Time Point / Time Span
When does it happen?
Signification
The time location of an event or state: a point, period, date, moment, duration, or time frame.
Comment le repérer
Find words that place the event on a timeline.
Exemples
today|yesterday|now|tomorrow|week|year
last night|in two hours|for three days
We met yesterday.
Visual guide
Timeline
past ─ yesterday ─ now ─ tomorrow
▲
We met
Span: for three days
Frame: last night
Time can be a: POINT: yesterday / now SPAN: for three days OFFSET: in two hours FRAME: last night Forms may be adverb, case, preposition, particle, tense.
Vue par langue
Dans votre langue maternelle
Time is expressed with adverbs, prepositional phrases, dates, and article-based time expressions.
Nous nous sommes vus hier.
We saw each other yesterday.
Dans votre langue d’apprentissage
En anglais, on situe souvent un événement dans le temps avec des adverbes ou des prépositions comme at, on, in, for et since.
I arrived at six yesterday.
at six yesterday = repère temporel : à six heures hier
Les apprenants confondent souvent at/on/in, for/since, ainsi que la position des expressions de temps dans la phrase.
Same block, different coding
Both languages use this block strongly, but they signal it differently. Focus on form changes, not only meaning.