On this fine Sunday morning

Question

I'm listening to the song "Hear Them Bells" by Bobby Darin, which I've listened to hundreds of times before, but not until now had I realised that there's something in the lyrics I cannot understand from a logical point of view.

It is "on this fine Sunday morning". I do know we say "on Sunday", and "in the morning", but then, why isn't it "in this fine Sunday morning"? The head word of the phrase is "morning" ("Sunday" is just a modifier"). So why don't we use "in"?

Thanks!

Tamguatlay · Accepted Answer

We say "On Sunday morning", not "In Sunday morning". Hence "On this fine Sunday morning".

Colombo · Answer

Thanks, but my question remains. I'm not troubled by the words "this fine", but by the preposition "on" when we're talking about a morning.

I do know that the right way to say it is "on Sunday morning" or "on this fine Sunday morning". But when you come across this in a classroom, and a student asks "Why are they using 'on' when you told us that for all parts of the day, except for 'night', we should use 'in'?", what should my answer be? I do know it is like that because I've heard it lots of times, but that doesn't sound like too good an explanation for a classroom.

Cool Breeze · Answer

The preposition is on in at least the following cases.

1. an adjective is used: It happened on a rainy morning.Also: It happened one rainy morning.
2. a day of the week is used: He came on Friday afternoon.
3. a month is used: I saw him on a December morning.
4. of-structure is used: He came on the afternoon of June the 6th.
There are other cases.

In other words, any deviation from the usual in the morning/s, in the afternoon/s etc. changes the preposition. With such words as this, that, next and last, no preposition is usually necessary and may even be incorrect:
He came that morning.
It happened that afternoon.

CB

Tamguatlay · Answer

As can be seen from CB's reply, It is difficult to explain to your student why we use "on Sunday morning".  As for "night", we can say/write "in the night" as well as "at night".

Colombo · Answer

Thanks! These two answers are very informative! I had never realised there were so many 'exceptions' to the rule of using 'in' for 'morning', 'afternoon' and 'evening'. Only that they may not be exceptions if what Cool Breeze has written can be taken as a rule itself. In fact, I'm going to include it in my explanations in the classroom (if you give permission). Although I've used all these expressions correctly before, I had never noticed any possible contradiction until I've started teaching English and I've been forced to explain rules I forgot long ago after getting used to them.

Funny. According to the textbooks I use, 'in the night' wouldn't be correct. Is it used everywhere English is spoken? It doesn't sound wrong to me, but it has always been drilled into us that it's 'in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening, at night'...

Cool Breeze · Answer

ColomboAccording to the textbooks I use, 'in the night' wouldn't be correct.

It's correct, but at night and in the night are used in slightly different contexts. In the night is a little poetic, for example. There is a song whose lyrics go: Hear that old train whistle, howling in the night. If that flier's south bound, things will be all right.

You can of course use my explanations in your teaching. I have read and learned the rules from various sources in the course of time. They are not my property.

CB

CalifJim · Answer

ColomboAccording to the textbooks I use, 'in the night' wouldn't be correct. Is it used everywhere English is spoken? It doesn't sound wrong to me, but it has always been drilled into us that it's 'in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening, at night'...

This Google N-gram may interest you. As a word group, "at night" has been preferred over "in the night" since the 1820s, and the preference has only increased since then.

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=at+night%2C+in+the+night&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cat%20night%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cin%20the%20night%3B%2Cc0

CJ

Colombo · Answer

Cool BreezeIt's correct, but at night and in the night are used in slightly different contexts. In the night is a little poetic, for example. There is a song whose lyrics go: Hear that old train whistle, howling in the night. If that flier's south bound, things will be all right. You can of course use my explanations in your teaching. I have read and learned the rules from various sources in the course of time. They are not my property. CB

Thanks a lot for the explanation and the permission. As I said before, 'in the night' didn't sound wrong to me, so I suppose I must have seen it in a context such as that you mention.

CalifJim This Google N-gram may interest you. As a word group, "at night" has been preferred over "in the night" since the 1820s, and the preference has only increased since then.https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=at+night%2C+in+the+night&year_start=1800&year_end=2... CJ

Oh, apart from their usefulness here, it looks like Google N-grams are a tool I'm going to use quite often! I didn't know they existed, but I can already see many ways to use them, both for myself and for the classes. Thanks a lot!

Tamguatlay · Answer

HI Colombo, I think you will find the following link useful.

http://fraze.it/n_search.jsp?q=IN+THE+NIGHT&l=0

Colombo · Answer

Thanks!

How many "in the night"s!

On this fine Sunday morning

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