Time expression

[MAGICA]

Please, I need a little help about time expression?Which is the correct one: AT WHAT TIME or WHAT TIME?????
Please...help me!!!

[Ann1977]

Please, I need a little help about time expression?Which is the correct one: AT WHAT TIME or WHAT TIME?????
Please...help me!!!

They're both correct.

"At what time does the lecture begin?" = "When does the lecture begin?"

This is often written and said as
"What time does the lecture begin?"

"At what time does the movie start" is correct grammatically, I guess, but it would never be said that way. It sounds hopelessly pedantic for conversation (but you might see it in formal writing.)

- "What time does the movie start?"
- "When does the movie start?"

- "When does the train arrive"
- "What time does the train arrive"

- "What time are you leaving"
- "When are you leaving?"

- "What time will you be finished?"
- "When will you be finished?"



BUT:
(for rhetorical drama)
The lawyer said in a loud voice to the witness on the witness stand, "And at what time exactly did you see -- SUPPOSEDLY see! -- my client steal the bicycle?!?!"
(casual use: "What time did you see him do it?")

(for dramatic emphasis)
The parent scolds the teenager who stayed out late: "Well! At what hour did you finally get home, little lady?"
(casual use: "What time did you get home?")

(for formal use)
The professor reads his lecture notes: "We shall now discuss at what time the experiment must be brought to a halt."
(casual use: "What time do we stop the experiment?")

(formal written use)
The textbook says: "At what time the first development of the control of fire by Homo sapiens occurred, we as yet have no very solid or exact idea."
(casual use: "We don't know what time people first controlled fire.")

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"What time is it?" is said this way only, and of course it has a different meaning.
It is with this meaning that we say, "What time was it when sth occurred?"