wh questions - "At what time" Vs. "What time"

When asking about something that will be later I have two ways to ask it:

At what time is the lecture today? At what time you will come tomorrow?

or

What time is the lecture today? What time you'll come tomorrow?

When looking for information about it I found a comment (I can't find this site again) in which the the writer there wrote that in the US we can find "at what time" in the written language but not in the spoken language. It seems that both are correct but one is formal and the the other is informal. Is it correct for both American and British English?

Answer

Let's analyze, but focusing only on the lecture example, and let's assume, in order to simplify the language, that we all know the lecture is today and we're only asking about time. So here are three options -- your two, followed by a commonly used third:

1. At what time is the lecture?


2. What time is the lecture?


3. What time is the lecture at?

Note first that since all three are widely used, all three are acceptable. (Literally -- because they are accepted.) And that goes for both the UK and US, and for written and spoken English.

HOWEVER, when you multiply it all out -- the three forms of words, two countries, two delivery modes --- the resulting TWELVE possibilities do have different flavours (or flavors :-) ) and it's useful to know the impact each will have. Here is a rough outline:

1. At what time is the lecture?

This is the most formal of the three, and most likely to appear in written British English. It would sound most stilted in spoken American English. The placement of the preposition "at" at the front probably stems from an old, but silly rule that one should never end a sentence in a preposition.

2. What time is the lecture?

This is perhaps the least formal, so reverse the above in terms of formality. Now there is an argument that this form is simply wrong since it is committing a category error. A lecture is a lecture, not a time. So it makes no sense to ask what time a lecture is. By contrast, lectures can be at a time, hence forms #1 and #3. But again, this form is widely used, and so it cannot sensibly be said to be wrong. The meaning of language is its use in practice, an' all that Wittgenstein stuff.

3. What time is the lecture at?

Were it not for the silly "don't end a sentence in a preposition rule" (stemming, I think, from Latin translation standards) this form would, to me, be the best middle road. It is strictly grammatically correct (versus #2 which is not), but it avoids the stilted formality of #1.