雅思A类图表小作文高分指南(9):介词使用技巧

雅思A类图表小作文的写作对介词的使用十分频繁,特别是in、on、at等时间介词的使用,下面将为考试详细列举图表作文中时间介词的使用方法。

‘In’

Use preposition ‘in’ when you talk about years, months, decades, centuries, seasons.

Example: 
Years= in 1998, in 2015 etc.
Months= in January, in December etc.
Decades= in the nineties, in the seventies etc.
Centuries= in the 19th century, in the 14th century, in the 1980s etc. 
Seasons= in summer, in winter, in autumn etc.

Use preposition ‘in’ to talk about past or future.

Example: 
Past time= in 1980, in the past, in 1235, in the ice age, in the seventies, in the last century etc.
Future time = in 2030, in the future, in the next century etc.

Use preposition ‘in’ when you talk about a long period.

Example: 
in the ice age, in the industrial age, in iron age etc.

 

‘On’

Use preposition ‘on’ when you talk about days (days of the weeks or special days).

Example: 
Days of the week= on Sunday, on Friday, on Tuesday. 
Special days= on New Year’s Day, on your birthday, on Independence Day, on holiday, on wedding day etc. 

Use preposition ‘on’ when you talk about dates.

Example: 
on July 4th, on 21st January 2015, on 5th May etc.

Use preposition ‘on’  when you talk about times (like morning/ afternoon/ evening/ night) of a day. 

Example: 
on Friday morning, on Saturday afternoon, on Sunday evening, on Monday evening etc.

However, notice the below list that shows a further use of preposition ‘in’ and ‘on’ for periods of the days versus periods. This is often confusing and mistakenly used by IELTS candidates. Look at those, notice the use and memorise it. 

in on
in the morning on Sunday morning
in the afternoon on Monday afternoon
in the evening on Tuesday evening

 

‘At’

 Use preposition ‘at’ when you need to express an exact time.

Example: 
At eight o’clock, at 10: 45 am, at two p.m, at nine o’clock.

Use preposition ‘at’ when you talk about meal times

Example: 
At breakfast time, at lunchtime, at dinner time etc.

Use preposition ‘at’ when you talk about weekends, holiday periods, or the night time.

Example: 
At the weekend, at Christmas, at Easter, at night etc.

 

‘by’

Using Appropriate Prepositions:
You must use the correct preposition in the IELTS writing task 1 to get a high score. Be accurate about the uses of to, by, of, off, in, on, for etc.

Examples:
» Papers are sold by the ream.
» Oranges are purchased and sold by the dozen.
» Students enrollment in the University has increased by 2% this year.
» Eggs are counted in dozens.
» Rice is measured in kg.
» He is junior to me by 4 years.
» The employees are paid per week in this factory.
» All these products are made of glasses.

 

Using the appropriate “Prepositions”:

» It started at…, The sale started at $20…, It peaked at
»Itr reached at/to…, It reached the lowest point /nadir at
»It increased to 80 from 58. It decreased from 10 to 3.
»There was a drop of six units. It dropped by 3 units.
»It declined by 15%. There was a 10% drop in the next three years.

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