Английская грамматика: Prepositions of time

Hello, ladies and gentlemen =)

Перевели у нас часы, and I didn’t even notice it, потому что все мои electronic devices сделали это абсолютно on their own. Time flies by, теперь the sunset is на час позже, а вставать нам an hour earlier. Поэтому я решила, что нужно нам разобраться, how we can talk about time.

Итак, today я собираюсь вам рассказать about prepositions of time.
We use prepositions of time with time expressions, when we want to talk about time.

So, как нам нужно говорить, in Monday или on Monday? At night or On night? In New Year or on New Year? Как это все запомнить? How can we deal with it?
А вот как. Тут все очень просто.

Есть такая классная штука, называется the At-In-On pyramid.

• I have dinner at 7 p.m. (7 p.m.- precise точное время, use AT)
• Jackie goes to sleep at 11 p.m. (precise time, use AT)

Для longer periods of time, таких как days, we use ON.

• I’ll see you on Friday. (Friday = day, so we use ON)
• I was born on the 14th of December. (date = day, so use ON)

Для very long periods of time, such as weeks, years, months, centuries etc, мы use IN.

• I like films made in the 1940’s. (decade = long period, use IN)
• She likes going to the seaside in August (month = long period, use IN)

Here are some more examples for you:

• at for a PRECISE TIME
• in for MONTHS, YEARS, CENTURIES and LONG PERIODS
• on for DAYS and DATES

Однако we have some exceptions. Например для AT есть standard expressions, в которых мы используем AT:

А вот some common expressions для IN и ON:

in	on
in the morning	on Tuesday morning
in the mornings	on Saturday mornings
in the afternoon(s)	on Sunday afternoons
in the evening(s)	on Monday evening

 

Let’s look at the time of the day that we have. Сутки у нас разбиты примерно вот так:

Для days and parts of the day мы можем использовать at, in, или on, и тут нужно look at this more closely:
 

AT	IN	ON
One part of the day: at night	Some parts of the day (in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening)	Days of the week (on Sunday, on Friday)
Precise time of the day: at midnight, at dusk, at dawn, at five o'clock	We use this standard expression: in the daytime	Dates: On the 25th of September
Celebrations (special days): At Christmas, at Easter		Parts of special days: On the morning of Christmas Day, on the evening of December the 14th

One more thing: Когда мы говорим next summer, last year, last Tuesday – we don’t need any prepositions of time:

We use no prepositions with:  

• last night, year etc
• this morning, month etc
• every day, night, years etc
• today, tomorrow, yesterday

You can watch this video to understand prepositions of time better:
 

 

If you want to learn a little bit more, you can study this table. Тут есть более difficult examples of prepositions of time:

Prepositions in expressions of time
 

Preposition	Use	Examples
in	in months	in July; in September
	year	in 1985; in 1999
	seasons	in summer; in the summer of 69
	part of the day	in the morning; in the afternoon; in the evening
	duration	in a minute; in two weeks
at	part of the day	at night
	time of day	at 6 o'clock; at midnight
	celebrations	at Christmas; at Easter
	fixed phrases	at the end of the weekat the same time
on	days of the week	on Sunday; on Friday
	date	on the 25th of December
	special holidays	on Good Friday; on Easter Sunday; on my birthday
	a special part of a day	on the morning of September the 11th
after	later than sth.	after school
ago	how. far sth. happened (in the past)	6 years ago
before	earlier than sth.	before Christmas
between	time that separates two points	between Monday and Friday
by	not later than a special time	by Thursday
during	through the whole of a period of time	during the holidays
for	period of time	for three weeks
from ... to trom... till/until	two points form a period	from Monday to Wednesday from Monday till Wednesday from Monday until Wednesday
past	time of the day	23 minutes past 6 (6:23)
since	point of time	since Monday
till/until	no later than a special time	till tomorrow until tomorrow
to	time of the day	23 minutes to 6 (5:37)
up to	not more than a special time	up to 6 hours a day
within	during a period of time	within a day

 

А вот some exercises, которые you can use to practice:

• fill in the blanks
• fill in the blanks-2
• multiple choice
• Choose the correct answer
• More on choosing the correct option

GOOD LUCK! =)
Use your time wisely =)