The Prepositions "in", "on" and "at"

Active Member

Prepositions: In, On, and At (with specific times and places)

The prepositions in, on, and at can be used to indicate timeplace. Notice how they are used in the following situations:

and

Preposition	Time	Place
In	Year, Month, In 1999, In December	Country, State, City In Japan, In Utah, InTaipei
On	Day, Date On Saturday, On May 1	Street On Main Street, On 1st Ave.
At	Time At 8:00, At 7:30	Address At 815 East Main Street

In many languages, there is only one preposition for the above situations. In English there are three. Just remember that in usually indicates the "largest" time or place, and at usually indicates the "smallest" time or place.
Examples:

A: Where's your office?

B: In Orléans Ville, Algeria.

A: Really? What part of Orléans Ville?

B: It's on Cité Reguieg Benali Road.

A: I know that area. Where exactly is it?

B: It's at 105 Cité Badr, next to the drugstore.

C: When is the wedding?

D: It's in June.

C: What day?

D: It's on Saturday, the 25th.

C: What time?

D: It starts at 6:00.

Active Member

Prepositions with articles and locations

When talking about locations, use at to indicate the general vicinity or area, and in to indicate inside the building, enclosed area, etc. For example:

at the swimming pool (on site)	in the swimming pool (in the pool itself i.e. in the water)
at the post office/bank (general)	in the post office/bank (inside the building)
at the zoo (visitors, general area)	in the zoo (animals in their cages)
at school	in the classroom

Sample sentences:

I met my wife at the theater. (while watching a movie)

I spilled my drink in the theater (on the floor of the building)

She works at the library on Wednesdays.

She found a rare coin in the library (building).

Dr. Jones works at the hospital every day.

John was in the hospital for a week with a broken leg.

For school, prison, and mosque, the is used to indicate the building. No article
the general situation. Note the following:
indicates

"practice"/situation	building
in school (studying, listening to teacher, etc.)	in the school (building)
in jail/prison (staying there as a criminal)	in the jail/prison (temporary)
in mosque(praying, listening to a sermon, etc.)	in the mosque (building)

Where's Dad?

in mosque(attending services)	in the mosque(fixing the windows)
at mosque	at the mosque
in prison (He committed a crime.)	at the prison (visiting his friend)

Head of the Forum

Thank you brother Solinet for sharing!

Site Reviewer

Thank you, Mr. Solinet. I was looking for this lesson some time ago.
This Sunday , I was tackling the three prepositions with my third year students.