Prepositions of time

Prepositions of time tell us when something happens, and for how long. They are usually used with clock times, mealtimes, parts of the day, months, years, and other durations:

• I’ll see you at 8 o’clock.
• My brother gets up late on Sundays.
• Shakespeare died in 1616.

1. To talk about days and dates, use ‘on’:

• Shall we go shopping on Sunday afternoon?
• I usually go out on Saturday.
• The festival will take place on the 15th of August.

2. To talk about a point in time (clock time or mealtime), use ‘at’:

• My alarm clock buzzed at 8.00am.
• David and Stephanie will see us tomorrow morning at breakfast.
• My favourite TV program starts at six thirty.

3. To talk about parts of the day, months, seasons and years (meaning ‘during’ them), use ‘in’:

• Yesterday Peter woke up early in the morning.
• I graduated from the University in 2003.
• Have you been to Los Angeles in autumn?

‘In’ can also mean after some time:

• I’ll call you back in an hour.
• Jeremy hopes to finish his new painting in a week.

4. Prepositions ‘past’ and ‘to’ are usually used to tell the time:

• It’s half past four (4:30.)
• It’s twenty to nine (8:40.)

5. To say when an action starts and when it finishes, use prepositions ‘from…until…’ and ‘between…and…’:

• The shop is normally open from 8am until 6pm.
• The train is late, it’s supposed to arrive between 4pm and 6pm

6. To say when the ongoing action finishes, use ‘until’:

• Michael has to stay at work until six o’clock.
• We will live together until next year.

7. To say when an ongoing action started, use ‘since’:

• I’ve been studying German since last year.
• Kate’s been playing with her daughter since 11am.

8. To say how long the action has been happening, use ‘for’:

• John has been practicing yoga for 10 years
• I’ve been working for 9 hours already.

9. To say something happened in a period of time, use ‘during’:

• I met Jane during the summer.
• She stayed at a hostel during her trip.

10. Prepositions ‘before’ and ‘after’ are used to show  a sequence of actions:

• I will finish my work before 5 o’clock (earlier).
• I will do the dishes after dinner (later).

Prepositions of place

Prepositions of place are used before a noun or a pronoun. They say where someone or something is:

• There is a pen in the box.
• Let’s meet at the beach.
• A beautiful picture is hanging on the wall.

Meaning

1. To talk about the exact point where something happens, use ‘at’:

• The train arrives at the station at 6 o’clock.
• Yesterday I met Jane at the supermarket.
• Look, someone’s standing at our door.

2. To talk about something that is inside something bigger, use ‘in’:

• Mary lives with her parents in Canada.
• I’ve been sitting in the library for 2 hours.
• There are many shops in the city centre.

3. To talk about something on a surface, in line with something (like a river or road), or attached to something else, use ‘on’:

• There are 8 plates on the table.
• The cars are on the road.
• He is wearing a hat on his head.

4. To describe the exact location of something compared to something else, we use precise prepositions of place:

• The clouds are above our heads.
• The puppy is sitting under the table.
• You have a spot just below your mouth.
• There is a small bakery opposite our house.
• I can see the supermarket in front of me.
• Tom is hiding behind that tree.
• Your suitcase is on top of the wardrobe.
• There’s a bank next to the train station.
• Cindy couldn’t choose between two cakes, so she decided to take them both.
• Leave your shoes outside.
• There is a beautiful forest near our village.
• The pencils are inside the box.

Prepositions: overview

Prepositions are words that express place, time, reason and other logical relationships between different parts of the sentence.

Prepositions are always followed by a noun or pronoun.

Prepositions of Place

• The ball is on the box.
• The ball is between the box and the bear.
• The ball is behind the box.
• The ball is in front of the box.
• The ball is under the box.
• The ball is next to the box.
• The ball is in the box.
• The ball is near the box.

Prepositions of Time

• I start work at 9.00 every day.
• He doesn’t usually go out at night.
• She sometimes works at the weekend.

• I’m meeting Tom on Monday.
• I don’t usually work on Friday afternoon.
• My birthday is on November 27th.

• He usually watches TV in the evening.
• They sometimes go on holiday in July.
• We bought this house in 2012.
• It’s always cold here in winter.

We don’t use a preposition with ‘last’ / ‘this’ / ‘next‘:

• I went to Paris last year.

(NOT: I went to Paris on last year.)

• I want to go to London this year.
• I’m going to visit Barcelona next year.

Adjectives with Prepositions

These are some useful combinations:

• I’m interested in cooking.
• He’s very good at playing tennis.
• Carrots are good for you.
• My sister is afraid of spiders.
• Paris is famous for the Eiffel Tower.
• We’re worried about the English test.

Adverbs of frequency

‘Never’, ‘hardly ever’, ‘sometimes’, ‘often’, ‘usually‘ and ‘always’ are adverbs of frequency.  We use them with the present simple to say how often we do something:

never – hardly ever – sometimes – often – usually – always

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• I always get up at 7.00 am.
• I usually make toast and coffee for breakfast. 
• I often have two cups of coffee.
• I sometimes drive to work. 
• I hardly ever ride my bike to work.
• I never walk!

Present Simple – Most Verbs

Most of the time, these adverbs come before the verb:

• I always get up at 7.00 am.

(NOT: I get up always at 7.00 am.)

• I sometimes drive to work.  

(NOT: I drive sometimes to work.)

With negatives, they come after the auxiliary verb:

• I don’t usually ride my bike to work.

With questions, the word order is:

• What do you usually make for breakfast?
• How do you usually get to work?

Present Simple – ‘To be’

• It is sometimes cold at 7.00 am.
• I am usually a bit sleepy in the morning.
• I am never late for work.

The word order is different with ‘to be’:

• It is sometimes cold at 7.00 am.

(NOT: It sometimes is cold at 7.00 am.)

• I am never late for work.

(NOT: I never am late for work.)

With negatives, we can say:

• I’m not usually very awake in the morning.

With questions, we can say:

• Is it usually cold in the morning?
• Are you sometimes late for work?

Adverbial phrases of time and frequency

These adverbs and phrases add information about time, duration and frequency.

1. They can tell us when. These phrases usually come at the end of the sentence:

• She was born in 1980.
• We arrived in the UK last week.
• He left China ten days ago.
• They are getting married this month.
• She’s going to start university next year.
• I went to the cinema yesterday.

2. They can tell us about duration:

• She has been studying maths for two years.
• We have known each other for six months.
• I have been working here since 2015.
• They have been in England since last September.

We often use ‘for’ and ‘since’ with the Present Perfect.

• I’ve been reading for two hours.

We can also use ‘for’ with other tenses:

• My uncle was in the army for thirty years.

We use:

3. They can tell us how often:

Adverbs of Frequency

As we saw in ‘Adverbs of frequency’ (the Beginner course), we use ‘always’, ‘usually’, ‘often’, ‘sometimes’, ‘hardly ever’ and ‘never‘ to say how often we do something.

Be careful with the word order:

With the verb ‘to be’:

• She is never late.
• You are always tired.

With all other verbs:

• I usually get up at 7.00am.
• He always plays football on Saturdays.

Every day

We can also use phrases such as:

every + day / week / month / year

• We have breakfast every day.
• She goes to the cinema every week.

On Sundays

• We have breakfast in a cafe on Sundays.
• She goes to the cinema on Tuesdays.

Once a week

• She goes to the cinema once a week.
• He goes to the gym twice (= two times) a week.
• They play football three times a week.
• We have English lessons five times a week.