Educational worksheet for practicing prepositions of time, helping students categorize time expressions into "at," "on," "in," or "no preposition."

Let’s go step by step to sort each time expression into the correct column: at, on, in, or no preposition.

We’ll look at each phrase one by one and decide which category it belongs to based on common English usage.

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Step 1: Understand the rules (simple version)

- Use “at” for specific times, holidays (sometimes), and points in time like “midnight”, “noon”, “6:30”.
- Use “on” for days and dates — like “Monday”, “Saturday”, “my birthday”, “Christmas” (if you think of it as a day).
- Use “in” for longer periods — months, years, centuries, parts of the day (like “the morning”), seasons, decades (“the 80s”).
- Use no preposition when the time word is used with words like “this”, “next”, “last”, or sometimes with “tomorrow”, “yesterday”, etc.

Wait — actually, let’s double-check that last part. In many cases, we DO use prepositions with those — but in this worksheet, they’re asking us to put them under “no preposition” if they don’t need one in typical usage. Let’s be careful.

Actually, looking at standard grammar:

✔ “Yesterday”, “today”, “tomorrow”, “now”, “then”, “soon”, “later” → usually NO preposition
✔ “This morning”, “next week”, “last year” → also often NO preposition
BUT — some phrases like “in the morning”, “on Monday”, “at 5 o’clock” DO take prepositions.

So let’s go list by list.

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List of phrases to sort:

From left column:
- yesterday
- lunchtime
- today
- February
- tomorrow
- midnight

Middle column:
- next week
- Monday morning
- 11 o’clock
- this afternoon
- Saturday
- Christmas

Right column:
- 2010
- the 80s
- the weekend
- night
- the morning
- December

Far right column:
- Thanksgiving
- this evening
- my birthday
- dinnertime
- 6:30
- 5 minutes

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Now let’s assign each one.

#### Column: “at”

Use “at” for exact times, clock times, and some fixed expressions.

- 11 o’clock → ✔ at 11 o’clock
- midnight → ✔ at midnight
- 6:30 → ✔ at 6:30
- lunchtime? Hmm… sometimes “at lunchtime” — yes, acceptable.
- dinnertime? Same — “at dinnertime” is common.
- night? Usually “at night” — yes!
- 5 minutes? No — we say “in 5 minutes”, not “at 5 minutes”. So not here.

Wait — let’s check:

Standard uses of “at”:
- at 6:30
- at noon / at midnight
- at night
- at lunchtime / at dinnertime (yes, these are treated like specific times)
- at Christmas? Sometimes — but more commonly “on Christmas Day” or just “Christmas” without preposition. We’ll come back.

So for now, “at” gets:
→ 11 o’clock
→ midnight
→ 6:30
→ lunchtime
→ dinnertime
→ night

That’s 6 items.

But wait — “night” can also be “in the night”, but “at night” is the standard phrase for general nighttime.

Yes, “at night” is correct.

#### Column: “on”

Use “on” for days and specific dates.

- Monday morning → ✔ on Monday morning
- Saturday → ✔ on Saturday
- my birthday → ✔ on my birthday
- Christmas → ✔ on Christmas (if referring to the day)
- Thanksgiving → ✔ on Thanksgiving (same logic)
- the weekend → ❗ tricky — in American English, we say “on the weekend”; in British English, “at the weekend”. But since this is likely US-based (Games4esl.com), we’ll go with “on the weekend”.

Also:
- this afternoon? → no preposition usually — “I’ll see you this afternoon”
- next week? → no preposition
- today/yesterday/tomorrow → no preposition

So “on” should get:
→ Monday morning
→ Saturday
→ my birthday
→ Christmas
→ Thanksgiving
→ the weekend

That’s 6 items.

#### Column: “in”

Use “in” for months, years, centuries, long periods, parts of the day (when not specified with a day).

