Prepositions of time: in, at, on

We use:

• at for a PRECISE TIME
• in for MONTHS, YEARS, CENTURIES and LONG PERIODS
• on for DAYS and DATES

at	in	on
PRECISE TIME	MONTHS, YEARS, CENTURIES and LONG PERIODS	DAYS and DATES
at 3 o'clock	in May	on Sunday
at 10.30am	in summer	on Tuesdays
at noon	in the summer	on 6 March
at dinnertime	in 1990	on 25 Dec. 2010
at bedtime	in the 1990s	on Christmas Day
at sunrise	in the next century	on Independence Day
at sunset	in the Ice Age	on my birthday
at the moment	in the past/future	on New Year's Eve

Look at these examples:

• I have a meeting at 9am.
• The shop closes at midnight.
• Jane went home at lunchtime.
• In England, it often snows in December.
• Do you think we will go to Jupiter in the future?
• There should be a lot of progress in the next century.
• Do you work on Mondays?
• Her birthday is on 20 November.
• Where will you be on New Year's Day?

Notice the use of the preposition of time at in the following standard expressions:

Expression	Example
at night	The stars shine at night.
at the weekend*	I don't usually work at the weekend.
at Christmas*/Easter	I stay with my family at Christmas.
at the same time	We finished the test at the same time.
at present	He's not home at present. Try later.

Notice the use of the prepositions of time in and on in these common expressions:

in	on
in the morning	on Tuesday morning
in the mornings	on Saturday mornings
in the afternoon(s)	on Sunday afternoons
in the evening(s)	on Monday evening

When we say last, next, every, this we do not also use at, in, on.

• I went to London last June. (not in last June)
• He's coming back next Tuesday. (not on next Tuesday)
• I go home every Easter. (not at every Easter)
• We'll call you this evening. (not in this evening)

Prepositions of place: at, in, on

In general, we use:

• at for a POINT
• in for an ENCLOSED SPACE
• on for a SURFACE

Try to complete these exercises: exercise to complete 1+2+3, AND quiz 1, quiz 2

Source: EOI Elx

Possessive ‘s – genitivo sajón

When we want to show that something belongs to somebody or something, we usually add‘s to a singular noun and an apostrophe ‘ to a plural noun, for example:

• the boy’s ball (one boy)
• the boys’ ball (two or more boys)

Cuando queremos expresar que algo es de alguien, añadimos ‘s al nombre de la persona que lo posee si es singular y sólo ‘ si es plural

Check how this structure is formed here.

Comprueba cómo se forma esta estructura aquí

Try this quiz and watch the video to check your answers

Completa este ejercicio y mira al video para comprobar tus respuestas

Exception: when a name ends in s, we usually add ‘s and pronounce /iz/: This is Charles’s chair. But it is possible to just add the apostrophe ‘: Who was Jesus’ father?

Excepción, cuando un nombre singular termina en s, normalmente añadimos ´s y pronunciamos /iz/, pero es posible añadir sólo el apóstrofo ‘.

English businesses tend to be named after their owner’s names

Los negocios e inglés suelen llevar el nombre de sus dueños.

Do you need more practice? Complete the following exercises:

¿Necesitas más práctica? Completa los siguientes ejercicios:

Type the family relationships in the exercise

Revise family relationships

Possessive adjectives + possessive ‘s exercise

Source: EOI Elx

Time and daily routine

We use present simple to talk about routines and everyday activities.

Watch this video to learn some verbs to describe daily activities:

Now put these activities into practice  in this interactive book:

Source: EOI Elx

Possessive 's

When we want to show that something belongs to somebody or something, we usually add 's to a singular noun and an apostrophe ' to a plural noun, for example:

• the boy's ball (one boy)
• the boys' ball (two or more boys)

Notice that the number of balls does not matter. The structure is influenced by the possessor and not the possessed.

	one ball	more than one ball
one boy	the boy's ball	the boy's balls
more than one boy	the boys' ball	the boys' balls

The structure can be used for a whole phrase:

• the man next door's mother (the mother of the man next door)
• the Queen of England's poodles (the poodles of the Queen of England)

Although we can use of to show possession, it is more usual to use possessive 's. The following phrases have the same meaning, but #2 is more usual and natural:

1. the boyfriend of my sister
2. my sister's boyfriend

Proper Nouns (Names)

We very often use possessive 's with names:

• This is Mary's car.
• Where is Ram's telephone?
• Who took Anthony's pen?
• I like Tara's hair.

When a name ends in s, we usually treat it like any other singular noun, and add 's:

• This is Charles's chair.

But it is possible (especially with older, classical names) to just add the apostrophe ':

• Who was Jesus' father?

Irregular Plurals

Some nouns have irregular plural forms without s (man > men). To show possession, we usually add 'sto the plural form of these nouns:

singular noun	plural noun
my child's dog	my children's dog
the man's work	the men's work
the mouse's cage	the mice's cage
a person's clothes	people's clothes

The RULES

The EXERCISES: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6