I happened to bump into this question. Which preposition should I use in front of the words 'weekend' and 'weekends'?
Here are some sentences I can think of right now. But I am not totally sure that I use the right preposition.
He usually goes fishing at the weekend.
Or
He usually goes fishing in/during the weekend.
Or
He usually goes fishing on weekends.
Are they all correct?
He usually goes fishing at the weekend.
CORRECT - "AT" IS USED IN BRITISH ENGLISH (IT MEANS AT THE END OF THE WEEK = AFTER FRIDAY)
He usually goes fishing in/during the weekend.
NOT "IN" - USE "DURING" - (DURING MEANS AT ANY TIME FROM THE START TO THE FINISH OF THE WEEKEND)
He usually goes fishing on weekends.
ON IS THE AMERICAN PREPOSITIONAL USAGE - (ON MEANS ON SATURDAY OR ON SUNDAY)
NOTE: THE BRITISH "AT THE WEEKEND" AND THE AMERCIAN "ON THE WEEKEND ARE BOTH CORRECT.
All are correct except 'in".
You could have "in the week" but not "in the weekend". I have no idea why. (native British speaker here so I can't explain the grammar to you as I know it instinctively, as opposed to having learnt it from a book)
Edited to add " during the weekend" sounds a little unnatural unless preceded by something
eg " sometime during the weekend"
The best one for me is " at the weekend" if referring to a specific weekend, and " on weekends" if a general statement.
He went fishing at last weekend. NEVER
He went fishing during last weekend. NEVER
He went fishing last weekend. YES
He will go fishing at this weekend. NEVER
He will go fishing during this weekend. OK
He will go fishing this weekend. YES
