List A

afternoon, evening and night

Afternoon changes to evening when it starts getting dark, more or less.
However, it depends on the time of year.
In summer, we stop saying afternoon by six o’clock, even if it is still light.
In winter we go on saying afternoon until at least five o’clock, even if it is dark.

Evening changes to night more or less at bedtime.

Note that Good evening usually means ‘Hello’, and Good night means ‘Goodbye’
— it is never used to greet people.

  • A Good evening Terrible weather, isn’t it?
    B-Yes, dreadful.
  • A:Hasn’t stopped raining for weeks. Well. I must be going. Good night
    B Good night

at – in – on (time)

at + exact time

in + part of day

on + particular day

at + weekend, public holiday

in + longer period

1. Exact times

  • I usually get up at six o’clock
  • I’ll meet you at 4.15
  • Phone me at lunch time

In informal English, we say What time…?
(At what time…? is correct, but unusual.)

2. Parts of the day

  • I work best in the morning
  • three o’clock in the afternoon
  • we usually go out in the evening

Exception: at night.

We use on if we say which morning/ afternoon/ etc we are talking about,
or if we describe the morning/ afternoon/ etc.

  • See you on Monday morning
  • It was on a cold afternoon in early spring…

3. Days

  • I’ll phone you on Tuesday.
  • My birthday’s on March 21st.
  • They’re having a party on Christmas Day.

In informal speech we sometimes leave out on (This is common in American English)

  • I’m seeing her Sunday morning.

Note the use of plurals (Sundays, Mondays etc)
when we talk about repeated actions.

  • We usually go to see Granny on Sundays.

4. Weekends and public holidays

We use at to talk about the whole of the holidays at Christmas, New Year,
Easter and Thanksgiving (US)

  • Are you going away at Easter?

We use on to talk about one day of the holiday

  • It happened on Easter Monday.

British people say at the weekend. Americans use on.

  • What did you do at the weekend?

5. Longer periods

  • It happened in the week after  Christmas
  • I was born in March
  • Kent is beautiful in spring
  • He died in 1212
  • Our house was built in the 12th Century

6. Expressions without preposition

Prepositions are not used in expressions of time before
next, last, this, one, any, each, every, some, all.

  • See you next week.
  • Are you free this morning
  • Let’s meet one day.
  • Come any time
  • I’m at home every morning.
  • We stayed all day.

Prepositions are not used before yesterday, the day before yesterday,
tomorrow, the day after tomorrow?

  • What are you doing the day after tomorrow?

Like and as

Like = ‘similar to’, ‘the same as’.

  • What a beautiful house! It’s like a palace, (not as a palace)
  • ‘What does Sandra do?’   ‘She’s a teacher, like me.’ (not as me)
  • Be careful! The floor has been polished. It’s like walking on ice. (not as walking)
  • It’s raining again. I hate weather like this, (not as this)

In these sentences, like is a preposition.
So it is followed by a noun (like a palace), a pronoun (like me / like this) or -ing (like walking).

You can also say ‘… like (somebody/something) doing something’:

  • ‘What’s that noise? ‘It sounds like a baby crying.”

Sometimes like = for example:

  • Some sports, like motor-racing, can be dangerous.

You can also use such as (= for example):

  • Some sports, such as motor-racing, can be dangerous.

As = in the same way as, or in the same condition as.

We use as before subject + verb:

  • I didn’t move anything. I left everything as it was.
  • You should have done it as I showed you.

Like is also possible in informal spoken English:

  • I left everything like it was.

Compare as and like:

  • You should have done it as I showed you. (or like I showed you)
  • You should have done it like this, (not as this)

Note that we say as usual / as always:

  • You’re late as usual.
  • As always, Nick was the first to complain.

Sometimes as (+ subject + verb) has other meanings.

For example, after do:

  • You can do as you like. (= do what you like)
  • They did as they promised. (= They did what they promised.)

We also say as you know / as I said / as she expected / as I thought etc. :

  • As you know, it’s Emma’s birthday next week. (= you know this already)
  • Andy failed his driving test, as he expected. (= he expected this before)

Like is not usual in these expressions, except with say (like I said):

  • □As I said yesterday, I’m sure we can solve the problem,   or Like I said yesterday …

As can also be a preposition, but the meaning is different from like.

  • Sue Casey is the manager of a company.
    As the manager, she has to make many important decisions.
    (As the manager = in her position as the manager)
  • Mary Stone is the assistant manager.
    Like the manager (Sue Casey), she also has to make important decisions.
    (Like the manager = similar to the manager.)

As (preposition) = in the position of, in the form of etc. :

  • A few years ago I worked as a taxi driver, (not like a taxi driver)
  • We haven’t got a car, so we use the garage as a workshop.
  • Many words, for example ‘work’ and ‘rain’, can be used as verbs or nouns.
  • London is fine as a place to visit, but I wouldn’t like to live there.
  • The news of the tragedy came as a great shock.

Across and Over

– across and over = on the other side of ; to the other side of

– prefer over = movement to the other side of something high

  • Why is that woman climbing over the wall?

– prefer across = movement to the other side of a flat area.

  • It took him six weeks to walk across the desert.

All, Everybody and Everything

– All not alone = Everybody

  • all the people stood up
  • Everybody stood up (not all stood up)

– all + relative clause (=all (that)…) = everything

  • all (that) I have is yours (or Everything…)
  • Everything is yours (not all is yours)
  • She lost all she owned ( or …Everything she owned)
  • She lost Everything (not She lost all)

– all often = negative meaning = nothing more= the only thing

  • This is all I’ve got
  • all I want is a place to sleep

– That’s all = It’s finished