J
Joseph A
Senior Member
Kurdish
- Nov 14, 2017
- #1
Hello everyone,
Can we use all the prepositions "in, at and on" with the word "holiday"?
Eg.
1. At holiday
2. In holiday
3. On holiday
Regards
JA
heypresto
Senior Member
South East England
English - England
- Nov 14, 2017
- #2
I can't think of a situation in which 'at' or 'in' would work, but you haven't given us a full sentence or any context.
J
Joseph A
Senior Member
Kurdish
- Nov 14, 2017
- #3
heypresto said:
I can't think of a situation in which 'at' or 'in' would work, but you haven't given us a full sentence or any context.
Thanks
Here is an example:
-Why we get depressed at holidays, and how to deal.
Regards
JA
Hercules Grytpype-Thynne
Senior Member
English - U.S.
- Nov 14, 2017
- #4
"On holiday" - taking time off from work (British)
"At holidays" (in your example) - at times when holidays are celebrated
"At holiday" - (doesn't exist)
J
Joseph A
Senior Member
Kurdish
- Nov 14, 2017
- #5
Hercules Grytpype-Thynne said:
"On holiday" - taking time off from work (British)
"At holidays" (in your example) - at times when holidays are celebrated
"At holiday" - (doesn't exist)
Thanks
When the word is used as plural "holidays" we can use "at" as well, am I right?
This is another example given by one of the members of this forum:
1. I don't see my parents much at/on/in holidays.
2. I don't see my parents much at/on/in the holidays
Kind regards
JA
Last edited:
J
Joseph A
Senior Member
Kurdish
- Nov 14, 2017
- #6
heypresto said:
I can't think of a situation in which 'at' or 'in' would work, but you haven't given us a full sentence or any context.
Thanks
This is an example given by one of the members of this forum:
1. I don't see my parents much at/on/in holidays.
2. I don't see my parents much at/on/in the holidays
Kind regards
JA
Hercules Grytpype-Thynne
Senior Member
English - U.S.
- Nov 14, 2017
- #7
Speaking only for myself, an AmE speaker, "at holidays", "on holidays", and "at the holidays" are all possible, with slightly different meanings.
at holidays: around the time that holidays are celebrated
on holidays: on the actual days when holidays are celebrated
at the holidays: specifically during the Christmas/New Year season
I don't think I would say "on the holidays", and I can't imagine a context in which I would use "in", with or without an article.
J
Joseph A
Senior Member
Kurdish
- Nov 14, 2017
- #8
Hercules Grytpype-Thynne said:
Speaking only for myself, an AmE speaker, "at holidays", "on holidays", and "at the holidays" are all possible, with slightly different meanings.
at holidays: around the time that holidays are celebrated
on holidays: on the actual days when holidays are celebrated
at the holidays: specifically during the Christmas/New Year seasonI don't think I would say "on the holidays", and I can't imagine a context in which I would use "in", with or without an article.
Thank you so much
heypresto
Senior Member
South East England
English - England
- Nov 15, 2017
- #9
In BE, when referring to school holidays (the weeks around Easter and Christmas, and during the summer), we would say 'in the holidays'.
But never 'in holiday/s' without the article.
J
Joseph A
Senior Member
Kurdish
- Nov 15, 2017
- #10
heypresto said:
In BE, when referring to school holidays (the weeks around Easter and Christmas, and during the summer), we would say 'in the holidays'.
But never 'in holiday/s' without the article.
Thanks a lot
Lun-14
Banned
Hindi
- Nov 15, 2017
- #11
Hercules Grytpype-Thynne said:
"On holiday" - taking time off from work (British)
Hercules Grytpype-Thynne said:
at holidays: around the time that holidays are celebrated
Hercules Grytpype-Thynne said:
on holidays: on the actual days when holidays are celebrated
Hercules Grytpype-Thynne said:
at the holidays: specifically during the Christmas/New Year season
Could you please give one example for each?
Hercules Grytpype-Thynne
Senior Member
English - U.S.
- Nov 16, 2017
- #12
Lun-14 said:
Could you please give one example for each?
1. John isn't working this week; he's on holiday."
For the rest, Joseph A already provided the example sentence in #6:
"I don't see my parents much __________."
Lun-14
Banned
Hindi
- Nov 16, 2017
- #13
Hercules Grytpype-Thynne said:
1. John isn't working this week; he's on holiday."
Thanks.
Hercules Grytpype-Thynne said:
For the rest, Joseph A already provided the example sentence in #6:
"I don't see my parents much __________."
