Timeline for If “I woke up at 10” is okay, what about “I slept at 10”?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
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| Jul 7, 2015 at 7:33 | history | edited | Brian Hitchcock | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
Clarified that I meant American English. Not Canadian. Also removed the part about not knowing exactly when, because OP recognized that aspect in the question and asked us to disregard it.
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| Mar 21, 2015 at 20:43 | comment | added | commando | I agree with HC_, I regularly make such statements as "I slept at 10pm yesterday" and there is nothing at all anomalous to me about such a usage (native Canadian English speaker). | |
| Mar 21, 2015 at 20:40 | comment | added | ʇolɐǝz ǝɥʇ qoq |
Nobody really knows exactly when they fell asleep Unless you were video taping yourself. :)
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| Mar 21, 2015 at 4:31 | comment | added | cpast | Anyone relying on pure logic to interpret English is going about it all wrong. Yes, eating isn't a momentary action (although it's a much shorter timeframe than sleep, which is supposed to be a third of a day), but in fact if you say "I slept at ten" people are likely to be somewhat confused, while if you say "I ate at ten" people will not be confused. | |
| Mar 21, 2015 at 3:24 | comment | added | Alex | I agree with @DCShannon. It may not be consistent with things such as "I ate at 10," but English is not always consistent. I can't remember hearing anyone use the expression "I slept at <time>," and I wouldn't recommend someone learning English to pick it up. To make it clear, say "I went to sleep at 10," which is the usage I always hear and use, and removes ambiguity. | |
| Mar 21, 2015 at 0:44 | comment | added | Cat | @DCShannon Strongly disagree. Just like you would say, "I ate at 10", no one would ask, "Oh, were you in the middle of eating at 10, or is that when you started?" Same for napping, sleeping, studying, and so on. It's unambiguous even without context. | |
| Mar 20, 2015 at 21:17 | comment | added | DCShannon | @HC_ If you said "I slept at like 3:00 AM last night" I would need to ask for clarification on whether you started sleeping then, or if you're trying to say that were asleep at that time. It might not be 'incorrect' but it's uncommon and ambiguous. | |
| Mar 20, 2015 at 19:26 | comment | added | HC_ | I would, and in the past have, said things like, "I slept at like 3:00 AM last night, I'm so tired," etc. I disagree that "I slept at ___" is incorrect or uncommon. | |
| Mar 20, 2015 at 17:15 | comment | added | WinnieNicklaus | @Eric I can't accept your use of Google NGram. The phrase "slept at" can be used in multiple contexts (e.g., "I slept at work"), but if you force it to be in the context of time, the story is reversed. (But the data is sparse, I wouldn't appeal to Google here.) | |
| Mar 20, 2015 at 14:36 | comment | added | choster | The same could be said for any activity, yet I can eat at noon and get a haircut at four and see a movie at eight. There is absolutely nothing wrong with saying I slept at ten to mean I went to sleep at ten, | |
| Mar 20, 2015 at 10:16 | history | answered | Brian Hitchcock | CC BY-SA 3.0 |