this is an all ears english podcast episode
1841 in on or at don't get stumped by prepositions of time in english
welcome to the all ears english podcast downloaded more than 200 million times are you feeling stuck
with your english we'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection not
perfection with your american host aubrey carter the ielts wiz and lindsay mcmahon the
english adventurer coming to you from arizona and colorado usa to get real-time transcripts
right on your phone and create your personalized vocabulary list try the all ears english app
for ios and android start your seven-day free trial at alliersenglish.com forward slash app
to talk about when an event is happening or even when a package is being delivered do you use in
on or at today get our shortcut system to remember which preposition to use
hey aubrey how's everything i am excellent how are you lindsay awesome i'm so excited to be here on
the mic with you this is great this is great so fun quick question for you are you ready yes so
are you good at getting to places on time do you usually show up on time or are you usually late
i'm always on time i'm a stickler for being on time tickler that's a bonus for our listeners
today stickler what does that mean yeah it means i'm it's very important to me i put a lot of um
effort into doing it right i'm very strict about it that is one word i'm a stickler about it but
mostly because it bothers me so much if someone else is late and i'm planning on something and
things need to go at a certain time so i really try to avoid doing that to others i really try
to prioritize everyone's time and make sure that i'm on time what about you what about
uh yeah i mean i do i have a couple friends who are notoriously late all the time it's just so
annoying it's just so oh i like i should just start showing up half an hour late you know so
then you'll both be there on time yeah just tell them a half hour later but this is very cultural
too right it's so different around the world but in the u.s guys you know being on time means being
five minutes early or on time not even five minutes late it depends on what you're going
to though yes right you definitely want to be on time for a job interview yeah but yeah if
you're just meeting someone at a bar and they're going to be hanging out with other friends and it
doesn't really matter what time you that's a very different situation for sure right or you know
a party a house party which you know a lot of people are going to be there versus
a dinner party when you know they're going to be serving at a certain time don't be late for that
exactly i actually was on time to a birthday party the other day and it was really awkward because
they were like still setting up i was the only one there i've been known to do that it's so awkward
oh my gosh i need to be fashionably late sometimes so that that doesn't happen to us it's such a
nerdy thing right showing up right on time but it is kind of in some ways it ca that kind of thing
can be rude right because they're still wrapping presents it's a whole nuance of one so yeah
that's so tricky and very cultural like you said i would be really curious in you guys cultures if
it's the same right depending on the situation or if people are always late and you just know
it's fascinating i love it guys if you love this topic and more just go ahead and hit follow on
your podcast player we publish four days a week you definitely don't want to miss any of these
all those english episodes yes and this is really coming up this about time because a listener sent
in a really thoughtful question an interesting question which is about a preposition of time so
we're getting into these today some of them will seem a little obvious maybe but some of them are
a little tricky it can be difficult to know which one to use oh for sure so should i oh we're going
to i'll just read the first very first part here of the listeners email and then you can paraphrase
the question does that sound good all right so she says dear lindsey michelle jessica and aubry
love your energetic podcast so much i'm power girl from taiwan i've been an aller's english fan for
two years and never find other english teaching podcasts so addictive as yours that's awesome
i love them thank you for listening yeah we all thank you the whole elders english team says thank
you to power girl now let's get into the question yeah so she sent this grammar question where she
had had difficulty with a teacher that sentence was the parcel will arrive blank the first week
of march and she had written in the parcel will arrive in the first week of march and her
instructor told the class that it should be on the first week of march and the instructor was saying
that because it would arrive on a certain day of the week that that should be right and then she
googled it and found more native speakers saying inch found it very confusing i know that can
be so frustrating when you google something and can't get a straight answer or you see multiple
answers right yes that can be frustrating and she went back to the instructor and still wasn't sure
who to trust so she's turning to us her expert team for the right answer i love it and we are
going to really dive into this today because man prepositions can be really tricky and there are
so many of them but we're taking just a very small group and talking about prepositions of time yeah
we really like to focus in on just one specific thing right so that's what we're going to do for
you guys today so get out your paper and pen get ready to write stuff down okay yeah so the short
answer to her question is that the overarching rule here is when you're referring to a larger
