¡@
¡@
1. use At:
a) When
you are thinking of a place as
a point in space.
e.g. He waited
at the bus stop.
b) With words such as ¡¥back¡¦,
¡¥bottom¡¦, ¡¥end¡¨, and ¡¥top¡¦
to talk
about the different parts of a place.
e.g. I saw a taxi at
the end of the street.
He
stood at the back of the room.
The
car was parked at the corner of the
street.
There
is a coin at the bottom of the
swimming pool.
He
was waiting at the top of the stairs.
She
wants to stay at home.
I
have to be at the station by ten
o¡¦clock.
I
live at 9, Fort Street. ( a place as an address)
1.
Use
¡¥in¡¦
a)
When you are talking a place as an area. e.g. a country
or a
geographical
region.
e.g. It was cold when I was in Spain.
Many homes in the east of Scotland
were torn down.
b)
A place as a city,
town, or village.
e.g. I have been teaching at a college in London.
c)
A place as a building
.
e.g. She was sitting in the restaurant.
d)
A place as a
street (without the house number).
e.g. She got a job in Oxford
Street.
I live
at 191 Sai Wan Ho Street.
(street with house number becomes an address)
2.
Use
¡¥on¡¦
a) A place as a
surface.
I
sat on the floor.
I sat on
the top of the table
II.
Preposition of Time and Date
a)
Use
¡¥at¡¦
i) Exact time: e.g. At 10 o¡¦clock.
ii)
Meal time: e.g.
At lunch time .
iii)
Points
of time: e.g. At night.
iv)
Festivals: e.g. At
Christmas.
v)
Age: e.g. At
the age of 14.
b)
Use
¡¥on¡¦
i)
Days of the week: e.g.
On Monday
ii)
Parts of the day: e.g. On Monday morning.
iii)
Dates:
e.g. On June 1st., 1999
iv)
Anniversaries: On
your birthday.
v)
Festivals: On
New Year¡¦s Day.
c)
Use ¡¥in¡¨
i) Parts of the day : e.g. in the
evening.
ii)
Months: e.g. in
August.
iii)
Year:
e.g. in year 1999.
iv)
Seasons: e.g. in
Spring
v)
Centuries: e.g. in
the 20th century
d)
Use ¡¥by¡¦ (
+ a time ) = not later than:
i)
I posted the letter today, so that they should receive it by
Monday.
ii)
We have to be at home by 5 o¡¦clock.
iii)
He should be here by now.
e)
Use ¡¥by the time¡¦ ( something happens):
i) By the time you receive my letter, I will probably be in
New York.
ii)
By the time we get to the shops, they will be shut.
f)
Use
¡¥until¡¦ or ¡¥till¡¦ (to say how long a situation continues):
i)
¡§Let us wait until it stops raining.¡¦
ii)
I stayed in bed until
half past ten this morning.
III.
Preposition
of Position (1) use ¡¥in¡¦, ¡¥at¡¦ and ¡¥on¡¦:
at
home
at university
at the seaside in hospital
on a farm
at work
at a station
at sea
in bed
on a voyage
at school at an
airport
a)
Use ¡¥in¡¦ :
i) in a room /building; in
the water/sea; in a row / line/queue
ii)
in a garden/park
iii)
in
a town/country
iv)
in
an armchair (note: on a chair)
v)
in
a photograph/ picture / mirror
b)
Use ¡¥at¡¦:
i) Who
is that man standing at the bus-stop/at
the door/window?
ii)
Turn
left at the traffic lights.
iii)
Who is standing at
the back/at the front?
iv)Their
house is the white one at the end of the
street.
v)
Write your name at
the bottom/at the top of the page.
vi)
We
say that someone is at an event . For example:
¡¥at
a party/ at a concert/ at a conference/ at a meeting/
at a football match etc.¡¦:
-
I saw him at the meeting.
c)
Used ¡¥on¡¦:
on
the ceiling/ wall/ floor ; on the
page; on the nose/ face;
on
the left/ right ; on a river/ road; on
the coast
i) Don¡¦t sit on
the floor!
ii)
There is a dirty mark on the wall.
iii)
The book you are looking for is on the top shelf.
iv)
There is a report of the football mach on
page 7 of the newspaper.
v)We
drive on the left.
vi)
He spent his holidays on a small island.
vii)
London is on
the river Thames.
viii)
Portsmouth
is on the south coast of England.
ix)
He stopped at a village on the ways to London.
NOTE:
Sometimes, we can use either
¡¥in¡¦ or ¡¥at¡¦ with buildings.
e.g.
You can stay in a hotel or at
a hotel;
you can eat in
a restaurant or at a restaurant.
However, ¡¥in¡¦ and ¡¥at¡¦ cannot be used interchangeably.
For example, we say at someone¡¦s
house:
-
I was at Tom¡¦s house last
night.
We use ¡¥in¡¦ when we are
thinking about the building itself:
-
The rooms in Tom¡¦s house
are very small.
We use ¡¥in¡¦ with towns
and villages:
-
His parents live in Nottingham. (not
¡¥at¡¦ Nottingham)
We use ¡¥at¡¦ when the town
or village is a point on a journey:
-
Do you know if this train stops at
Nottingham?
-
We usually say ¡¥at¡¦ when
we say where an event takes place
e.g.
We went to a concert at the Town Hall.