On Tuesday morning, I had class. In the afternoon, I studied at the library. In the evening, I went home and made dinner. At night, I watched a movie with some friends.

At

Use at with clock time:

  • at 3 o'clock
  • at 8:30 PM
  • at noon
  • at midnight

Also use at with the following time expressions:

  • at night
  • at Christmas / Easter
  • at the moment

On

Use on with days and dates:

  • On Monday
  • On June 21st
  • On my birthday
  • On Thursday, May 6th

In

Use in with months, years and seasons:

  • in January
  • in summer
  • in 2020
  • in April
  • in 1965

We also say:

  • in the morning
  • in the afternoon
  • in the evening
  • in at the night

But we say:

  • on Monday morning
  • on Wednesday afternoon
  • on Sunday evening
  • on Saturday night

Also use in to mean, "from now" in the future:

I'll call you in an hour.
(an hour from now)

The next full eclipse will be in two years.
(two years from now)

We'll be back in ten minutes.
(ten minutes from now)

No Preposition

Do not use any preposition with the following time words:

  • yesterday
  • today
  • tonight
  • tomorrow

I'll call you tomorrow.

It's raining today.

Also, do not use a preposition before the following:

  • yesterday + morning, afternoon, evening
  • this + morning, afternoon, evening
  • tomorrow + morning, afternoon, evening
  • last night, tonight, tomorrow night
  • this + week, month, year, etc.
  • last + week, month, year, etc.
  • next + week, month, year, etc.
  • every + week, month, year, etc.

Until

Use until to say when something stops:

I slept until 7 o'clock this morning.

I'll be in Los Angeles until Friday.

I'll wait until you come back.

The sale continues until the 10th of the month.

Say the start and end time of an action with from...until or from...to (they are the same):

I slept from 10 PM last night until (or to) 6 AM this morning.

I'll be in Hawaii from July 2nd to (or until) the 9th.

For

Use for when you describe a period of time (ie - how long an action continues):

  • for two days
  • for ten hours
  • for 5 seconds
  • for a long time
  • for two minutes

I was at school for six hours yesterday.

I can stay underwater for two minutes.

I'm so tired. I need to sleep for a long time.

Exercise

Open the exercise to begin the activity. Follow the instructions in the document.

Exercise

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