Which one is correct? (Maybe both are correct.)
He passed away on the morning of March 5.
Or
He passed away in the morning of March 5.
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3It's so strange to see, that no-one provided specific rules or references after several years of the question being open, and everything is based on "IMO"... weird. There are specific rules in English for this case, when talk about a specific morning, afternoon, or when we describe the part of the day.– FarsideCommented Apr 22, 2016 at 9:55
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7 Answers
In your sentences, on is the correct preposition and in is the incorrect one. This is a bit tricky.
"He passed away on March 5" is correct. "He passed away in the morning" is also correct. However, in your sentence, "the morning" is a characteristic possessed by March 5, "March 5's morning," as it were. (Note that we would never say "March 5's morning"; I'm just using it to help illustrate that we're using a form of the possessive here). So, "He passed away on the morning of March 5" is correct.
If we turn things around a bit it may help to make things a bit more clear: since "he passed away on March 5 in the morning" is correct, it follows that "he passed away in the morning on March 5" is also correct.
A couple of additional observations:
He passed away some time in the three hours prior to Joe's arrival.
He passed away at 10 am on March 5.
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Thank you so much. It makes sense and you got a reason as well. I agree with you. Commented Mar 11, 2014 at 5:03
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Actually it is "the morning" that is being modified by the "March 5," with the use of "of." Another example of this, The Mountain of Honeylily, you can say The Honeylily Mountain, with the "Honeylily" modifying the "Mountain." I'm not really sure, please reply if I'm wrong.– XyenzCommented Aug 1, 2017 at 9:56
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2@Xyenz Five years later (!), I come to a different conclusion, which I believe is the correct one. The actual relationship is not an adjective/noun one but a possessive one: "the morning of March 5" is the same as "March 5's morning," i.e. the morning belonging to March 5. (We would never say "March 5's morning"; I'm just using it to illustrate.) I've edited my post to reflect my changed thinking.– BobRodesCommented Jul 24, 2022 at 21:39
You say "in the morning/in the afternoon/in the evening". These indications of time stand alone and the concept is in + period of time.
It is another thing for "on the morning of the first of May". Here the concept of date/on this day prevails and has become the accepted expression.
Well, it seems none of the answers explain why is it like that, what are the rules, what's the usage, and no-one provided references. I will elaborate and will post my investigation, as I did here at ELU.
Just to cut the long story short, for this specific case: "on" is the correct preposition and "in" is the incorrect one.
"The morning of" functions as an adjectival phrase clarifying the specific time and date "on March 5". "On" is used because it belongs to the date here, specific part of the day.
The normal language constructions would be:
- on + date (with the year or without it) or day of the week
- in + morning, afternoon, evening (in the morning, in the evening)
But, when we talk about a specific morning, afternoon, or when we describe the part of the day it should be used with on:
- on the morning of [date],
You can't say "I will see you on the morning" - it's incorrect.
here's the reference for more examples: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/at-on-and-in-time
In or on?
We use in with morning, afternoon, evening and night, but we use on when we talk about a specific morning, afternoon, etc., or when we describe the part of the day.
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2This answer deserves more upvotes, especially the link to the Cambridge Dict page can be very helpful for English learners.– JoHKaCommented Jun 25, 2022 at 2:27
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There are no real rules for prepositions. Prepositions are highly idiomatic. Which preposition to use where is simply something that has to be learned by rote. There aren't any rules that aren't broken somewhere. Why, for example, we say "on Tuesday" instead of "at Tuesday" isn't a matter of any rule; it's a matter of habit. Either one is reasonable, but only the first one is correct.– BobRodesCommented Dec 10, 2023 at 20:26
He passed away in the morning on March 5 - is correct.
We use in for mornings, months and years, and on for dates. We use on for the days (Monday, Tuesday...etc). We use at for time (At 7 o'clock in the morning on Sunday in March...for example).
Further reading here.
answered Mar 10, 2014 at 10:50
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Thanks for your help and I agree with you. I understand that but I just read on Yahoo so just wanted to confirm. Commented Mar 10, 2014 at 10:59
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@user62015 You are welcome. Don't consider everything that you find on the Internet an authentic source!– Maulik VCommented Mar 10, 2014 at 11:05
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@user62015 Oh, looking at your profile, I remember you now! You're the one who finds flaws in Yahoo! :) No offense please! haha– Maulik VCommented Mar 10, 2014 at 11:10
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Thanks, haha but I am not after Yahoo. It is a good source to check out news and when I read something, which I have not read yet so I ask generally. You and other people have been very helpful to me. Commented Mar 10, 2014 at 11:39
On + "noun which is a time label stands for a long time( usually one day / one month )"
on Saturday : Are you free on Saturday to come for a dinner?
on Monday
In + "the" +"noun which is a time label stands for a short time( usually some point of the day)"
in the morning: he is the type who would wake up in the morning.
Why do you see "On the morning"?
this is mostly comes from " on Monday morning ". but "On the morning" is incorrect.
These both sound weird to me. I would reword to:
He passed away in the morning on March 5
or
He passed away during the morning of March 5
answered Apr 16, 2016 at 22:39
In the second, minute, hour, morning, afternoon, evening, night, day, week, month, year, decade, century and millenium using "in" means within or during. On the second, minute, hour, morning, afternoon, evening, night, day and week using "on" means a specific moment in time. For a specific month, year, decade, century or millennium, on is dropped and only the definite article is needed. THE month, year, decade, century or millennium is indicated as a specific time period and on becomes redundant.
