She will preside over the annual meeting of the Court in December.
In September I travelled to California to see the finished film.
I’ll ring the agent in the morning.
Well, she does come in to clean the rooms in the day-time.
Note that if morning, afternoon, and evening are used with a modifier or a following phrase or clause, you use on. See paragraph 4.96 for details.
in for specific time
4.95 In is also used when you want to specify a period of time, minutes, hours, days, and so on, using an ordinal.
Vehicle sales in the first eight months of the year have plunged by 24.4 per cent. …in the early hours of the morning.
In is also used with some other nouns referring to events and periods of time.
My father was killed in the war.
Everyone does unusual jobs in wartime.
In winter, we tend to get up later.
Two people came to check my room in my absence.
Ordinals are explained in paragraphs 2.232 to 2.239.
on for short periods of time
4.96 If you want to mention the day when something happens, you use on. You can do this with named days, with days referred to by ordinals, and with days referred to by a special term such as birthday or anniversary.
I’ll send the cheque round on Monday.
Everybody went to church on Christmas Day.
I hear you have bingo on Wednesday.
Pentonville Prison was set up on Boxing Day, 1842.
He was born on 3 April 1925 at 40 Grosvenor Road. …the grey suit Elsa had bought for him on his birthday.
Many of Eisenhower’s most cautious commanders were even prepared to risk attack on the eighth or ninth. …addressing Parliament on the 36th anniversary of his country’s independence.
You can use the with named days for emphasis or contrast, and a to indicate any day of that name.
He died on the Friday and was buried on the Sunday.
We get a lot of calls on a Friday.
You also use on with morning, afternoon, evening, and night when they are modified or when they are followed by extra information in the form of a phrase or a clause.
…at 2.30 p.m.
on a calm afternoon.
There was another important opening on the same evening.
Tickets will be available on the morning of the performance.
It’s terribly good of you to turn out on a night like this.
on for longer periods of time
4.97 On is also used with words referring to travel such as journey, trip, voyage, flight, and way to say when something happened.
But on that journey, for the first time, Luce’s faith in the eventual outcome was shaken.
Eileen was accompanying her father to visit friends made on a camping trip the year before.
on for subsequent events
4.98 On can be used in a slightly formal way with nouns and -ing forms referring to actions or activities to show that one event occurs after another.
I shall bring the remaining seven hundred pounds on my return in eleven days.
ordering of time adverbials
4.99 On the few occasions when people have to specify a time and date exactly, for example in legal English or formal documents, the usual order is: clock time, followed by period of day, day of the week, and date.
…at eight o’clock on the morning of 29 October 1618. …on the night of Thursday July 16.
Non-specific times
approximate times
4.100 If you want to be less precise about when something happened, you can use a word like around or about.
At about four o’clock in the morning, we were awoken by a noise.
The device that exploded at around midnight on Wednesday severely damaged the fourth-floor bar.
The supply of servants continued until about 1950, then abruptly dried up.
The attack began shortly before dawn.
Here is a list of words and expressions that you can use if you want to be less precise about when something happened:
about
almost
around
just after
just before
nearly
round about
shortly after
shortly before
soon after
thereabouts
About, almost, around, nearly, and round about are usually used with clock times or years. With about, around, and round about, the preposition at can often be omitted in informal English.
Then quite suddenly, round about midday, my mood began to change.
About nine o’clock he went out to the kitchen.
It is also possible to use prepositions to relate events to less specific points or periods of time, for example when the exact time of an event is not known, or when events happen gradually, continuously, or several times.
He developed central chest pain during the night.
For, also over the summer, his book had come out.
Here is a list of prepositions that are used to relate events to a non-specific time:
after
before
by
during
following
over
prior to
4.101 Almost or nearly can only be used after the verb be.
4.102 You can also use or thereabouts after the time adverbial.
Back in 1975 or thereabouts someone lent me an article about education. …at four o’clock or thereabouts.
during for periods of time
4.103 During can be used instead of in with periods of the day, months, seasons, years, decades, and centuries.
We try to keep people informed by post during September.