You said in #7 that "at holidays", "on holidays", and "at the holidays" are all possible, with slightly different meanings...
But, how can I see the difference here in this single red example?
Hercules Grytpype-Thynne
Senior Member
English - U.S.
- Nov 16, 2017
- #14
Lun-14 said:
Thanks.
You said in #7 that "at holidays", "on holidays", and "at the holidays" are all possible, with slightly different meanings...
But, how can I see the difference here in this single red example?
Replace the blank with the three different prepositional phrases in turn, and each of the three resulting sentences will have a slightly different meaning, as described in my #7.
Lun-14
Banned
Hindi
- Nov 16, 2017
- #15
Hercules Grytpype-Thynne said:
Replace the blank with the three different prepositional phrases in turn, and each of the three resulting sentences will have a slightly different meaning, as described in my #7.
This is the meaning which I don't understand:
at holidays: around the time that holidays are celebrated
Could you please give a different example so I can understand?
Hercules Grytpype-Thynne
Senior Member
English - U.S.
- Nov 18, 2017
- #16
"Both she and her husband had extended families in Chicago, whom they saw frequently at holidays and other times." - from a biography of Marian Shields Robinson, mother-in-law of former President Obama, at Gutenberg.org.
Lun-14
Banned
Hindi
- Nov 18, 2017
- #17
Hercules Grytpype-Thynne said:
"Both she and her husband had extended families in Chicago, whom they saw frequently at holidays and other times."
I'm sorry, I don't understand the difference between "at holidays" and "on holidays":
at holidays: around the time that holidays are celebrated
on holidays: on the actual days when holidays are celebrated
Could you please clarify the difference by some different example?
Hercules Grytpype-Thynne
Senior Member
English - U.S.
- Nov 18, 2017
- #18
I told you the difference. "On" talks about the holidays themselves (in the U.S., days like Christmas, New Year's Day, Easter, Independence Day, etc.) and "at" is more generally the time during which these holidays are celebrated. It would be somewhat difficult to construct examples that unambiguously demonstrate this difference. But let me try with some sentences about a specific holiday.
At Easter, I shop for fancy clothes, decorate the house with flowers, and prepare dyed eggs for the children to find. (Around the time of Easter)
On Easter, I go to church in the morning and eat a large dinner in the afternoon. (on Easter Sunday)
Lun-14
Banned
Hindi
- Nov 18, 2017
- #19
Hercules Grytpype-Thynne said:
I told you the difference. "On" talks about the holidays themselves (in the U.S., days like Christmas, New Year's Day, Easter, Independence Day, etc.) and "at" is more generally the time during which these holidays are celebrated. It would be somewhat difficult to construct examples that unambiguously demonstrate this difference. But let me try with some sentences about a specific holiday.
At Easter, I shop for fancy clothes, decorate the house with flowers, and prepare dyed eggs for the children to find. (Around the time of Easter)
On Easter, I go to church in the morning and eat a large dinner in the afternoon. (on Easter Sunday)
Thank you so much for your help.
By your this reply, I get the idea that there's no difference between "at holidays" and "at the holidays", but when I see your post #7, I get confused - you've given separate meanings for "at holidays" and "at the holidays".
Could you do me one more favour by clarifying the difference with an example, please?
Hercules Grytpype-Thynne
Senior Member
English - U.S.
- Nov 18, 2017
- #20
I see the reason for your confusion. The sentence that you quoted from my #18 uses the phrase "the holidays" but not in the sense that I had in mind when I was discussing "at the holidays" in #7. In #18 , I was using it to refer to "the holidays that the speaker is referring to" as opposed to "the general time during which these holidays are celebrated".
The sense of "the holidays" in the phrase "at the holidays" is as follows:
In the U.S., the holidays are those that occur toward the end of December, primarily Christmas and New Year's Day along with their respective Eves, but also encompassing such holidays as Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and the Winter Solstice. The phrase "the holidays" is used and understood in this way even if the grammatical conditions that usually call for the use of the article the are absent.
Holidays that occur at other times of the year, such as Easter or Independence Day, are holidays but not the holidays.
At holidays can be used to refer to the winter holiday season (particularly, as I've discovered from Google, in headlines and titles, which often omit articles for reasons of space and/or style), but may also refer to other holidays. At the holidays refers only to the winter holiday season, particularly if other qualifications are absent.
I really think that this detailed description is more informative than any example sentences I could come up with.
You must log in or register to reply here.