Grammar Lessons – Prepositions of Time.
on
- days
- weekend (American English)
- Many shops don’t open on Sundays.
- What did you do on the weekend?
in
- months / seasons
/ year - morning / evening / afternoon
- period of time
- I visited Italy in July, in spring, in 1994
- In the evenings, I like to relax.
- This is the first cigarette I’ve had in three years.
at
- night
- weekend
(British English) - used to show an exact or a particular time:
- It gets cold at night.
- What did you do at the weekend?
- There’s a meeting at 2.30 this afternoon / at lunch time.
since
- from a particular time in the past until a later time, or until now
- England have not won the World Cup in football since 1966
for
- used to show an amount of time.
- I’m just going to bed for an hour or so.
ago
- back in the past; back in time from the present:
- The dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago.
before
- at or during a time earlier than
- She’s always up before dawn.
to
- used when saying the time, to mean before the stated hour
- It’s twenty to six.
past
- telling the time
- five past ten
to
- until a particular time, marking end of a period of time
- It’s only two weeks to Christmas.
from
- used to show the time when something starts
- The museum is open from 9.30 to 6.00 Tuesday to Sunday.
till / until
- up to (the time that)
- We waited till / until half past six for you.
by
- not later than; at or before
- She had promised to be back by five o’clock.
