Hey everyone, it’s Hadar. Welcome to the InFluency Podcast. And this is episode number 140. Today we’re going to talk about prepositions, and in particular, the prepositions ‘on’, ‘in’ and ‘at’ when it comes to time.

Okay, so let’s open it up and talk about prepositions. Prepositions could be challenging for speakers of English as a second language because there are so freaking many of them: on, in, at, for, by, of, and the list goes on. And if you speak a language, like the language I speak, where they’re like two prepositions, and here we are in English, we have like a billion. And then we need to identify which preposition we need to use depending on the situation, or the tense, or the verb that we use. I mean, life gets a little confusing.

So this is why I decided to share with you today’s episode. Actually, I recorded it a while back. So you can also find the visual version of this episode. I’m going to link to it in the description, but the audio is awesome as well.

And there I share with you my system for remembering prepositions; especially, prepositions of time. In the next episode, we’re going to talk about ‘in’, ‘on’ and ‘at’ when it comes to place, where it gets a bit more interesting. So make sure that you tune into this episode – 140, and the next episode – 141 to get this holistic explanation about these three prepositions.

And yes, I know, there are more, but let’s start with those three. Mainly because these three are often confused by speakers of English as a second language. But also, sometimes, by native speakers. It’s funny, when I was researching this topic, I asked my friends, who are native speakers: “Okay. So when do you use ‘in’ and when do you use ‘on’?”

And they’re like, “Um, I dunno. I just, I don’t know how to explain it. I just use it. That’s how you use it.” And they don’t think about the logic, it’s subconscious, it’s intuitive. Which is like the beautiful thing about a language you are born into. But at the same time, there is a system. I mean, the person who invented the prepositions, who sat there by his or her desk, they had some kind of reason why we should use ‘at’ and ‘in’ in specific situations. So this reason is revealed today. Ta-da-da-daaa… Okay, let’s just listen. And I’ll meet you here after the episode.

When it comes to time and place, ‘at’ is always going to be the most specific, ‘on’ a little less specific, and ‘in’ is usually the least specific.

‘at’ – most specific. ‘on’ – less specific. ‘in’ – least specific.

Now, let’s look at it when it comes to time. I want you to visualize your calendar. Look at this month’s calendar. Okay, so you have the box, which is the entire month. And it’s divided into columns, these are the days. And then you have small boxes, these are the hours.

So when you schedule a meeting, you pick a certain hour. That is the most specific time that you have in the calendar, and this is when you use ‘at’. Because ‘at’ is used when you indicate a specific time. ‘At 9 a.m.’ ‘At 3:45’. ‘At 8 p.m.’ ‘At noon’ because noon is always 12 p.m. – midday. Or at midnight because it’s always 12 a.m.

There is one exception when we use ‘at’ and I’ll talk about it later. Okay? So ‘at’ is a specific time. You only use ‘at’ when you want to indicate a specific hour.

Then we move on to ‘on’. ‘on’ is the columns in your calendar, meaning days and dates. ‘On’ Wednesday the 5th. “Let’s meet ‘on’ the 4th of July.” “Let’s meet ‘on’ April 15th.” Or “Let’s meet ‘on’ a Saturday, next month.”

And then we use ‘in’. ‘in’ is the least specific. So we use ‘in’ to indicate a specific time within a larger time frame. A specific time within a larger timeframe, where you don’t want to commit to exactly when. Because it doesn’t matter, because you don’t know yet.

For example, “let’s meet in the morning.” A time frame, right? You can meet at 9:00 a.m. 9:30, 9:45. You can meet at 10:00. That’s all in the morning, so you don’t commit to when exactly, but it’s ‘in’.

So ‘in’ a specific time within a larger time frame. “Let’s meet ‘in’ the afternoon.” ‘afternoon’ is again, like you have a few options there, but you don’t want to commit to one and you say ‘in’. Maybe it doesn’t matter, maybe you don’t know yet. So you use ‘in’ when you want to talk about a specific time within a larger time frame.

You can also use it when you talk about months. ‘In’ August. ‘In’ July. It can be on the 1st, on the 2nd, on the 4rd. On the first Wednesday in July. But it’s still ‘in’ July. You can use it when you talk about seasons. ‘In’ the summer. I’ll see you ‘in’ the winter.

It can be when you talk about years. ‘In’ 2020 I plan to travel to Japan. ‘In’ 2001 I moved to New York. ‘In’ 2013 my first daughter was born. And you can also use it to talk about eras: ‘In’ the Middle Ages. ‘In’ the Renaissance. ‘In’ the 60s.

So, ‘at’ – always remember it – is a specific time. ‘on’ is the columns, days or dates. And then ‘in’ is a specific time within a larger time frame where you don’t want to commit to exactly when. So it’s least specific. You need more information to know when exactly to show up. Okay? So, that is ‘in’.

The only exception is when we use ‘at night’. Because night is a larger time frame, and night can be 10 p.m., 11 p.m., 12 a.m. But we still use ‘at’. Why? Because it’s English, and we have to something irregular. Otherwise, it won’t be that interesting. So use ‘at’ night. And for other parts of the day just use ‘in’.

Okay, so that was ‘on’, ‘in’ and ‘at’ when it comes to describing time. And next week we are going to talk about ‘on’, ‘in’ and ‘at’ when it comes to place. And you definitely don’t want to miss it out. Because I have a really great tool that can help you remember when to use ‘on’, ‘in’ and ‘at’, really easily.

So, if you haven’t subscribed yet, this would be a good time, so subscribe to my channel and don’t forget to click on the bell, so you get notifications to know when I upload a new video, like the ‘on’, ‘in’ and ‘at’ video.

Let me know in the comments below if you have any questions about ‘on’, ‘in’ and ‘at’ when it comes to time, or you have other tips as to remember when to use what. We’d love to hear.

Have a wonderful week. And I will see you in the next video. Bye.