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I have a sentence:

Happiness is drinking a glass of champagne on a hot summer afternoon.

So I'm thinking if we want to say the same about night do we have at night or on [article] night?

I know we say in (the afternoon / the evening / the night) when we mean 'during this period of time'. Correct?

But what is the difference between on and at? Could we use articles with on\at and night?

Daria Pydorenko
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  • _At night_ means 'during the hours of darkness', but if you describe the night (in this case, probably meaning _evening_), you need _on_. The folk song 'The Lincolnshire Poacher' has the line 'It's my delight on a shiny night in the season of the year." (I assume _shiny_ means _moonlit_.) – Kate Bunting Jun 03 '21 at 12:19
  • @Astralbee Thanks, it almost answers but I don't see there a lot about *on* preposition (like in my example sentence). Could we use *on* with night? Why do we use *on* with afternoon but not *at*? – Daria Pydorenko Jun 03 '21 at 12:37
  • @DariaPydorenko We don't - we'd normally say "**in** the afternoon". The accepted answer I linked you to says this. – Astralbee Jun 03 '21 at 12:50
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    @Astralbee _In the afternoon_, but _on a fine afternoon_ or _on a moonlit night_. – Kate Bunting Jun 03 '21 at 12:53
  • @KateBunting thanks! Does it works like that: I usually sleep in the evening / I usually sleep on a rainy evening. (are articles correct too?) – Daria Pydorenko Jun 03 '21 at 16:11
  • Yes, those are correct. – Kate Bunting Jun 03 '21 at 16:13

1 Answers1

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So, I've investigated my question. As I understand it works like that:

I could do it in the morning

I could do it tomorrow morning.

I could do it in a morning. (about any morning, not commonly used)

I could do it in the mornings. (about every morning)

I could do it on a lovely morning. ('on' because of an adjective)

And with 'night':

I could do it at night.

I could do it on a lovely night. ('on' because of an adjective)

I could do it if I awake in the night. (something poetic, about this night)

Good examples here: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/at-on-and-in-time

Please, correct me if I understand something wrong.

Daria Pydorenko
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