Prepositions create a big confusion for students who learn English as a second language. If you want to master the preposition usage you have to pay close attention to speech and written word. My advice is to keep a good dictionary close at hand.
Remember that a preposition links nouns, pronouns and phrases to other words in a sentence. A prepositional phrase begins with a preposition and ends with a noun, pronoun, gerund, or clause. A prepositional phrase most often functions as an adjective or adverb. That means it provides more information about a noun or a verb.
In this lesson we are going to study prepositional phrases with AT.
- at the beginning of
E.g. I joined the army at the beginning of the year.
- at first sight
E.g. We met at a party and it was love at first sight.
- at the moment
E.g. I am reading a very interesting book at the moment.
- at random
E.g. The people for this experiment were chosen at random.
- at last
E.g. I had been sending emails to that company for a long time until someone replied at last.
- at the latest
E.g. You can go out but you have to be home by 10 at the latest.
- at least
E.g. It’s very cold outside but at least it isn’t snowing.
- at the age of
E.g. I learned to read at the age of 5.– at a glance
E.g. She knew at a glance that he was going to talk to her.
- at all costs
E.g. I need to pass this job interview at all costs. - at times
E.g. At times, he felt very lonely.
- at length
E.g. My boyfriend can speak at length about Romanian literature.
- at the weekend
E.g. I love going out with my girlfriend at the weekend.
- at…km per hour
E.g. She was fined 200 lei for driving at 150 km per hour.
- at the door
E.g. There’s somebody at the door.
- at hand
E.g. I always have my phone at hand in case I need to make an urgent call.
- at any rate
E.g. At any rate, I don’t think you should sell your car.
- at first
E.g. At first, I was very interested in this course but now I’m not.
- at midday/midnight
E.g. She returned home at midnight as she was afraid of walking alone in the dark.
- at present
E.g. At present, I am studying Italian history.
- at night
E.g. She couldn’t sleep at night. She preferred to sleep during the day.
- at the bottom of
E.g. There’s a museum at the bottom of this hill.– at the end
E.g. I’m going to Rome at the end of the month. - at a guess
E.g. At a guess, 200 people came to the wedding.
- at short notice
E.g. He knew he could be fired at short notice if he made any kind of mistake.
- at fault
E.g. Who was at fault for the accident?– at once
E.g. He had two jobs at once just to pay for his son’s education.
- at the same time
E.g She liked him a lot but at the same time she was afraid of him.
- at work
E.g. He was at work when I called him so I couldn’t talk to him.
Sper că postarea mea v-a fost de folos. 🙂 Pentru meditații la engleza nu ezitați să mă contactați pe Skype la: meditatii-engleza!
