| Hi, everybody. My name is Alisha. In this lesson, I'm going to talk about how to use the preposition "on" in English. Let's get started. |
| The first use of "on" that I want to talk about is with days of the week. We use "on" before days of the week when we're talking about our schedule. This can be for future tense, for past tense, any time. Some quick examples, "On Tuesday," or "on Saturday." We also use it before the weekend, "on the weekend." Like when you're talking about your plans. "I'm going to go somewhere on the weekend," or "I went somewhere on the weekend." We use "on" before the weekend as well. If you want to talk about a specific time of day, plus the day, you also need to use "on." So, that means "on Monday night," for example, or "on Sunday afternoon." So, yes, even though you're talking about like night or afternoon, we don't use the prepositions, we usually use with these. Like "at night" or "in the afternoon." We use "on" because it precedes, it comes before a day of the week. So, please use "on" when you're referring to days of the week. |
| The next kind of group that I want to talk about is using "on" when you're talking about special occasions. Special occasions mean events and holidays. So some examples are "on your birthday." Of course, "your" could be "my birthday," or "his birthday," her birthday," someone's birthday. "On Christmas," "on thanksgiving," "on Halloween," whatever any holidays. "On our anniversary," so the "anniversary" marks the day you got married to someone. So, we use "on" before these special events, these special dates. So, please keep in mind, we use "on" before all of these. |
| Let's take a look at the next group then. The next group is position-related uses. So, when we use "on" to talk about a position, we're using it to express that an object is on top of some kind of surface. So, here's a drawing of a table and a book. We could say, "The book is on the table." So, there's some kind of object that is resting on top of some kind of surface. So, I'll show you a couple of different examples of how this is used. It's not always one thing directly on top of another, but it might be one thing on a surface that's not just up and down. But, actually -- a wall, for example. So, let's take a look at some examples. First, "My coat is on the sofa." So, this one again is a simple kind of vertical. We can think of it vertically. Like, up and down example. "My coat is on the sofa." Or, "You left your coffee on my desk." So, that means on top of a surface, "your coffee on my desk." These examples, however, have kind of a shift required. So, more horizontal thinking, instead of vertical. |
| So, for example, "Write your sentence on the board." So, when I wrote these sentences on the board, for example, I used "on" to describe that action, to write something on the board. So, you can imagine your letters are on top of the surface that is the board here. So, "Write your sentence on the board," we use "on" in this case, too. "I hung a picture on the wall." So, again, the same idea where the wall is the surface, and we place the picture or we hang the picture on that surface. We use "on" in all of these cases. |
| Another situation in which we use "on" is when we're talking about parts of the body. Especially when we're talking about like contact points or maybe things that we wear. So, some examples, "I usually wear a ring on this finger." So, I'm talking about an object, something that I wear. And, before the part of the body, I use "on." "I usually wear a ring on this finger." Or, to use different clothing or different body part examples, we could say like, "He has cool shoes on his feet," or "That's a nice sweater on your friend," as well. So, we can also refer to like a full person, like an actual person. Or, "That shirt looks nice on you." We can use "on" to refer to a part of the body, and we can also use it to refer to a person as well. Like a full -- like someone's full appearance. We might use "on," plus that person. Like "you," as I said, or your friend to describe someone's appearance in that way. |
| Okay. Another one, "A bug bit me on my arm." So, again a place on the body. A place that something happened, like a contact point. So, "A bug bit me on my arm." So, "on" shows like the location, the position on the body part. One more, "There's something on your face." So, again, that means that there's some thing that's like maybe stuck to you, and we use "on" to describe that. We would not use "at" in this case. We use "on" to talk about like that contact point. Or, if it's more helpful, you can think about it as something being "on top of," like the surface of your face. So, please use "on" in these cases. |
| Okay. Let's move on to the next group. The next group is for devices machines transportation. We use "on" to talk about all of these types of things. So, some very common example sentences might be, "I'm on the bus right now." I'm on the bus. So, "on" comes before the type of transportation. You could say, "I'm on a plane right now," or "I'm on a train right now," "I'm on my bike right now," whatever. You can use a mode of transportation to mean that you are riding that thing, or you are using that thing. Another example, "She's on the phone." So, to be "on the phone" means someone is currently talking to someone. So, that means the phone is in use. We use "on the phone." When we finish using the phone, you can say, "Okay. She's off the phone," actually which means that the phone call has finished. But, "on the phone" is a very common use of "on." Another one, "I can't open your file on my laptop." I can't open your file on my laptop. So, here, we're using "laptop" but you could use any device. Like, "I can't open this file on my phone," or "I can't open this file from my tablet," or whatever. You can use a type of device and use "on" to refer to doing something with that. Like, "I edited this video on my computer," or "We're shooting this video on," such and such, like format. So, you can use "on" to talk about devices. |
