I’d appreciate it if someone would answer my question. Thank you in advance.
A: We left for the office in the early morning.
B: We left for the office in early morning.
What’s the difference between A and B?
Is B grammatically wrong?
How about C: We left for the office early morning.[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC listening, talks: The co-pilot gives flight information to passengers[YSaerTTEW443543]
In my opinion, “C” would not work.
Personally, I prefer: “I left for the office early in the morning.”
‘B’ is not natural while ‘A’ is better with the change early in the morning as suggested by James. The alternative ‘C’ (early morning) offered by Torsten is acceptable since I have often seen it used so.
Thank you Anglophile. You said “‘B’ is not natural”. Is B grammatically wrong? Should I tell my students not to use it?
Yes, you had better avoid ‘in early morning’.
Thank you Anglophile.
I agree with James. “I left early in the morning” is the best version while “I left early morning” is probably a phrase used by non-native speakers.[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC listening, talks: Announcing the collection of charity items[YSaerTTEW443543]
But, the confusion persists regarding the use of ‘early in the morning’ and ‘in the early morning’. Use of the both is very rampant ( also in BNC). I don’t know the difference. I think the position of ‘early’ is shifted (in front of the phrase) when there is the necessity to emphasize the word ‘early’ itself. Perhaps Fowler might have had an answer to this.
Thank you Torsten and Souba 73.