on vs. in my summer holidays

nurdug51 · Jul 9, 2011

Which preposition is best here?

in my summer holidays

on my summer holidays I am going to visit you

Parla · Jul 9, 2011

In AE, it would be "on my summer vacation, . . . "

PaulQ · Jul 9, 2011

In BE it would be "In my summer holidays, I am going to visit you."

aldonzalorenzo · Dec 11, 2019

This is crazy. No wonder I always have doubt about the on / in thing

heypresto · Dec 11, 2019

You'll just have to accept that British English and American English are different. We have to.

Keith Bradford · Dec 11, 2019

I sympathise! Let me clarify.

Holiday has several meanings (BE):

Let's rule out straight away the modern American meaning "yuletide", since you specify "summer".
It's a period when you aren't working/studying.
It's a leisure journey.
It's an official date when banks and public services close. We can rule this out because my holiday is specified.

PaulQ suggests "In my summer holidays, I am going to visit you." I suppose here he's using meaning 2 = I will visit you some time when I am free, during July or August.
I might say "On my summer holiday, I am going to visit you". I would certainly be using meaning 3 = When I am taking a journey near your house, I will call by.

If someone now says my usage is idiosyncratic I shan't argue too much.

on vs. in my summer holidays

nurdug51

Senior Member

Parla

Member Emeritus

PaulQ

Senior Member

aldonzalorenzo

Senior Member

heypresto

Senior Member

Keith Bradford

Senior Member