| Another one, "I saw your post on Instagram." I saw your post on Instagram. So, again, this is kind of like a like a digital, sort of I guess platform. So, for all of like social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, whatever, when we want to talk about posts or videos, pictures, whatever, we use "on" before the platform name. So, here, Instagram. You could replace this with anything online. "I saw your post on," blah, blah, blah. You could use this for like blog articles, publications, whatever. So, it's not like a device, no. But, it's like a platform, a digital platform. So, we use "on" to talk about that. Another one, "We saw you on TV last night." We saw you on TV last night. So, we use "on TV," yes. We use this one for TV programs, we use it for as I said like YouTube, social media, stuff like that. Please keep in mind though, when we're talking about movies -- this is kind of a special case. When we're talking about movies, we typically use "in." Like, "I saw you in a movie." In that case, we would use "in." When we're talking about TV, we usually say "on." "I saw you on TV." |
| So, the difference here is that when we're talking about movies and TV, it's like we're describing someone's role. So, if someone's job was to perform in a movie, we're kind of referring to their role in the movie. So, they kind of were a participant in the group of that movie. So, we use "in" in those cases. Like, they were kind of in the group of people making the movie, if that's helpful for you. When we see someone on TV maybe, it's like they just happened to be there. Maybe they were doing an interview or something like that. "I saw you on TV." So, if you want to just talk about like a friend, for example, that you saw in a TV program like local news or something, please use "on" to describe that. If you want to refer to a friend or something that was appearing in a movie, please use "in" to do that. We don't say, "I saw you 'on' a movie," "We saw you 'in' a movie." I suppose an interesting middle ground here is if your friend appears "in" a TV show. So, if your friend is an actor or an actress, or something like that, use "in" to talk about that. Like, "My friend is in this TV show." But, if you want to talk about like just happening -- just if you just happen to see something that's like a show on TV, we use "on" to describe that. So, please use "on" in most cases for TV. Unless, you have friends who are actors and actresses. |
| Okay. Let's go to the last group here then. The last group that I have is these common expressions, common expressions. There are many, many expressions they use "on." And, unfortunately, there's not an easy rule to remember all of these expressions. We just have to study them like vocabulary words. But, I want to address a few very common ones that may cause some confusion from time to time. |
| The first expression is "on time." Lots of people ask me, "What is the difference between 'on time' and 'in time'?" "On time" means something happens at the scheduled time. For example, "The bus arrived on time." So, the bus arrived at the scheduled time." Or, "We didn't start the meeting on time," meaning we did not start the meeting at the scheduled time. So, the difference between "on time" and "in time" is that "in time" is used when we want to refer to having enough time to do something. So, "I didn't arrive in time for the meeting," means I did not arrive with enough time to participate in the meeting. So, this is different from "on time." "On time" means something happens at the scheduled time. Or, in this case, did not happen at the scheduled time. "In time" means having enough time for something. |
| The other example I wanted to share is "on the way," on the way. So, sometimes, I hear people use "in the way." "In the way" means something is like creating a blockage. There's some kind of barrier between you and something else, or there's some problem. Meaning you can't go forward, "something is in the way." When you are "on the way" though, you are in the process of traveling, or an object is in the process of traveling. For example, "I'm on the way to work," or "Your package is on the way." So, that means it's on its route. It's on the way. So, you can think of "the way" as like the road to a destination. So, "on the way" is used to mean traveling somewhere, currently traveling somewhere. "In the way" means something is blocking you, or something is creating a barrier. So, please keep this in mind. |
| Alright. So, that's an introduction to how and when to use "on," the preposition "on" in English. As I said, there are many expressions that use "on," but they just require some study as with any other vocabulary word. So, I hope that this helps you thanks very much for watching this lesson, and I will see you again soon. Bye-bye. |
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