What is correct, if I want to be specific?
- On 12/7/2015 12:35 I made a purchase
- At 12/7/2015 12:35 I made a purchase
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John Doe
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It's another case of dimensionality; at exact times (10:43, noon Saturday), on days (Tuesday, the first of the month), in parts of a day (the morning -- but at night is an exception) and larger time units (the 18th century, 23 years, only two weeks/months). Basically, it's just a metaphor of the way it works for space, as Fillmore points out. The larger durations are conceived of as volumes (3-D), the smaller as points on a line (1-D), and the medium-sized as areas (2-D), and the prepositions follow. – John Lawler Jul 12 '15 at 13:21
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@JohnLawler Is at night really an exception? Isn't it just that parts of the day take at when there's no article and in when there is? Thus at dawn/noon/high tide/night/etc., but in the dawn/night/etc. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Jul 12 '15 at 14:32
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@Janus: At night refers to a period (the dark part of the cycle), but it uses at instead of in. In the night/daytime/light of day are normal, but at night isn't. I don't know any reason for it so I marked it as an exception. The at's you mention (dawn and high tide) are both exact times rather than a time period like night. Ditto at nightfall and at twilight. – John Lawler Jul 12 '15 at 14:43
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@JohnLawler I would definitely consider at dawn and at nightfall to refer to periods, not exact times. They're shorter periods than at night (or at day, though that's highly archaic), but not exact times. High tide is so old-fashioned outside its literal sense that I don't rightly know if it's a point or a period. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Jul 12 '15 at 14:50
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But We attacked at dawn means a specific time, whereas We attacked at night merely distinguishes a dark duration containing the attack. Dawn and high tide are both inflection points; night is half the period. – John Lawler Jul 12 '15 at 16:11
1 Answers
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At 12:35, on 12/7/2015, I made a purchase.
'At' is used for specific times.
Father Luke
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1No need to reverse them, though: nothing wrong with “On 12/7/2015 at 12:35, I made a purchase”. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Jul 12 '15 at 09:09
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Arguably unnecessary, but in no way incorrect; just a matter of style. Same goes for the comma after the date-time expression as well as both commas in your answer—they could all be left out without anything being actually mispunctuated. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Jul 12 '15 at 09:15
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