time period like a month or a year or even the first week of a month we would say in we'll use
in in summer in july in the first week right because i'm confused actually why the grammar
teacher said on because we're not actually talking about a certain day or just talking about a week
right so yeah strange it definitely sounds more right to us to say in the first week and according
to this rule for prepositions of time it should be in unfortunately maybe this teacher isn't a native
speaker or we have to recognize that that you know maybe it's a little different in britain or new
zealand or australia sometimes there's slaying there's differences with prepositions that can
happen too oh that definitely happens like we did an episode with pete smithson from aussie
english podcast he's a friend of mine over there friend of the show uh it just came out in june at
the end of june and he said when he greeted me he said how are you going and i said i'm going well
i would never say that i would say how are you doing right right and we have to realize
it's not an error it's just differences cultural languages from different countries we just say
things differently sometimes it's so good so guys check out that episode that's 1605 i believe go
back and check out that one yeah so this can be really tricky right you will hear things
said differently depending on where someone is from even within the united states
there will be geographic differences for sure oh yeah so i think it's wise to never
see something as right and wrong for a lot of things recognize like it's just
different someone might say this differently that instructor might have said this differently
but there are some hard and fast grammar rules that we most of us use that will make it feel or
sound more right one way than the other yeah i mean don't get us wrong you know if your
grammar rules are a great kind of foundation to come back to so start with the grammar rules
but then if you as you're saying here aubrey if you guys go out into a community and everyone's
saying it differently think about maybe saying it the same way right if you want to fit in that is
okay it's totally okay yeah yes we want to be a chameleon right we want to speak like the locals
so let's dive into this there are three prepositions in english that are used with time in
at and on so just in general in shows the largest time or place right okay shows dates and time
oh so on on is more about specific dates okay times right and then at usually shows the smallest
increments of time or places okay so for example particular at 3 30 right exactly okay so let's
just go through some examples starting with in you want to give us a few ways we would use in okay so
guys for example in june right in summer in 2020 in the dark ages that's a broad very broad period
of time right we're starting broad and we're going to more specific and narrow uh in the future
in the first week of the month okay exactly right so this is for months years centuries
long periods of time in the jurassic era right yeah i have that on the mind because we just saw
jurassic park have you seen it i told my kids i liked it i know a lot of people think it's cheesy
but it's fun it brings in all the old actors from the old ones and i loved it i love that i think
i'm gonna go see that this weekend that's good stuff awesome um yeah and this is important to
say because when i first saw this question i said well i would eliminate the preposition entirely
so it will arrive this the first week in march right so i so i would say it's important to note
natives will often eliminate the preposition right exactly right for this expression
we often wouldn't say in we wouldn't say anything we'd just say the person will arrive the first
week of march i wouldn't say in or on this sounds very native to me to to eliminate that preposition
right but only for this because i wouldn't say the parcel will arrive june right i wouldn't drop
it's for this whole chunk right this expression the first week of a month that you can say in
the first week this instructor thought it should be on it but you can use no preposition at all
exactly you got it all right guys so i hope you wrote those ones down
let's go on to the next piece let's get a little more specific right okay so yes
we're talking about on now to get a little bit brighter yep so on is for like days and dates
on saturday on march 6th on my birthday which actually just happened just had your birthday
by the way what'd you do on your birthday it was really fun i went around and got some freebies i
was talking about this on the ielts energy podcast in the united states this is kind of a thing but
a lot of restaurants will give you a freebie like a free ice cream cone or a free meal or whatever
that's fun for me i'm just driving around hey it's my birthday yeah i went with my
daughter we went and got dutch bros and baskin robbins and some of the fun free birthday things
and it's fun because then all these people are wishing you happy birthday right that's lovely
that's lovely geez i love that i don't know if we do that here i don't know if i would get that in
uh is that just not i don't know you'll have to look into it i think like baskin robbins
for example is an ice cream place here in the united states i think that's nationwide that you
get a free cone on your birthday that's all i ever wanted my birthday is a free ice cream cone like i
would be 100 happy i don't need anything else just free ice cream cone same exactly all right cool
so going into those d the on right on for days and dates so again we went through these yeah
yes and then to get even more precise we start with the the um preposition at much more precise
