At what part of day ...? / At what part of the day ...?

Hi teachers,
Which one is correct?
a) At what part of day ...?
b) At what part of the day ...?

Thanks in advance.

learning54 said:

Hi teachers,
Which one is correct?
a) At what part of day ...?
b) At what part of the day ...?

Thanks in advance.

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The first one is definitely wrong. The second one is probably wrong.

Hi,
How about these ones?
a) At what time of day ..?
b) At what time of the day?

I think of 'morning, afternoon, evening, and night' in the answer.

learning54 said:

How about these ones?
a) At what time of day ..?
b) At what time of the day?

I think of 'morning, afternoon, evening, and night' in the answer.

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Try giving us a complete sentence.

Hi,
At what time of (the) day did she arrive home?

learning54 said:

At what time of (the) day did she arrive home?

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What time did she get home?

If the answer is 'at night' is the same.

learning54 said:

If the answer is 'at night' is the same.

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Um, ... no. We normally ask questions to find out the answers. We don't ask them if we already know the answer.

OK

I assume that you are writing questions for a listening/reading comprehension again. Am I right? If so, I am going to guess that the piece says something like "She arrived home late at night" and you want to work out a question which will elicit that answer. Correct? If that is the case, then you can say "When did she arrive home?"

- When did she arrive/get home?
- She arrived/got home late at night.

- What time did she arrive/get home?
- We don't know what time but it was late at night.

emsr2d2 said:

I assume that you are writing questions for a listening/reading comprehension again. Am I right? Yes, you are!
If so, I am going to guess that the piece says something like "She arrived home late at night" and you want to work out a question which will elicit that answer. Correct? If that is the case, then you can say "When did she arrive home?".

Click to expand...

Hi,
Thank you for your reply.
The context is a follows:
At eight o’clock in the morning of the third day the telephone rang on Felix’s desk. Felix listened, then put the phone down quickly.
If I ask:
At what time did the phone ring …? I’ll get ‘At eight o’clock.’
If I ask:
When did the phone ring …’ I can get, ‘At eight o’clock’, ‘In the morning.’ Or both I guess.

Which question should I write in order not to have the possibility of the exact time in the answer? Will this one do it?
At what time of (the) day did the phone ring on Felix’s desk?

L.

If the text specifies "eight o'clock in the morning" then any question you ask about the timing of the phone call will have to involve your acceptance of "eight o'clock" appearing somewhere in the answer.

Edit: I have thought of one possibility -

Q - During what part of the day did he receive the phone call?
- During the morning/During the early part of the day.

Hi,
Thank you for your reply.
Hmm. 'During' is such a good idea because it refers to a time-period rather than a point-period, doesn't it?

L.

Exactly. If you use "at" in the question then you will get "at" in the reply which, with time questions, is usually followed by an exact time.