- February → ✔ in February
- 2010 → ✔ in 2010
- the 80s → ✔ in the 80s
- the morning → ✔ in the morning (unless it’s “on Monday morning”)
- December → ✔ in December
- 5 minutes → ✔ in 5 minutes (as in “I’ll be there in 5 minutes”)

What about “this evening”? → usually no preposition — “See you this evening”

“this afternoon” → same

“next week” → same

So “in” gets:
→ February
→ 2010
→ the 80s
→ the morning
→ December
→ 5 minutes

That’s 6 items.

#### Column: “no preposition”

These are time expressions that typically stand alone without a preposition.

- yesterday → ✔ I saw her yesterday
- today → ✔ Today is sunny
- tomorrow → ✔ See you tomorrow
- next week → ✔ I’m leaving next week
- this afternoon → ✔ Let’s meet this afternoon
- this evening → ✔ Dinner this evening?

Also:
- lunchtime? Wait — we put it under “at” earlier. Is that correct?

Actually, both are possible:
- “At lunchtime” — emphasizes the time point
- “Lunchtime” alone — e.g., “Let’s talk at lunchtime” vs “Let’s talk lunchtime” — the second is informal/colloquial.

But in formal grammar exercises, “lunchtime” and “dinnertime” are often paired with “at”.

Similarly, “night” — “at night” is standard.

But what about “5 minutes”? We said “in 5 minutes” — so that goes under “in”.

Now, let’s recheck the “no preposition” group:

Leftover phrases that haven’t been assigned yet:

From original list:

Already assigned:

At: 11 o’clock, midnight, 6:30, lunchtime, dinnertime, night → 6

On: Monday morning, Saturday, my birthday, Christmas, Thanksgiving, the weekend → 6

In: February, 2010, the 80s, the morning, December, 5 minutes → 6

Remaining unassigned:

From left column: yesterday, today, tomorrow → 3

From middle: next week, this afternoon → 2

From far right: this evening → 1

Total remaining: 6

Perfect — that fits the “no preposition” column.

So:

No preposition:
→ yesterday
→ today
→ tomorrow
→ next week
→ this afternoon
→ this evening

Wait — what about “the morning”? We put it under “in” — correct, because “in the morning” is standard.

And “Monday morning” is under “on” — correct.

Is “Christmas” definitely “on”? Yes — “on Christmas Day” or simply “on Christmas”.

Same with Thanksgiving.

“The weekend” — in US English, “on the weekend” is standard.

“5 minutes” — “in 5 minutes” — yes.

Now, let’s verify total count.

Original list has 24 phrases (6 per column × 4 columns).

We have:

- at: 6
- on: 6
- in: 6
- no preposition: 6

Perfect.

Final assignment:

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at:
11 o’clock
midnight
6:30
lunchtime
dinnertime
night

on:
Monday morning
Saturday
my birthday
Christmas
Thanksgiving
the weekend

in:
February
2010
the 80s
the morning
December
5 minutes

no preposition:
yesterday
today
tomorrow
next week
this afternoon
this evening

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Wait — did we miss any?

Original list again:

Left column:
yesterday → no prep
lunchtime → at
today → no prep
February → in
tomorrow → no prep
midnight → at

Middle:
next week → no prep
Monday morning → on
11 o’clock → at
this afternoon → no prep
Saturday → on
Christmas → on

Right:
2010 → in
the 80s → in
the weekend → on
night → at
the morning → in
December → in

Far right:
Thanksgiving → on
this evening → no prep
my birthday → on
dinnertime → at
6:30 → at
5 minutes → in

Count:

at: lunchtime, midnight, 11 o’clock, night, dinnertime, 6:30 → 6 ✔️
on: Monday morning, Saturday, Christmas, the weekend, Thanksgiving, my birthday → 6 ✔️
in: February, 2010, the 80s, the morning, December, 5 minutes → 6 ✔️
no prep: yesterday, today, tomorrow, next week, this afternoon, this evening → 6 ✔️

All accounted for.

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Final Answer:

at: 11 o'clock, midnight, 6:30, lunchtime, dinnertime, night
on: Monday morning, Saturday, my birthday, Christmas, Thanksgiving, the weekend
in: February, 2010, the 80s, the morning, December, 5 minutes
no preposition: yesterday, today, tomorrow, next week, this afternoon, this evening