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Compare at, on and in:
They arrived at 5 o’clock.
They arrived on Friday.
They arrived in June. / They arrived in 2012.
We use:
| at for the time of the day | |||||
| at 5 o' clock | at 11.45 | at midnight | at lunch time | at sunset | etc |
| on for days and dates | |||||
| on Friday/Fridays | on 16th May 2012 | on New Year's day | on my birthday | ||
| in for longer periods (months/years/seasons etc.) | |||||
| in june | in 2012 | in the 1990s | in the 20th Century | in the past | in winter |
We say:
| at the moment / at the minute / at present / at this time (= now): |
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at the same time |
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| at the weekends / at weekends (or on the weekend / on weekends in American English): |
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at Christmas (but on Christmas Day)
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| at night (= during nights in general), in the night (= during a particular night): |
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We say:
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in the morning(s) but on Friday morning(s) in the afternoon(s) on Sunday afternoon(s) in the evening(s) on Monday evening(s) etc. |
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We do not use at/on/in before last/next/this/every:
I’ll see you next Friday. (not on next Friday)
They got married last June.
We often leave out on before days. So you can say:
I’ll see you on Friday. or I’ll see you Friday.
I don’t work on Monday mornings. or I don’t work Monday mornings.
We say that something will happen in a few minutes / in six months etc. :
The train will be leaving in a few minutes. (= a few minutes from now)
Andy has gone away. He’ll be back in a week. (= a week from now)
They’ll be here in a moment. (= a moment from now, very soon)
We also use in … to say how long it takes to do something:
I learnt to drive in four weeks. (= it took me four weeks to learn)
Try this exercise to test your grammar.
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B1-B2 Grammar : Prepositions - at/on/in (time)
Choose the correct word.