times like at two o'clock but also even like something that would happen at a specific time
even if you're not naming the time like at bedtime at sunrise right it's oh it's out of time it's as
specific as you can possibly get right exactly yeah so these it can be tricky guys i have seen
online even natives and and language learners sort of argue about which preposition to use sometimes
i think it's good to keep in mind that just like it can be different depending on where you are but
in general these rules will really help you like you said lindsay thinking about more broad getting
down to more precise it'll help you know which one to use yeah super important guys super important
and this gives you that nice spectrum right nice spectrum imagine how specific are we being you
can get a sense of what preposition you might want to use so guys here we go role play are you ready
yes and this role play you're asking me if i'm attending a mutual friend's birthday party you got
birthdays on the mind yeah all about the birthday the free stuff i love it all right are you going
to mark's party oh i forgot about it when is it it's on saturday at 7 00 p.m oh no that's on july
5th i made plans to do a nearby hike at sunset oh maybe you can do both what time is sunset it sets
earlier in summer right i think it's at 6 00 p.m maybe i'll swing by after perfect solution sunset
hikes they're the best i know right the sun's in arizona the scents that will really light up
the desert sometimes and it just goes all pink and purple and orange is beautiful the west at
sunset nothing like it nothing like bruh so good all right let's go through what we used here
so the first one we used here guys i said it's on saturday at 7 00 p.m okay so the what which
one is the most specific here aubrey yeah the at 7 pm is the most precise right so for the day we
have on saturday yeah and then at a specific time we're saying at 7 00 p.m yes and then what did
you say after that i said oh no that's on july 5th all right it's a saturday because for dates
when we named the date we would also say on it's a little more broad it doesn't have a specific time
yes and then you also said i made plans to do a nearby hike at sunset right exactly right that's
at a specific time even though we're not naming the time sunset will happen at a specific time
so we would use that preposition at and then the last thing you said you got more the most bra this
is the most broad right right it sets earlier in summer right summer could be you know june july
okay september it's a broad time period and then you said i think it's at 6 00 p.m very specific
exactly right so you guys can see you're going to hear these all the time and now one thing you
can do is to start paying attention right the prepositions of time that you hear think about
oh i see why they're using this one because it's a more broad at a time period or because it's a
very specific precise time yeah i think that would be the advice here right understand this spectrum
right understand the continuum here that we're teaching you and then go out and observe right
observe observe native speakers see what they're using also keep in mind right as a takeaway
keep in mind again people use this differently as we've just said different cultures different
regions within a country and then decide do you want to say it technically incorrectly just like
everyone else which is a valid decision or do you want to say it correctly sometimes we make the
choice to say it incorrectly to fit in totally fine language is connection right yes exactly
right connect with those around you be willing to make what feels like a mistake to you if you've
heard it a different way right just to make that connection with those you're around i think that's
a really interesting moment isn't it yes you know i don't know if i ever got to that point in
spanish where i was i i stayed in the point where i was making mistakes because i couldn't help it
that's where i am with spanish too still for sure i don't think i ever got to the place in
spanish where i was legitimately choosing to make a mistake because of who i was around because i
knew they made that mistake and they wanted they knew they were making it and i wanted to fit in
interesting i definitely got there in french because in quebec they do use some different
grammar or they'll throw in like english words randomly a very different accent and
so i did start intentionally doing that because i was quite fluent and it is really fun to feel
like kind of like one of the locals because you're ready yeah and how did people react right when you
were when that happened yeah really well i mean they don't you don't even notice once someone's
speaking at the level that i know a lot of you listeners are speaking english in like your accent
is almost you know it's just a thing of beauty at this point that we're like oh your accent is so
nice and we and we're not noticing access and yes when you make the mistakes we make we don't
even notice i love it i love it so guys again it comes back to connection not perfection you know
put away the perfectionism come back to connection every time that's how we can have a happier life
yes definitely i love that this is a really fun episode lindsay really interesting stuff really
good stuff all right aubrey thanks for hanging out today i'll talk to you very soon yes bye bye
thanks for listening to all ears english would you like to know your english level
take our two-minute quiz go to allersenglish.com
forward slash fluency score and if you believe in connection not perfection
then hit subscribe now to make sure you don't miss anything see you next time