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MeggPhaggSioux Posted 15 years ago
Grammar

At/During Trial

Suppose there is a trial in some court:

1. At trial, witneses gave conflicting testimony.

2. During trial, witneses gave conflicting testimony.

Is there any differences between "at trial" and "during trial" that would change the meanings of these two sentences?
  

Top answer

1. At the trial, witnesses gave conflicting testimony. 2.

— Mister Micawber

  • 1.
  • At the trial, witnesses gave conflicting testimony.
  • 2.
  • During the trial, witnesses gave conflicting testimony.
  • There is no difference in intent.
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5 Answers
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1. At the trial, witnesses gave conflicting testimony.

2. During the trial, witnesses gave conflicting testimony.

There is no difference in intent. Since we know that the testimony occurred within that time frame, simple 'at' sounds more natural to me.
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So, "during (the) trial" is slightly unnatural?
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No, it's not unnatural at all; I just think 'at' works better. I sense a difference here, for instance:

Some witnesses gave conflicting testimony at the trial.

A witness suddenly leapt up and ran out during the trial.
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Switching things a bit, would the following be wrong:

"Some witnesses gave conflicting testimony during the trial."

"A witness suddenly leapt up and ran out at the trial."
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Nope. Just not the best choices in my estimation. In case you haven't figured it out yet, 'at' is a point or event reference, while 'during' is a line reference (it refers to a period of time), so you need to decide which you think is more appropriate to the action being described.
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