means that at the moment when I was
going down the elevator she was going up
in the other elevator just as has the
same meaning but it's more emphatic use
just as to mean that two things happened
at exactly the same time as soon as also
has the same meaning but it's used to
talk about the future you use it to say
that two things will happen at the same
time you can make more examples with
this language like the
as I was walking down the street I heard
thunder in the distance I got to the
airport just as they closed the gate for
my flight we'll leave as soon as you're
ready so in this section you saw how to
use during while act and as to talk
about things which happen at the same
time note that during and at our
prepositions here whereas while and as
our conjunctions let's look at one more
thing
can we stop for something to eat I
didn't have lunch I'm starving
I've been waiting for you for ages we're
already going to be late I think we
should go straight there come on it
won't take long
you always say that and then you take
forever that's not fair
well hey you should have been on time
it's not my fault you're always late I'm
really punctual these days this is the
first time I've been late for a while
are you serious every time I met you
over the summer you were at least half
an hour late yeah but since then I've
been mostly on time right you've been
left late during the last few weeks I've
really been trying to be on time I know
it's a bad habit sitting up late
everywhere but it's a tough habit to
break anyway I don't want to be even
later than we already are everyone will
be wondering what's happened let's just
go and you can get some food there but I
haven't eaten anything since this
morning just stop at a shop and let me
buy a snack or something it'll take less
than five minutes I promise
oh all right if you want to describe how
long something continued what can you
use can you remember any of the examples
you heard in the dialogue often to
describe a period of time you use the
preposition for for example I've been
waiting for you for ages
you can use this in many different ways
in the past present and future
for example I've worked here for 10
years I'll be staying here for 6 weeks
she lived in Paris for several months
there are also many common phrases with
for like for ages or for awhile for ages
means for a long time for a while means
for some time a while
means a time period which is not very
short and not very long
it's not very specific but it's useful
and common in spoken English here's the
question can you complete the missing
verb in this sentence the missing verb
is take you can use tape to say how long
something will continue in the dialogue
you also heard it won't take long it'll
take less than five minutes I promise
you can use take in many different
situations for example how long does it
take you to get to work getting to the
airport takes about four to five minutes
if the traffic's not too bad if you want
to talk about something which happens
within a longer period of time you can
use over in the dialogue you heard every
time I met you over the summer you were
at least half an hour late over the last
few weeks I've been really trying to be
on time over has a similar meaning to
during but it's more conversational and
you use it only with longer time periods
you might also see the phrase over time
which means gradually for example over
time cause a getting more efficient and
therefore cheaper to run this is a big
topic and there's a lot we weren't able
to fit into this video
are there other time prepositions or
phrases you'd like to know more about
please leave your suggestions in the
comments thanks for watching see you
next time