English Grammar

Preposition - At

At is a word used to show the place, direction, time or manner of something.

• He works at the market.
• We live at home.
• Throw the ball at the stumps.
• We have breakfast at eight.
• She ran at top speed.

After some verbs, at is used to indicate the target of a perception or non-verbal communication. Common examples are look, smile, wave, frown, point.

• The child looked at its mother.
• Why are you looking at her like that?
• She smiled at me.

At is also used after some verbs referring to attacks or aggressive behaviour. Common examples are shoot, laugh, throw and shout.

• Why are you shouting at me?
• Stop throwing stones at the cat.

Place

At is used to talk about position at a point.

• It is very hot at the centre of the earth.
• He works at the market.

Sometimes we use at with a larger place, if we think of this as a stage on a journey or a meeting place.

• The plane stops for an hour at Chennai.
• Let us meet at the club.

At is particularly common with proper names used for buildings or organizations.

• I first met your father at Harrods.
• She works at the State Bank of India.
• She was educated at Oxford.

We generally use at to talk about addresses.

• Are you still at the same address?
• She lives at 73 Albert Street.

At can be used with a possessive to mean ‘at somebody’s house or shop’.

• You are always at the hairdresser’s.

At is also used before the names of group activities.

At a party
At a meeting
At a concert
At a lecture
At a match

Time

We use at with clock times.

• I usually get up at six o’ clock.
• I will meet you at 4.15.
• We have breakfast at nine.
• Phone me at lunch time.

At night means during any night.

• I often work at night.

We use at to talk about the whole of the holidays at Christmas, New Year, Easter and Thanksgiving.

• We are having the roof repaired at Easter.

Subscribe and win an eBook

Subscribe to our feed by email and win a free grammar eBook titled '120 Grammar and Vocabulary Mistakes to Avoid'.

The download link will be sent by email.