Skip to main content

Learning English | Prepositions of time and place: at, in, on, for

English Grammar - Prepositions of time and place

IELTS common mistakes - time prepositions
I will start my course on June.[incorrect]
I will start my course in June. [correct]

I am going in London next year. [incorrect]
I am going to London next year. [correct]

We use in with a year, month or part of the day, but on with a day or date:
  • I came to Australia in 1988.
  • His birthday is in August.
  • We'll have the meeting in the afternoon.
  • We arrived on Thursday 1st October.
  • Christmas Day is on December 25. (= date)

We use at with a time and with the weekend and night:
Lets meet at the weekend. Are you free on Sunday at 8:00?
I usually study late at night.

We use for to talk about a length of time:
I have lived in Australia for 18 years.
The meeting lasted for 3 hours - it was too long.

We use in with cities, countries and places to say where something is or happened:
I met my husband in London.
My best friend lives in Switzerland.
We were in the park when the fire started.

We also use in with a book, newspaper, magazine, journal, film or TV programme to say where we read or saw something:
I read some interesting new research in this month's medical journal.
In the latest Harry Potter movie there are some amazing special effects.

We use at with school, college, university, work and home and to refer to a building:
'Where is dad?' 'He's at work.'
Shall we meet at the cinema? (= meet outside the building)
When I was at school I was really bored.
'Are you doing anything special tonight?'  'No, I'm just going to be at home.'

We use to with a place to show destination:
'Where are you going?' 'I'm just going to the library to do some work.'
This weekend I'm going to the lake.
We travelled from Chicago to Boston by car.

More common grammar mistakes


Popular posts from this blog

Cambridge IELTS 11 Test 1 Writing Task 1 Question and Answer

Task 1 Question How to Answer Task 1 Questions Sample Answer Cambridge 11 Writing Task 1 IELTS Writing Task 1 (Academic) tests your written communication skills - how well you can report/describe information. Cambridge IELTS Book 11 Test 1 Writing Task 1 IELTS Writing Test Task 1 You should spend about 20 minutes on this task. The charts below show the percentage of water used for different purposes in six areas of the world. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant Write at least 150 words. International English Language Testing System How would you answer this IELTS 11 Writing Task 1 question about water used for different purposes? IELTS 11 Writing Test 1, Task 1 Answer (useful vocabulary is highlighted ) The pie charts illustrates water usage in six different regions around the world. Notably , Europe consumes the greatest quantity of water for in
Read more

How To Answer Cambridge IELTS 8 Speaking Test 1

Content Cambridge IELTS 8 Speaking Test 1 How to give your opinion in English Here are some questions from Cambridge IELTS Practice Tests Book 8 Speaking Test 1. They include the IELTS Cue Card Describe a time when you were asked to give your opinion in a questionnaire . A native English speaker gave these sample answers to show you what someone might say. Remember, you can answer these questions in many different ways. Cambridge IELTS 8 Speaking Test 1 IELTS Speaking Tip Do NOT try to memorize full answers - this is unnatural and IELTS examiners are trained to identify memorized answers. Cambridge IELTS 8 Test 1 Speaking Questions & Answers Part 1 Topic | Neighbours How well do you know the people who live next door to you? I know them quite well because we’ve lived beside each other for a couple of years now. The people who live to the right of me, wel
Read more

Computers Speaking Part 1 Questions & Answers

How would you answer these example questions about computers from Part 1 of the IELTS speaking test? What examples would you give? What details would you need to describe? What vocabulary would you need to express yourself well? Tips for IELTS Speaking | IELTS Speaking Part 1 | Computers, computer skills, children and computers, how important are computers? Computer Speaking Part 1 Questions You can use these questions in your IELTS preparation to help you think about what you would say in response to them. Computers Speaking Part 1 Do you often use computers? Yes, I do, very often, in fact every day I use my laptop. I use it for studying, researching, entertainment and also for shopping sometimes. Do you often use a computer? Not very often, I guess I just don't really need one in my day-to-day life. I have a smartphone for email and social media, and I can do most of the things I need to do on my phone. Plus, I like having some time away from screen
Read more