# yesterday at this time



## cfu507

_Yesterday at this time, I celebrated Dan's birthday_

Is my sentence grammatically correct?
Thank you


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## Agate

Normally a birthday lasts an entire day - 24 hours - so what do you mean that you celebrated his birthday "at this time"?  Did you have a party at a particular time of day?


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## cfu507

Hi Agate, 
The time in my country is 23:10 PM.

So I meant: 
_Yesterday at 23:10_ _PM, I participated at Dan's birthday party in his house._

Or another example: 
_Yesterday at 23:10_ _PM, I eat ice cream._

Are my sentences correct?


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## nh01

I have some other questions about this phrase used in Past Continous Tense. I saw different versions of this phrase such as 
a. "yesterday this time"
b. "this time yesterday" 
c. "yesterday at this time" 
d. "at this time yesterday"

Are all of these usages correct in this way? 

And I think all of them was used for providing the meaning of "around this time yesterday" (or maybe literally "in these times/at these hours yesterday") and they do not refer to a specific hour time but a period of time. But can they really be used for this purpose?

For example, can we say; I was surfing the internet yesterday this time"
"this time yesterday" 
"yesterday at this time" 
"at this time yesterday"

Thank you a lot.


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## Jimbob_Disco

Personally, I would never use (a). The rest are all acceptable, but (b) is what I would say.


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## lingobingo

I was surfing the Internet …
yesterday this time 
this time yesterday 
yesterday at this time 
at this time yesterday ​
But the second construction in particular is usually placed at the beginning of a sentence: This time yesterday I was [doing whatever]

And note that “this time” (as opposed to “last time” or “next time”) can also mean “on this occasion”.


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## nh01

Thanks to all who already helped and thanks to all who will help in advance.



lingobingo said:


> And note that “this time” (as opposed to “last time” or “next time”) can also mean “on this occasion”.



But if use "this time" with "yesterday" (before or after it), it will not be understood as "on this occasion", right?


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## lingobingo

Yes, that’s right (except that yesterday can’t come before it without a preposition).


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## nh01

Thank you a lot. What about


nh01 said:


> "around this time yesterday" (or maybe literally "in these times/at these hours yesterday")



Are these expressions used naturally in English for intended meaning in this context?


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## lingobingo

“Around this time yesterday” is fine. The others are not idiomatic.


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## nh01

lingobingo said:


> “Around this time yesterday” is fine. The others are not idiomatic.



And can I use "Around this time yesterday" wherever I want in the sentence?


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## lingobingo

Within reason, yes.


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## nh01

Sorry but I have almost endless questions about this matter. If I want to talk about a specific hour time without saying it directly, for example without saying "at 6" etc. Can I say "at this hour yesterday" or "this hour yesterday"?  I have some doubts especially about "at this hour yesterday" because as far as I know "at this hour" alone is used to emphasize that hour is very late.  Or will there be no problem if used with "yesterday" here too?


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## lingobingo

It’s not standard practice to use “hour” rather than “time” in this context, especially in casual speech. 

As you say, we do use the expression “at this hour” to indicate that it’s very late at night or very early in the morning. But that’s not really relevant to your other examples.


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## nh01

lingobingo said:


> It’s not standard practice to use “hour” rather than “time” in this context, especially in casual speech.
> 
> As you say, we do use the expression “at this hour” to indicate that it’s very late at night or very early in the morning. But that’s not really relevant to your other examples.



Thank you for your big help.

So, even if we talk about a specific hour time(at 6 o'clock etc), we had better say one of the phrases below, right?

I was surfing the Internet ...
this time yesterday 
yesterday at this time 
at this time yesterday


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## lingobingo

I’m not sure what you mean.

My comment was that we don’t normally use the *word* “hour”, not that there’s anything wrong with specifying a particular time (“6 o’clock’ is a specific *time* — we wouldn’t normally refer to it as a specific *hour*). 

And obviously it only makes sense to say “at *this* time yesterday” if you’re talking to someone who’s either physically with you or who you’re talking to on the phone or online. Otherwise, they wouldn’t know what time you meant.


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## nh01

I try to tell what I tried to mean. 

As fas as I understand all of these 3 phrases (this time yesterday  yesterday at this time  at this time yesterday ) are used not for emphasizing a specific time but a period of time. For example, maybe it was 4 or 5 or 6 o'clock yesterday when I was surfing the internet. Even I don't remember the exact time, I guess about the time period so I can say that "I was surfing the internet (this time yesterday  yesterday at this time  at this time yesterday )"

However, let's suppose that I know the exact time when I was surfing. I am sure it was 6 o'clock. I am looking at the watch and see that it's 6 o'clock now too. So I want to emphasize this specific time. But I can't because I can't use the word "hour" here. So I should say again "I was surfing the internet (this time yesterday  yesterday at this time  at this time yesterday ) "

Correct or incorrect?


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## lingobingo

That’s as clear as mud. 

If you’re not going to specify the time anyway, it makes no difference whether you know the exact time or not. If it’s 6 o’clock when you say to someone “This time yesterday I was [doing whatever]”, they will automatically know you’re talking about 6 o’clock yesterday. But to give the same information to someone else at a different time, you need to say “At 6 o’clock yesterday I was [doing whatever]”.


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## nh01

I am sorry to trouble you.



lingobingo said:


> If it’s 6 o’clock when you say to someone “This time yesterday I was [doing whatever]”, they will automatically know you’re talking about 6 o’clock yesterday.



Actually, I had thought that even if it’s 6 o’clock when I say to someone “This time yesterday I was [doing whatever]” he can't directly understand that I am talking about 6 o'clock yesterday. But he may have a generel idea about the time period. For example, if I talk about 6 o'clock in the afternoon, he may think that I was doing whatever in the afternoon, maybe between 4 and 6 o'clock but not at 6 o'clock. Instead, like 6 o'clock or around 6 o'clock.


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## lingobingo

I’m sure whoever you’re talking to will understand perfectly well what you mean. The context will make it clear. Surely the same applies in any language?

It’s 6 o’clock and you say “This time yesterday my cat died”. That context reveals that you mean at or very near 6 o’clock. 

It’s 6 o’clock and you say “This time yesterday I was at the hospital”. We know you were there at 6 o’clock, but since hospital visits tend to take a long time, we will naturally assume that you arrived there some time before that and didn’t leave until some time later.


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## pachanga7

Hello, 

For what it’s worth, I personally would not shorten this phrase by removing the “at”. The most natural to my ears is:

yesterday at this time


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## lingobingo

That sounds to me like a formal announcement of something dire on TV or radio. So a BE/AE difference, perhaps.


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## pachanga7

Well, yeah, I tend to agree with you on that, LingoBingo! In fact, normally I wouldn’t say any of those phrases as I don’t normally have a need to compare my daily schedules retrospectively like that.  I just wouldn’t leave out the “at” if I were saying it. Minor difference, and perhaps irrelevant to the OP.


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## nh01

Here comes another question relatively connected to same structure. If I want to say "in these days last year/ month/week" can I simply use it directly (I am not sure about the preposition "in", by the way) or is saying "at this time last year/month/week" instead of using the former phrase starting with "in these days" better again?

For example, we were working hard...
in these days last year/ month/week
at this time last year/month/week


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## lingobingo

That use of “in these days” is not idiomatic.


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## nh01

lingobingo said:


> That use of “in these days” is not idiomatic.



Thank you. You help me without giving up.


So, should we use "at this time last year/month/week" again instead of "in these days last year/ month/week"? Does it carry intended meaning? Or are there any alternatives?


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## lingobingo

If you just mean “around this time”, then that’s what you would say: It was around this time last year that the house next door was sold.


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## nh01

lingobingo said:


> If you just mean “around this time”, then that’s what you would say: It was around this time last year that the house next door was sold.



Yes, I wanted to mean "around this time". So, don't the sentences below work for that purpose?

The house next door was sold this time last year.
The house next door was sold at this time last year.


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## lingobingo

Yes, they work. But now you’re not saying “*around* this time”, you’re saying “*at* this time”, which is much more specific. As so often, the context reveals more than the precise choice of words.


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## nh01

lingobingo said:


> Yes, they work. But now you’re not saying “*around* this time”, you’re saying “*at* this time”, which is much more specific. As so often, the context reveals more than the precise choice of words.



I see. Thank you again and again.

What about  "in these month(s) last year"?

For example, I was working hard....
in these month last year.
in these months last year.

Are they idiomatic? Or should I prefer “*around* this time” or “*at* this time” depending on the context?


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## lingobingo

No., they’re no more idiomatic than any of your other suggestions. We would *only* mention minutes, hours, days, months or whatever if the context was so specific as to make that relevant. As a general comment, we would just say “at [around/roughly] this time last year”.

Now I’m really giving up…


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## pachanga7

Just for fun, what about “by this time last year”? 

Kidding! I think lingobingo needs a serious break after that long slog!  

Well done, lingobingo.


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## lingobingo




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## nh01

pachanga7 said:


> what about “by this time last year”?



It wouldn't come amiss if I learned the answer to this question too... But I think "by this time" is usually used in future tenses and I will be trying to understand also the usage of "this time" in future tenses from now on. And I am really grateful for the help I got in this thread.


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## nh01

lingobingo said:


> Yes, that’s right (except that yesterday can’t come before it without a preposition).



I am back here, sorry but can you explain this with an example, please?


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## lingobingo

That was in answer to #7.

What I meant was that you can say “this time yesterday” or “yesterday *at* this time”.


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## nh01

lingobingo said:


> That was in answer to #7.
> 
> What I meant was that you can say “this time yesterday” or “yesterday *at* this time”.



Thank you but these phrases don't mean “on this occasion”, right?  I actually wanted to learn which construction can mean "on this occasion" here. Thank you.


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## lingobingo

I answered that in #8.


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## nh01

Sorry, I don't know why but whenever I work on this subject I get easily confused. But thanks a  lot for your patience.



lingobingo said:


> this time yesterday
> yesterday at this time
> at this time yesterday





lingobingo said:


> What I meant was that you can say “this time yesterday” or “yesterday *at* this time”.



And I can say "at this time yesterday" too, right?


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## lingobingo

You can indeed.


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## nh01

Thanks a lot for your big effort and patience.

Now I'm wondering about

"at this time two _days/weeks/months/years ago_"
"at this time _last Monday/March_..."

Are they idiomatic? Or are they grammatically correct but not idiomatic? Thanks a lot in advance.


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## lingobingo

I think you should probably start a new thread for any further questions.


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