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What is the rule of not using at before home? For example,

  • When he called me I was (at) home.
  • I am always (at) home on Sundays.
  • He came to my place at 6pm and by that time I had already been (at) home.
  • Hello! Is anyone (at) home?
  • I am (at) home at last!
  • I am always complimented (at) home.
Monica
  • 1,320

1 Answers1

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I haven't researched this, but it seems to me that at is

  • optional when home is the complement of a form of be (am, was, are, been etc)

  • required when home is a modifier (as in your last example)

  • disallowed with go, come and synonyms.

But I'm sure there are some exceptions to these rules of thumb. One interesting one is your third example:

He came to my place at 6pm and by that time I had already been (at) home.

where at changes the meaning. Had already been home invokes the idiomatic meaning of been as a sort of verb of motion, and implies that I had been home and gone away again.

Had already been at home is barely possible for me without an expression of duration (Had already been at home for several minutes).

Colin Fine
  • 77,173
  • +1 for without an expression of duration (Ok, for all of it) For me it is not possible without a duration. Absent a duration it would just be "I was [already home | already at home]" – Jim Jun 05 '12 at 01:24