in/at the beginning/end

Question

I've been taught that there is quite a significant difference between using in and at in sentences like "At the beginning of the track..."

My teacher told me in should be used when talking about when, and at when talking about where.

So these would be correct:
* In the beginning of the film...
* In the end of your turn...
* At the beginning of the track...
* At the end of the hallway...

However, as you can see here (http://www.hearthpwn.com/cards/ability?filter-name=start+of&filter-include-card-text=y), "At the start of your turn..." is used. Blizzard (author of the cards) has traditionally had high quality grammar and prose, so I'm a bit confused, because I want to believe what they write is correct, yet I want to believe my teacher was right.

Is what my teacher told me correct? Or is both uses correct? Or is it British vs. American English thing? Or slang?

Kevin Ling · Accepted Answer

I think both of them are right.

"At the beginning of my career, we didn t make albums, really, " Jagger says.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15524832

Enoon · Answer

I think your teacher's rule is a good one for the phrase used alone: "In the beginning, he wanted to be a doctor, but in the end, he realized that acting was his calling." It seems to me that every other use will take "at". You can think of the beginning of the film as a "where" rather than a "when".

GPY · Answer

Is your teacher talking about the expressions "in the beginning" (meaning "initially") and "in the end" (meaning "eventually") or about phrases "in/at the beginning/end of (something)"?

As far as the phrases with "of" are concerned, "at the beginning of" is more common than "in the beginning of", and "at the end of" is a lot more common than "in the end of". There is no specific requirement to use "in" when talking about "when". "at/in the beginning of the film" are both possible, with "at" probably being, as I say, more common. "at the end of your turn" is much more natural than "in the end of your turn", which almost seems incorrect, at least absent any sentence context. I can't at the moment think of any case of "in/at the beginning/end of" where "in" is required and "at" is not possible.

Blue Jay · Answer

GPY"at the beginning of" is more common than "in the beginning of", and "at the end of" is a lot more common than "in the end of".

Yes. Here are the number of matches in COCA:
at the beginning of - 5518
in the beginning of - 552
at the end of - 26402
in the end of - 205

Enoon · Answer

When "the beginning" means "the first part", "in" is better, and when it means "the start", use "at".

"In the beginning of the book, the author tells us a little about the hero's childhood."

but

"At the beginning of the book, Charles has already been promoted to colonel."

The same goes for "the end", but not nearly as strongly. "In the end of the book" sounds strained to me.

Zajoman · Answer

Guys, thank you very much. "In the start of a turn," sounded strange to me, too, but I was hesitant to use it because of the teaching. It's been years, and I might have misunderstood, or what she (teacher) said has simply been garbled by time in my mind.

It's much clearer to me now. Thanks again.

Johny mark · Answer

thanks for helping us. its really very informative.

it will help me in my site blogging.

https://notresponding.net/computer-not-responding-to-anything-one-stop-total-solution/

Linda wilson · Answer

Nice information provided by you, it really helped me to understand this topic. I have also referred this article to my friends and they also enjoyed this informative post. Can I share this link on the geek squad

in/at the beginning/end

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions