[Grammar] Preposition: _______ Christmas ______ last year

[Abundance]

Greetings, my first time on this website forum. Recently a student asked me wondering what preposition we should put in front of a sentence

We last saw her _____ Christmas ______ last year.

I answered him, We last saw her at Christmas during last year. I am a little skeptical on during though, is it better of me saying at Christmas X (no preposition) last year? . Which is the correct way to express on that phrase. I've searched at internet nothing's similar came up. So I have decided to sign up here and ask. Thanks so much for helping me.

I love reading, learning, listening and using English. I hope to continuous to learn more through this forum.

 

[emsr2d2]

Greetings. This is my first time on this [STRIKE]website[/STRIKE] forum. Recently a student asked me [STRIKE]wondering[/STRIKE] what preposition we should put in [STRIKE]front of[/STRIKE] a sentence.

We last saw her _____ Christmas ______ last year.

I [STRIKE]answered[/STRIKE] told him (no comma here) "We last saw her at Christmas during last year". I am a little skeptical [STRIKE]on[/STRIKE] about "during" though, Is it better [STRIKE]of me saying[/STRIKE] to say "at Christmas X (no preposition) last year"? (no full stop here) [STRIKE]Which[/STRIKE] What is the correct way to express [STRIKE]on[/STRIKE] that phrase? I've searched [STRIKE]at[/STRIKE] on the internet but [STRIKE]nothing's[/STRIKE] nothing similar came up, so I [strike]have[/strike] decided to sign up here and ask. Thanks so much for helping me.

I love reading, learning, listening to and using English. I hope to [STRIKE]continuous[/STRIKE] continue to learn more through this forum.

Welcome to the forum. :hi:

"at Christmas" is correct in BrE. I have a feeling that AmE uses "on Christmas". I wouldn't put anything before "last year".

We last saw her at Christmas last year.
We last saw her last Christmas.

The repetition of "last" is a bit awkward but the only way to avoid it is to say "We last saw her at Christmas 2017" or "We haven't seen her since last Christmas".

Please note my corrections in the quote box.

 

[bubbha]

I'm American, but I prefer "at". I'm interpreting "Christmas" as the Christmas holidays or Christmastime.

If I used "on", I would be referring to December 25 in particular, but it would be more natural, for me at least, to say "on Christmas Day."

 

[Abundance]

Thank you so so much emsr2d2 & bubbha! I learnt a lot, thanks for helping me to correct these. Thanks for welcoming me on here.

We saw her at Christmas last year. :up: