- [ex 001 "We ate <u>[p en/in Time] the afternoon</u>/<u>[p en/during Time] the afternoon</u>/<u>[p en/at Time] 2:00</u>/<u>[p en/on Time] Friday</u>."]
- [ex 002 "Let’s talk <u>[p en/at Time]</u>/<u>[p en/during Time]</u> lunch. [compare [exref 017 Circumstance]]"]
For a containing time period or event, [p en/during] can be used and is unambiguously [ss Time]—unlike [p en/in], [p en/at], and [p en/on], which can also be locative.[^1]
- [ex 003 "They will greet us <u>[p en/on Time]</u>/<u>[p en/upon Time]</u> our arrival."]
- [ex 004 "I succeeded [p en/on Time] <u>the fourth attempt</u>/<u>several occasions</u>. [contrast <i>on occasion</i>, [exref 003 Frequency]]"]
- [pspecial As en/as] meaning ‘when’ (contrast [exref 008 Circumstance] under [ss Circumstance]):
- [ex 005 "The lights went out [p en/as Time] I opened the door."]
- [ex 006 "A bee stung me [p en/as Time] I was eating lunch."]
- [ex 022 "I played the piano [p en/as Time--Identity] a child."]
- [ex 007 "I will finish [p en/after Time] <u>tomorrow</u>/<u>lunch</u>/<u>you (do)</u>."]
- [ex 008 "I will finish [p en/by Time] <u>tomorrow</u>/<u>lunch</u>."]
- [ex 009 "I will contact you <u>[p en/as_soon_as Time]</u>/<u>once</u> it’s ready."]
The preposition [p en/since] is ambiguous:
- [ex 010 "[‘after’] I bought a new car—that was [p en/since Time] the breakup. ([ss Time])"]
- [ex 011 "[‘ever since’] I have loved you [p en/since StartTime] the party where we met. ([ss StartTime])"]
- [ex 012 "[‘because’] I’ll try not to whistle [p en/since Explanation] I know that gets on your nerves. ([ss Explanation])"]
Simple [ss Time] is also used if the reference time is implicit and determined from the discourse:
- [ex 013 "We broke up last year, and I haven’t seen her [p en/since Time]. [since we broke up]"]
However, [ss Time--Interval] is used for adpositions whose complement (object) is the amount of time between two reference points:
- [ex 014 "We left the party [p en/after Time--Interval] an hour. [an hour after it started] ([ss Time--Interval])"]
- [ex 015 "We left the party an hour [p en/ago Time--Interval]. [an hour before now] ([ss Time--Interval])"]
The preposition [p en/over] is also ambiguous:
- [ex 016 "The deal was negotiated [p en/over Duration] (the course of) a year. ([ss Duration])"]
- [ex 017 "He arrived in town [p en/over Time--Duration] the weekend. ([ss Time--Duration])"]
See discussion under [ss Duration].
If the scene role is [ss Time], the PP can usually be questioned with <i>When?</i>.
## Telling time
[ss Time] is also used for special constructions for expressing clock times, e.g. identifying a time via an offset:
- [ex 018 "The alarm rang at <u>a quarter [p en/after Time]</u>/<u>half [p en/past Time]</u> 8. ([ss Time])"]
- [ex 019 "The alarm rang at a quarter [p en/to Time--Goal] 8. ([ss Time--Goal])"]
- [ex 020 "The alarm rang at a quarter [p en/of Time--Source] 8.[^2] ([ss Time--Source])"]
- [ex 021 "The alarm rang 15 minutes [p en/before Time] 8. ([ss Time]) [“15 minutes” modifies the PP]"]
<!--
In v1, point-like temporal prepositions ([p en/at], [p en/on], [p en/in], [p en/as]) were distinguished from displaced temporal prepositions ([p en/before], [p en/after], etc.) which present the two times in the relation as unequal.
<i>RelativeTime</i> inherited from [ss Time] and was reserved for the displaced temporal prepositions, as well as subclasses [ss StartTime], [ss EndTime], <i>DeicticTime</i>, and <i>ClockTimeCxn</i>.
For v2, <i>RelativeTime</i> was merged into [ss Time]: the distinction was found to be entirely lexical and lacked parallelism with the spatial hierarchy.
<i>ClockTimeCxn</i> was also merged with [ss Time], the usages covered by the former (expressions of clock time like <i>ten [p en/to] seven</i>) being exceedingly rare and not very different semantically from prepositions like [p en/before].
<i>DeicticTime</i> became [ss Interval].
-->
[^1]: See [[Constraints on Role and Function Combinations]] regarding the use of locational metaphors for temporal relations.
[^2]: In some dialects, this is an alternate way to express the same meaning as [exref 019 Time]. It seems that [p en/to] and [p en/of] construe the same time interval from opposite directions.