Module 3- Day after day
Grammar Lesson 6
Prepositions of Time
AT
We use AT with specific times (hour / minutes):
I get up at 7 o'clock.
My English class starts at 10am.
She finishes work at 6.15
I left the party at midnight.
Midnight (and midday) is a specific hour which is why we use AT.
12am = midnight
12pm = midday / noon
We use AT for a holiday period of two or more days:
Do you normally get together with your relatives at Christmas?
Did you eat a lot of chocolate at Easter?
ON
We use ON for specific days and dates:
I will return it to you on Wednesday.
They got married on Friday the 13th.
We get paid on the 20th of every month.
I drank too much milk on New Year's eve.
Remember that for dates, we use ordinal numbers.
E.g. the First of September (not the one of September)
IN
We use IN for specific months, years, seasons, centuries and lengths of time.
My birthday is in January. (I don't mention the date, just the month)
My grandmother was born in 1927.
The river near my house is dry in Summer.
The company was founded in the 19th century.
We need to have this report ready in 15 minutes.
Compare:
The New Zealand National day is in February.
(I don't mention the day - only the month)
The Weekend
Sometimes you will hear AT the weekend and sometimes ON the weekend.
They are both correct. ON the weekend is used in United States.
Where did you go on the weekend? (American English)
Where did you go at the weekend? (British English)
We don't use Prepositions
Remember! We do not use at, on, in or the with the following expressions:
Today, tomorrow, yesterday, this morning, tonight, last, next, every.
Prepositions with Parts of the Day
Prepositions of Time Chart
I have updated the old green AT ON IN chart (it was one of the first charts I did as I was
learning how to create them) to the newer version below which I created for our video.
Module 3- day after day
Grammar Lesson 6
Possession /Who/Whose
Possessive Case - Genitive Case
These are called adverbs of frequency and include:
Also called the possessive case, the genitive case is when we add apostrophe S (’s) to show
possession, that something belongs to another or a type of relationship between things.
e.g. Woodward’s house, Your brother’s friend
The meaning of X’s Y is:
= The Y of X
= The Y belonging to X (Y is normally a thing)
= The Y which has some relation with X (Y is often a person)
The Rules:
We normally use the ’s with people, animals though it can also be used with places,
organizations and companies (which suggest a group of people).
It is not common to use the ’s with non-living things.
1. Singular nouns
add 's (apostrophe S)
My mother’s house is next to the beach. (= the house of my mother)
Jason’s car was stolen last night. (= the car of Jason)
Tomorrow, we’re all going to see the museum’s new art exhibit.
2. Plural nouns ending in –s
only add the apostrophe ' (without the S)
The two sisters’ house is next to mine. (= the house of the two sisters)
The plumbers’ tools were rusty. (= the tools of the plumbers)
The players’ boots were dirty and smelly after the game. (= the boots of the players)
Notice that the pronunciation is the same for certain possessives:
My friend’s house = the house of my friend = 1 friend
My friends’ house = the house of my friends = 2 or more friends
You can usually distinguish whether the speaker is referring to one or two friends by listening
to the context of what the speaker says.
3. Plural nouns not ending in –s:
add 's
Be careful not to trip over the children’s toys. (= the toys of the children)
The women’s bathroom is currently flooded with water.
The presidential candidate is often called the people’s favorite politician.
4. Singular noun ending in –s:
It depends…
a. Most names: add 's (apostrophe S)
They had a really good time at James’s barbecue last Friday.
We spent the day admiring Frances’s new car.
b. Classical or religious names: add ' (only the apostrophe)
Jesus’ disciples carried out the teachings of Jesus.
Sophocles’ plays are still performed today.
5. Possessive nouns as part of a phrase
Sometimes more than one word/noun is a possessive. The same rules as above are still valid:
The King of Sparta’s wife was called Helen.
The President of Chile’s speech was very long.
I accidentally took someone else’s bag home by mistake.
I had to give my boss three weeks’ notice that I was leaving the company.
If there are two owners of something, we add 's to the final name:
Rick and Steve’s car is quite old.
But, if each person owns a car, then add 's to both names:
Rick’s and Steve’s cars are quite old.
Notice how the verb is in plural form.
6. No Noun
If the meaning is clear, we can use the possessive without a noun after it.
Her hair is longer than Jill’s. (= Jill’s hair)
We ate at Billy’s last night. (= Billy’s Diner or Billy’s house)
Whose bag is this? It’s Jane’s. (= Jane’s bag)
WHOSE vs WHO’S:
Whose vs Who’s! Who’s the one whose sentence had who’s instead of whose?
Sounds confusing, right? These two words can easily be mixed up for quite a few
reasons: their pronunciation, their form and their use (in a way). But when is the
right time to use each one? That’s what you’ll find out after reading the next few
paragraphs.
To clear up the mystery we first have to know what each word means. Whose can
be either an adjective or a pronoun “of or relating to whom or which especially as
possessor or possessors”. Basically, whose shows possession. Who’s is
a contraction of the word who and either the word is or has. The confusion
between whose vs who’s stems from the fact that we usually use ‘s to show
possession, which makes us think that who’s would be the right choice when it
isn’t. It’s just the same as with its versus it’s.
When to Use Whose
As I said before, whose is used to show possession, so naturally, you would use it
to talk about the man whose car is not working or to ask whose pencil was that.
For questions, if your answer will be his, hers, or theirs, then you should have
whose as your first word.
Examples:
I know someone WHOSE cat is missing.
WHOSE cat is missing?
My neighbor’s. You know, the one WHOSE wife left him.
When to Use Who’s
Who’s is a contraction. In simple terms, who’s = who + is or who’s = who + has. It
is not used in any other context, even if it is tempting to use it when talking about
possession. You use it when you don’t want to say or type the whole thing, when
you are talking fast, or in an informal context.
Examples:
I know a guy WHO’S in need of a ladder, can you help him out?
WHO’S got time for all this writing?
WHO’S gonna come to the concert with me tonight?
Are you the one WHO’S been singing all day long?
Tips to Remember the Differences between Whose vs Who’s
The best way to remember the difference between who’s vs whose is to remember
their usage. Even easier, you only have to remember the usage of who’s: who’s is
a contraction between two words. With that in mind, any time you want to use
who’s and you are not sure if it’s the right word, just replace it with who is or who
has and see if it makes any sense.
Example: “Who’s keys are those?” becomes “Who is keys are those?” or “Who
has keys are those?”, which makes no sense, so the right word, in this case, would
be whose.
“Who’s up for some nachos?” becomes “Who is up for some nachos?” This is the
correct word, so it makes sense.
You could also remember a modified version of the first sentence of this
article: Who’s the one whose keys I found? Remember this sentence and keep in
mind that the words go from shortest to longest (whose vs who’s, not all the words)
and you’re good to go. Personally, I find the first method to be the easiest one to
remember.
Whose vs Who’s Examples:
Whose keys are on the kitchen counter?
I saw a man shouting at a driver whose car was blocking the street.
She’s the student whose handwriting is the best in my class.
Whose books are these?
Whose is this bag?
I despise anyone who’s cruel to animals.
Who’s the woman in the black hat?
Who’s the governor of this country?
The man who’s just walked out is Tom.
He is a writer who’s often been criticized by the press but never before with such
vitriol.
How to Use Who’s vs Whose | Image