Answers need not be limited to “yes” or “no.” Maybe you want to answer “okay, but strange,” or something else. That’s fine.
-FrL
FTR: To me the sentence is only grammatical on the reading that has it meaning “We met to discuss the subject of 10:30.” But it’s hard to cook up a story where someone would actually say that, so my first impression is just that the sentence is a bad one. It seems to me that in order for the sentence to mean “We met, and the time of our meeting was 10:30,” it would need to be “We met at about 10:30.” But I’m suprised to discover over at Language Log that a lot of people think “We met at about 10:30” is bad and that the “at” should be omitted! To me, without “at,” the sentence barely even makes sense!
Also FTR: “We met about four years ago” seems fine to me, and “We met at about four years ago” would be wrong.
I’m no grammarian, but I think that’s because “about 10:30” is still a specific point in time, while “about four years ago” is a range of time.
So, “We met about 10:30” works as a casual, non-grammatical statement, but “We met at about 10:30” is grammatical. No idea what the rules are that make that true, though.
It works for me, but it does seem a bit awkward. Only because I like details. I want to know where you met. Grammatically, I like it well enough, though.
I think a sentence can be grammatically correct and still be ambiguous, which is how I would describe this sentence. I’d put in the “at” to be clearer.
Technically it should be “at about 10:30,” but the “at” is implicit and most native English speakers will subconsciously supply it when hearing this. For a question, such as “When did the meeting start,” almost everyone would say “about 10:30” rather than “at about 10:30.” However, if it were exactly 10:30 and the word “about” weren’t included, more folks would be likely to say “at 10:30.” And with the word “approximately” instead of “about,” most speakers would include the “at.” It’s a matter of usage.
About in the construction “about 10:30” or “about noonish” is, as best as I can figure, an adjective that’s only usable with measurements to indicate a lack of precision.
About also fills a preposition slot. I like to use the sentence “I ran ____ the mountain” to see if a word is a preposition, and “I ran about the mountain” (or even “I ran about the park”) works for me. It’s similar to ‘around’ but is used less often, I would guess.
Therefore, replacing the preposition ‘at’ with ‘about’ makes grammatical sense, particularly if about and around are synonymous in that context. “We met about 10:30” is acceptable but unusual to me, while “We met around 10:30” is clearer. It keeps the same denotation of lack of precision as when it’s used as an adjective; it’s simply that the syntactic role has changed.
It’s just one of those sentence constructions that allows for a language quirk to be highlighted, IMO.
Really, what sort of ditz would think that you were holding a meeting on the subject of 10:30? Unless it was previously understood that that is what you were doing, it would not be mistaken.
or let’s get together about 3:00.
The second is perfectly natural and acceptable English. Probably preferred by most native speakers. “About 3:00” is the same as saying “at 3:00,” just that the speaker doesn’t care that much if the meeting is exactly on the dot. It’s a question of affect.
There are no “grammar rules” for this kind of thing. It’s just a question of usage.
In any case, “about” isn’t an adjective, it’s a preposition. Saying “at about” is an unnecessary combination of prepositions, though it might be preferred in more formal speech.
Ditto. The construction in the OP grates a little on my ears, but probably not enough that I would notice in conversation. My instinct would be to use the “at” in conversation or the “around” construction.
Am I the only one who uses the word “around” instead of “about” ?
Try these examples:
–We met yesterday around 10:30, and then when for a walk in the park.
–I’ll come visit you tomorrow around 10:30
Both these sentences seem more natural to me than “about”, although I would not crucify someone who prefers to use it.*
(The OP’s problem is that “about” can also mean “pertaining to the concept of…” But I think that is only true if the concept is a broad subject, not a specific number.
For example “The war in Iraq is about terrorism, not about oil”. But it doesn’t makes sense to say "The war is about 10:30 p.m.)
