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At, On and In
Before place names:
Examples
For example,
Example
But if someone phones and asks your daughter where you are,
We use the prepositions at, in, on and against differently in these ways:
Example:
Example:
c) On – to show that a person or thing is in a higher position than something and is touching or
covering its surface.
Example:
d) Against – to someone or something is next to and touching the surface of something or being
supported by it.
Example:
I prefer to have my desk against the wall.
We use before and after to show which person or thing is closer to us and is further from us.
We use to the left and to the right to show on which side of a person or thing another person or thing
is:
Example:
NOTE: if we are standing in front of the public library and facing the road, we would describe the
position of the railway station and the post office in this way:
b) Along – To point to someone or something located next to a space which has a long thin shape. For
example a road or a river.
Remember:
In the expression the opposite of, the opposite is a noun, not a preposition. The opposite of is used to
show that someone or something is very different from the person or thing compared with.
Example:
David is the opposite of James. James likes to be with people but David prefers to be by himself.
Remember:
Example:
The little boy stood before his parent’s guests and sang confidently.
4. inside, outside
We use inside and outside to show that a person or thing is in an enclosed area or in something which
has volume.
We use outside to show the person or thing is not inside something. When we use inside and outside,
we do not use the preposition of after them.
Example:
Prepositions of Position
Example,
or a particular point.
Example,
“In” show a person or thing below or partly below the surface of something.
“On” show a person or thing is just touching a line or the surface of something.
Example,
6. Ron and Charlene will be in Florida for another six days yet.
“yet” is often used in negative sentences to talk about something that hasn’t happened so far,
“yet” indicates “from now until the period of time mentioned has passed” (OALD), and can also be
used for this purpose in affirmative (positive) sentences.
We see this use of “yet” in the second sentence in 1 and in sentences 3, 4 and 5 (all negative
sentences),
In sentence 1,
“… not for ages yet” the period of time mentioned is “ages” (a long time, but the exact time is
unspecified), and this period of time must pass before the speaker goes on his holiday.
In sentence 2,
It is used with “could” in an affirmative sentence to say that something (i.e. months before they know
their fate) could,
but is unlikely to be true in the future. This means that it is unlikely they will have to wait so long to
know their fate.
In sentence 3,
the period of time mentioned is “three weeks” and it is only after this period has passed that the
election will take place.
In sentence 4,
the period of time is similar to that in 1, i.e. “a long time”, with no exact figures given. It is only after
this period that she will be back.
In sentence 5,
In sentence 6,
which is an affirmative sentence,
the period of time mentioned in the sentence is six days, which indicates the number of days left from
now that Ron and Charlene will be in Florida,
We use ‘to’ when we want to point to an exact time before the stated hour.
We use ‘from…..to’ to point to a period between the time when an activity or event begins (from) and
when it ends (to).
When we use ‘until’, we are also dealing with the period of time but the focus is on when the activity
or event ends.
Examples:
Remember:
Examples:
Up to 1990, our school won the inter-school debating championship every year. In 1991, however, we
lost to Jit Sin Secondary School.
Until can also be used with verbs in their negative forms to mean ‘not before the time stated’.
Example:
(I did not finish mopping the house before 11 a.m. I only finished it at 11 a.m.)
2. at, between…and
We use between…and to point out that an action takes place after a stated time and before the
second stated time.
Examples:
Sue will arrive at your house between 4 o’clock and 5 o’clock this evening.
(We do not know the exact time when Sue will arrive).
3. for, since
We use for to point to how long an activity, and event or situation continues or lasts (minutes, hours,
days, months or years).
We use since with an event or time in the past to point out that the activity, event or situation is going
on from that time to now.
Examples:
Lee stayed with her friend for a month before returning home.
4. We do not use the preposition of time in and on before noun groups that begin with the
demonstrative adjective this.
Examples:
The preposition at, in and on cannot be used before each, every, next, one and last.
Place
a continent,
a country,
a state and
a town,
Examples:
British English usually uses “in” before the name of a street or road,
Examples:
Examples:
You say you are “at home” when you are in the house or flat you live in.
But if you haven’t come home from school yet and someone asks your mother
where you are, she can,
For example,
reply: “My son/daughter is still at/in school, practising for Sports Day.”
If your father is working late, and someone asks you where your father is,
There is a very important distinction between “at a/the hospital” and “in hospital”.
Time
We use “in” before the names of
centuries, decades,
For example,
at 2.30 pm
on Monday
in December
in 1976
BUT at night.