Hela  +  221400 Mon, 01 May 06 01:42 AM Dear friends, Would you please tell me when should I use "IN the beginning" or "AT the beginning" ? Thank you in advance, Hela Hela Joined on Mon, Nov 15 2004 Tunisia Regular Member 831

	Clive  +  221427 Mon, 01 May 06 06:03 AM Hi, Much dependson the context, and sometimes you can use either. However, here are a couple of comments. "IN the beginning" Treats the beginning as a period of time, or something having length. 'In' means at some point(s) during that. "AT the beginning" 'At' refers to the first point of beginning. Consider this. The Bible says In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The idea is that it took him a little time to do that. On the other hand, at the beginning there was nothing. In The Sound Of Music, Julie Andrews sang Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start. When you read you begin with ABC, When you sing you begin with do-re-mi. Best wishes, Clive Clive Joined on Thu, Oct 28 2004 Canada Veteran Member 29,583 El tango argentino es un pensamiento triste que se puede bailar (The tango argentino is a sad thought which can be danced) Enrique Santos Discépolo

	Grammar Geek  +  221521 Mon, 01 May 06 02:59 PM Hey Clive, if you're going to tease me about that H in Gettysburg, I can tease you about Mary Martin singing that line on Broadway years before Julie Andrews sang it in the movie Grammar Geek Joined on Tue, Jan 10 2006 Veteran Member 19,652 Barbara, who answers in American English. My housekeeping skills attest to the truth of the second law of thermodynamics: Left to themselves, things get more and more random!

	Rotter  +  221536 Mon, 01 May 06 03:49 PM The opposite of 'at the beginning' is 'at the end'. I go to the gym and train 3 times a week. I train on the bicycle and on the threadmill at the beginning of my training. I do some stretching of muscles at the end of training. [ Players shake hand at the end of football/ice hockey match.] We could use 'in the end' to say the final phase or final part of something. I sold my car recently. At first, there were a lof of offers. It took some time to made the decision.  In the end I sold it to a person in my neighbourhood. In the end means finally. The opposite of 'in the end' is 'at first'. [ I hope Clive and the other native speakers will toe the line with me; I am not a native speaker of English.] Rotter Joined on Sun, Jul 24 2005 Japan Regular Member 655 Я люблю российских девочек. Football