Learn English – On the evening Vs. In the evening

prepositionsword-choice

I was reading this article, Night Sister, when I got to the following sentence:

“I can go out between 6 and 9 on the evenings I’m working, but I don’t because it doesn’t feel right.”

I wonder why the more conventional phrase, in the evening(s), has not been used here. Can anybody explain it, please?

Best Answer

Interesting examples.

on the evenings
between 6 and 9 on the evenings

refers to the "evenings" on the days you are working, whereas

in the evenings
between 6 and 9 in the evenings

refers to the time during any evening (without additional context).

You could rephrase this as

On the days that I am working, I am free between 6 and 9 in the evening.

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