一、at
1、表示时刻,即几点几分(with particular points on the clock)
I’ll see you at five o’clock. (我五点和你见面。)
2、表示一天中的某个时间段(with particular points in the day)
The helicopter took off at midday and headed for the island. (直升机中午起飞,飞往那个岛屿。)
3、表示一周中的某个时间段,即工作日(weekday)和周末(weekend)(with particular points in the week)
What are you doing at the weekend?
4、表示某种特殊场合,如名字中不含day的节假日(with special celebrations)
At the New Year, millions of people travel home to be with their families(到了新年,成百上千万的人会回到家里和家人团聚。)
例外情况:如果是说在生日那天,不用at,而用on,因为生日那天是指具体日期,请往下参考on的用法。
【注意】
如果是用what time来提问,what time前面一般不用at。如:What time are you leaving? (你几点走?)
但是在口语中也可以这么问:At what time are you leaving?
二、on
1、用在日期前(with dates)
We moved into this house on 2 October 1997. (我们是1997年10月2日搬进这栋房子的。)
2、用在星期的单数前(with a singular day of the week to refer to one occasion)
I’ve got to go to London on Friday. (我周五就到伦敦了。)
3、用在星期的复数前(with a plural day of the week to refer to repeated events)
The office is closed on Fridays. (办公室周五是关门的。)
特殊情况:口语中有时会省略on,如:Do you work Saturdays? (你周六上班的吗?)
4、用在特殊日子前(with special dates)
What do you normally do on your birthday? (你生日那天一般都做些什么?)
三、in
1、用在一天中的某个时间段前,一般为固定用法(with parts of the day)
I’ll come and see you in the morning for a cup of coffee. (我上午来看你,一起喝杯咖啡。)
2、用在月份前(with months)
We usually go camping in July or August. (我们常在7月或8月份去露营。)
3、用在年份前(with years)
The house was built in 1835. (这座房子是1835年造好的。)
4、用在季节前(with seasons)
The garden is wonderful in the spring when all the flowers come out. (春天里,当所有的花儿都开放时,花园很漂亮。)
5、用在较长的时间段前(with long periods of time)
The population of Europe doubled in the nineteenth century. (十九世纪时期,欧洲人口翻了一倍。)
6、用在一段时间前面( to say how long it takes someone to do something)
He was such a clever musician. He could learn a song in about five minutes. (他是个很聪明的音乐家,他可以在约5分钟内学会一首歌。)
7、用在“in 一段时间 's time”结构中,表示将来时间,如in a year’s time和in two months’ time(with -'s construction to say when something will happen)
I won’t say goodbye because we’ll be seeing each other again in three days’ time. (我不跟你告别了,因为三天后我们就会再见面的。)
【注意】上面这句话中的in three days' time 也可以用in three days。注意对比下面这个句子:
He ran the marathon in six hours and 20 minutes. (他在马拉松比赛中用时6个小时20分钟。)
四、特殊情况
1、at or on?
当笼统指代假期或周末时,用at;当特指某个具体的假期或周末时,用on。如:
We never go away at the New Year because the traffic is awful. (新年我们从不出门,因为路上太堵了。)
On New Year’s Day, the whole family gets together. (在元旦那天,整个家人会团聚在一起。)
I’ll go and see my mother at the weekend if the weather’s okay. (周末如果天气好,我会去看望我母亲。)
The folk festival is always held on the last weekend in July. (这个民间节日总是在7月的最后一个周末举行。)
注意:美语里用的更多的是:on the weekend。
2、in or on?
当要表示笼统表示一天中的时间段morning、afternoon、evening和night时,一般用in,而且后面要加定冠词the;当表示具体某个时间段时,要用on。如:
I always work best in the morning. I often get tired in the afternoon. (我上午的工作效率总是最好的,下午经常觉得疲倦。)
The ship left the harbour on the morning of the ninth of November. (轮船在11月9日的早上离开了港口。)
In the evening they used to sit outside and watch the sun going down. (他们过去经常在傍晚坐在外面看日落。)
It happened on a beautiful summer’s evening. (这件事情发生在一个美丽的夏日傍晚时分。)
【注意】
对于night,如果是笼统地讲,就用at night,中间不插入任何成分;如果是特指某个夜晚,一般用in the night。如:
I was awake in the night, thinking about all the things that have happened. (夜里我醒了过来,一直想着发生的事情。)
‘It’s not safe to travel at night,’ the officer said. (警官说道:“夜里出行不安全。”)
3、at the end or in the end?
at the end后面一般要接of,表示“在...末”;in the end一般作为固定短语,后面不再接成分,表示“最后”。如:
At the end of the film, everyone was crying. (电影快结束时,每个人都在哭。)
I looked everywhere for the book but couldn’t find it, so in the end I bought a new copy. (我到处找书,但还是找不到,所以最后就买了本新的了。)
4、at the beginning or in the beginning?
与end的用法相似,at the beginning后面一般要接of,表示“在...开始”;in the beginning一般作为固定短语,后面不再接成分,表示“刚开始”。如:
At the beginning of every lesson, the teacher told the children a little story. (每节课一开始,老师都会给孩子们讲个小故事。)
In the beginning, nobody understood what was happening, but after she explained everything very carefully, things were much clearer. (一开始,大家都不知道发生了什么事情,但是经过她仔细解释之后,一切都明白了。)
5、不用at、on、in的情况
如果时间前面有each、every,next、last、some、this、that、one、any和all等词时,就不用表时间的介词了。如:
He plays football every Saturday. (他每周六都踢足球。)
Are you free at two o’clock next Monday? (你下周二两点有空吗?)
Last summer we rented a villa in Portugal. (去年夏天,我们在葡萄牙租了一栋别墅。)
五、小测试
填入适当的介词at、on、in:
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